What is the meaning of 2 Samuel 13:15? Then Amnon hated Tamar • Having forced Tamar (see 2 Samuel 13:11-14), Amnon’s craving instantly curdles into revulsion. • Sin always betrays the sinner; Proverbs 5:3-4 reminds us, “the lips of an adulteress drip honey… but in the end she is bitter as wormwood.” • What he once “loved” was not Tamar herself but the gratification of lust (James 1:14-15). When lust is spent, emptiness and self-loathing rush in. • Amnon’s hatred fulfills the warning of 2 Samuel 12:10 that violence would rise within David’s house because of David’s own sin. with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had • Lust inflates feelings that masquerade as love; true love “is patient, is kind… keeps no account of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). • Because his “love” lacked covenant commitment, it flips to a stronger opposite (Song of Songs 8:6 shows genuine love’s permanence). • Jesus models real love—self-giving rather than self-serving—“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Amnon’s counterfeit exposes itself by the violent swing from desire to disgust. “Get up!” he said to her • The command piles humiliation on trauma. Genesis 34:2-3 contrasts Shechem’s “love” for Dinah after assault, yet even that pagan acted more tenderly than Amnon. • Old-covenant law required a man who violated a virgin to protect her through marriage and lifelong provision (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). Amnon instead orders Tamar to leave immediately, trampling her dignity and God’s revealed will. • His tone echoes the cruelty in Judges 19:25, where a woman is discarded after being abused—sin repeats its patterns when unchecked. “Be gone!” • The abrupt dismissal deepens Tamar’s disgrace; she herself recognizes the second injury (2 Samuel 13:16). • Hatred now drives Amnon to isolation, a hallmark of sin’s fruits; Cain likewise withdrew from Abel before murdering him (Genesis 4:5-8). • Leviticus 19:18 forbids hatred of a brother, commanding love instead. Amnon violates both familial and divine law, compounding guilt. • The passage foreshadows the broader unraveling in David’s house: Absalom will later say “Go” to Amnon—permanently (2 Samuel 13:28-29). summary Amnon’s instant switch from obsessive “love” to consuming hatred exposes the hollowness of lust and the destructive power of sin. True, covenantal love reflects God’s character and seeks the other’s good; counterfeit love terminates once desires are met, leaving shame, hatred, and broken relationships in its wake. 2 Samuel 13:15 stands as a sober warning: unchecked desire leads not to fulfillment but to alienation from God and neighbor, proving once more that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). |
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