Reading: 2 Samuel 13-15, Psalm 90

After the rather well known story of David and Bathsheba, we come to a less well known but very important story in the life of David, a story involving his children. We have seen how the one directive of Deuteronomy 17 that David patently ignores is the prohibition on accumulating many wives. He has seven named wives and indications there were others, as well as a bunch of concubines. Important to the following story, he now he has 19 named sons and some indeterminate number of daughters. They are not all going to get along.

The story we see today involves the eldest son, Amnon, and the two children of Macaah, one of David’s foreign wives, Absalom and Tamar. Yesterday, I made an extended argument as to why I do not believe the David and Bathsheba story is a rape narrative. What we see today is unquestionably exactly that. Amnon conspires with his cousin Jonadab to set up a situation where he can assault Tamar, and he does. Making matters worse, it seems that Tamar was not opposed to the idea of marrying Amnon, as she tells him to speak to their father about it. We of course see the idea of marrying siblings as unacceptable, and the covenant laws forbade it, but in the ancient culture of Tamar’s mother’s people, it would have been fairly normal, especially for royalty. But Amnon isn’t interested in a real marriage relationship and responsibility. Once he has raped her he expels her from the house.

This is very bad for David. Amnon is his eldest son, so he is heir apparent, though in that time and place a king could name any of their children the primary heir, it defaulted to the eldest. David is very angry about the incident, but he doesn’t do anything. David’s son Absalom, Tamar’s brother, is rather more proactive. He makes sure Tamar has a place in his household, and holds his peace for the moment, but he refuses to speak to Amnon. When the opportunity arises, he invites David’s entire household to his sheep-shearing, which was accompanied by a feast. Absalom appears to have been meaning to carry out justice on Amnon right in front of David. But David will not go. Absalom carries out his plan anyway, and then flees the kingdom.

There is more to follow, but it is worth a reminder that the great shortcoming of the last two judges, Eli and Samuel, was a failure to properly discipline their sons. While David has done better than any leader of Israel before him, in this he is following the pattern they set. David had the opportunity to forestall this whole affair by doing justice on Amnon himself, but he does not. Instead it falls to Absalom, who flees to his mother’s city in Geshur.

David goes into a long period of mourning for his sons, and Joab hatches an elaborate plan to return Absalom to the city from his exile. It works, and we are given a description of Absalom that gives us a hint as to why Joab wanted Absalom back- he is the most king-like of David’s sons. He description is like that of Saul: tall and handsome. But Absalom is also capable and quite a cunning warrior. David brings him back but in sign of his displeasure refuses to see him. Absalom displays something of his character in his interaction with Joab. When Joab refuses to return his calls, Absalom sets his field on fire. Nice guy. But it gets the result he wanted, and he is restored to David’s household.

We don’t know if Absalom was always this ambitious, or if while he was in exile with his mother’s people he decided it was better to be king than prince, but he clearly has decided at this point to undermine David and claim the throne. He goes to the gate and spreads word that David is not an effective king, and lets everyone know how much better a king he would be. Once he has gained the good will of enough people, he engineers an opportunity to go to Hebron, where David was first crowned, and has himself declared king. David, realizing that Absalom has won the support of the people, decides to flee the city.

David isn’t leaving unprepared, though. He intends to return, as he leaves the ark in the city and plants spies to ensure he knows what Absalom is up to. No stranger to being a wilderness exile, David heads out of Jerusalem just as Absalom shows up with his army.

Though it seems like a small thing, David’s irresponsible accumulation of wives has led to some major tragedies. His children have raped and murdered one another. One of them is now engaged in overthrowing him. As with yesterday’s story, the lesson here is that authority matters. David’s actions as king have had real consequences, and they will continue through the rest of the book of Samuel.