What is the meaning of 2 Samuel 13:17? Instead Tamar had pleaded, “Do not banish me, for this wrong is greater than the other you have done to me” (2 Samuel 13:16). Instead of compassion, Amnon immediately shifts to rejection. The word signals a hard pivot away from any righteous response prescribed in Deuteronomy 22:28-29, which required a man who violated a virgin to marry and never divorce her. Like Cain’s response to God’s warning in Genesis 4:8, Amnon chooses sin over repentance. he called to his attendant • Amnon’s first move is to summon a servant, distancing himself from the consequences of his actions—similar to how Jezebel used elders to frame Naboth (1 Kings 21:11). • By involving the attendant, Amnon leverages his royal authority (contrast Ecclesiastes 8:4) while avoiding personal responsibility. • Tamar, who had served him food moments earlier, is now treated as someone unworthy of his own words. and said, The prince issues an order without hesitation. • This rapid command shows cold calculation after lust is satisfied (James 1:14-15). • David’s son acts like a king, yet violates the heart of the law that his father was sworn to uphold (2 Samuel 12:10). Throw this woman out • “This woman” strips Tamar of her identity; he will not even say her name. Compare Pharaoh’s dismissive “Take your flocks and herds and be gone!” (Exodus 12:32). • Amnon’s contempt fulfills Nathan’s prophecy that David’s own house would be filled with violence (2 Samuel 12:11). • Tamar, the sister he once claimed to love, is now discarded like the Levite’s concubine in Judges 19:25-26—an object experienced, then expelled. and bolt the door behind her! • Bolting the door completes the humiliation: Tamar is shut out of the very room where her honor was stolen, much like the proverbial slamming of a door on reconciliation (cf. Matthew 25:10). • The locked door also protects Amnon’s reputation, hiding his sin from prying eyes, a futile effort later exposed (Numbers 32:23). • For Tamar, that closed door seals her social fate; she will remain “desolate in her brother Absalom’s house” (2 Samuel 13:20). summary 2 Samuel 13:17 captures the cruelty of a heart hardened by selfish lust. The contrast (“Instead”) shows Amnon rejecting both Tamar’s plea and God’s law. Calling the attendant and issuing the command reveals calculated misuse of authority. By saying “Throw this woman out,” Amnon dehumanizes Tamar, and bolting the door finalizes her shame while attempting to shield himself. The verse stands as a sobering reminder that unchecked sin leads to callousness, injustice, and lasting devastation within families and nations. |
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