Daily Devotional

“After this Absalom the son of David had a lovely sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her” (2 Samuel 13:1). 

There are a few instances in the Bible of brothers and sisters, or other close relatives, marrying; Abram and Sarai are probably the most prominent of these; Sarai was Abram’s half-sister. Hundreds of years later, however, this practice was prohibited by the laws of Moses. 

By the time Amnon—David’s firstborn son—came on the scene, these laws had been in effect for centuries. Amnon, the crown prince, knew he had no right to his half-sister, but he gave in to his lust for her. Taking bad advice from his cousin, he pretended to be sick and then begged his dad to send Tamar to his house to cook for him. His evil plan worked. 

The innocent Tamar cooked Amnon a meal. When she took it to him, he asked her to lie with him. When she refused, he raped her. Then, suddenly, filled with hatred, he had her thrown out of his house. 

Amnon’s utterly selfish, vile, and cruel act might have happened because of a lack of discipline when he was younger. David, with all his responsibilities as king, likely didn’t spend a lot of quality time with his many children. Scripture implies that he generally gave in to the wishes of his sons and was too lenient with them. David’s response to the crime of his firstborn appears to confirm this. “While the Bible says, “When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry” (2 Samuel 13:21), he didn’t do anything about it. Absalom, Tamar’s full brother, decided to take care of things himself. Two years later, he threw a feast for the sons of David, and when Amnon was drunk, Absalom had him killed. 

For their own well-being, children need to be taught clear moral boundaries, such as God’s Ten Commandments, from an early age. Disaster looms without the safeguard of discipline. 

Our Lord, help us to encourage the young people in our lives to obey Your Law out of love for You.