22 and Absalom hath not spoken with Amnon either evil or good, for Absalom is hating Amnon, because that he humbled Tamar his sister.
And God cometh in unto Laban the Aramaean in a dream of the night, and saith to him, `Take heed to thyself lest thou speak with Jacob from good unto evil.'
`Thou dost not hate thy brother in thy heart; thou dost certainly reprove thy fellow, and not suffer sin on him. `Thou dost not take vengeance, nor watch the sons of thy people; and thou hast had love to thy neighbour as thyself; I `am' Jehovah.
Every one who is hating his brother -- a man-killer he is, and ye have known that no man-killer hath life age-during in him remaining,
my hand is to God to do evil with you, but the God of your father yesternight hath spoken unto me, saying, Take heed to thyself from speaking with Jacob from good unto evil.
Thy cause plead with thy neighbour, And the secret counsel of another reveal not,
By his lips doth a hater dissemble, And in his heart he placeth deceit,
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, For anger in the bosom of fools resteth.
`And if thy brother may sin against thee, go and show him his fault between thee and him alone, if he may hear thee, thou didst gain thy brother;
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice,
he who is saying, in the light he is, and his brother is hating, in the darkness he is till now;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Samuel 13
Commentary on 2 Samuel 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
The righteous God had lately told David, by Nathan the prophet, that, to chastise him for his son in the matter of Uriah, he would "raise up evil against him out of his own house,' (ch. 12:11). And here, in the very next chapter, we find the evil beginning to rise; henceforward he was followed with one trouble after another, which made the latter part of his reign less glorious and pleasant than the former part. Thus God chastened him with the rod of men, yet assured him that his "loving-kindness he would not utterly take away.' Adultery and murder were David's sins, and those sins among his children (Amnon defiling his sister Tamar, and Absalom murdering his brother Amnon) were the beginnings of his punishment, and the more grievous because he had reason to fear that his bad example might help to bring them to these wickednesses. In this chapter we have,
Both were great griefs to David, and the more because he was unwittingly made accessory to both, by sending Tamar to Amnon and Amnon to Absalom.
2Sa 13:1-20
We have here a particular account of the abominable wickedness of Amnon in ravishing his sister, a subject not fit to be enlarged upon nor indeed to be mentioned without blushing, that ever any man should be so vile, especially that a son of David should be so. Amnon's character, we have reason to think, was bad in other things; if he had not forsaken God, he would never have been given up to these vile affections. Godly parents have often been afflicted with wicked children; grace does not run in the blood, but corruption does. We do not find that David's children imitated him in his devotion; but his false steps they trod in, and in those did much worse, and repented not. Parents know not how fatal the consequences may be if in any instance they give their children bad examples. Observe the steps of Amnon's sin.
2Sa 13:21-29
What Solomon says of the beginning of strife is as true of the beginning of all sin, it is as the letting forth of water; when once the flood-gates are plucked up, an inundation follows; one mischief begets another, and it is hard to say what shall be in the end thereof.
2Sa 13:30-39
Here is,