Joel M Bradshaw

1In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David. 2Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he made himself ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.–2 Samuel 13

Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your [David’s] house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ (2 Samuel 12:10)

1. Read all of chapter 13. This is a story of a young prince shamefully following his heart.
2. This is also a story of a young princess being the victim of a despicable sexual crime.
3. This is also a story of an older brother reacting by murdering his half brother.
4. This brother would eventually rebel against his father and launch a coup against the king.
5. None of these things are explicitly David’s fault.
6. But they did result ultimately from David’s sexual sin and murder from chapter 12. God promised calamity would come in David’s house. We also see David being a passive, depressed father as this story plays out.
7. Sin has consequences. The best we can do is repent of sin and stay intentional about getting help and pursuing accountability as we each move forward.–JMB