2 Samuel 13:11 says, And when she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come lie with me, my sister. When Tamar came close to Amnon to feed him by hand, he took hold of her and asked her to sleep with him. Verse twelve adds, And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly. When Amnon attempted to get Tamar to sleep with him, she said no and added that such a thing should not happen in Israel. Even though they sometimes do, there are certain things that should not happen with Christians, and we certainly shouldn't be the ones to attempt to initiate them if they do. Verse thirteen continues, And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee. Tamar then told Amnon if he forced himself on her that he would be as one of the fools of Israel, and anytime we give in to sin, we are acting as a fool. This is because at that point we are acting as if there is no God. Tamar said instead that Amnon should ask David and he would give her to him. I don't know if she was serious or not or was simply trying to get away, and I would hope that if she had successfully escaped that David would not have agreed to such thing. We should never agree to sinful conduct of others as Christians today, and we certainly shouldn't participate in it. Verse fourteen states, Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her. Amnon would not agree with Tamar and raped her. If we begin to think about evil things, they can often end up in sinful actions. Verse fifteen adds, Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone. Afterwards, Amnon hated Tamar even more than he had claimed to love her. Of course, he had never really loved her to start with, but was only filled with lust for her. Now he blamed her for his sinful action. Those Christians who fall back into sin often look to blame someone else instead of just confessing their sin and asking God's forgiveness. Verse sixteen continues, And she said unto him, There is no cause: this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hearken unto her. Tamar told Amnon that there was no reason to compound the evil by sending her away. Being married to him would be less of an evil than sending her away after he had raped her. She would probably have been the one to bear most of the consequences of his actions. Hopefully, we will never be in a situation where choosing the lesser sin seems to be our only option. If it does, we still should never commit one sin to cover up another. Verse seventeen says, Then he called his servant that ministered unto him, and said, Put now this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her. Amnon called his servants and they ministered to him, and he told them to send away this woman, not even referring to her by name, and to bolt the door behind her. If we have caused someone to sin, there is often a tendency to dehumanize them and put the blame on them. Verse eighteen adds, And she had a garment of divers colours upon her: for with such robes were the king’s daughters that were virgins apparelled. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her. She was wearing a robe of many colors that signified that she was the kings daughter and a virgin. We have no identifying clothing today that signifes that we are a child of the King, but once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we become a child of the King and we should do all that we can under the power of the Holy Spirit to remain pure from sin. Verse nineteen continues, And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying. Tamar no longer felt worthy of the robe and repented by putting ashes on her head and tearing the robe up, even though she had not willingly committed any sin. It is certainly too bad if our actions cause anyone else to feel unworthy before God, Who is our King. Verse twenty concludes, And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? but hold now thy peace, my sister: he is thy brother; regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom’s house. When Absalom knew what had happened, instead of supporting Tamar he told her to not say anything, because Amnon was his brother. He had more loyalty to Amnon than he did to Tamar, even though she was more closely related to him. We certainly should never ask others to keep quiet to cover up the sins of others, especially if they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Having been betrayed by two brothers, Tamar remained desolate in Absalom’s house. Of course, she should have gone to her father, the king, and told him what had happened, but she might have feared that he would take Amnon’s side and have blamed her for his actions. As Christians, we should never be afraid to go to our heavenly Father, the King, if we have been forced into a sinful situation.
No comments:
Post a Comment