Amnon, and Tamar - Sin’s Desire and Results

2 Samuel 13:1-22
    1 After this Absalom the son of David had a lovely sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. 2 Amnon was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he became sick; for she was a virgin. And it was improper for Amnon to do anything to her. 3 But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David's brother. Now Jonadab was a very crafty man. 4 And he said to him, “Why are you, the king's son, becoming thinner day after day? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.”
    5 So Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’ ” 6 Then Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let Tamar my sister come and make a couple of cakes for me in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.”
    7 And David sent home to Tamar, saying, “Now go to your brother Amnon's house, and prepare food for him.” 8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was lying down. Then she took flour and kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. 9 And she took the pan and placed them out before him, but he refused to eat. Then Amnon said, “Have everyone go out from me.” And they all went out from him. 10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, that I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them to Amnon her brother in the bedroom. 11 Now when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.”
    12 But she answered him, “No, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing should be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! 13 And I, where could I take my shame? And as for you, you would be like one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you.” 14 However, he would not heed her voice; and being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her.
   15 Then Amnon hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Arise, be gone!  16 So she said to him, “No, indeed! This evil of sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me.”  But he would not listen to her. 17 Then he called his servant who attended him, and said, “Here! Put this woman out, away from me, and bolt the door behind her.” 18 Now she had on a robe of many colors, for the king's virgin daughters wore such apparel. And his servant put her out and bolted the door behind her.
    19 Then Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her robe of many colors that was on her, and laid her hand on her head and went away crying bitterly. 20 And Absalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother; do not take this thing to heart.” So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house.  21 But when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. 22 And Absalom spoke to his brother Amnon neither good nor bad. For Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.

The sin of lustful desires can be stirred up by bad counsel of ungodly friends.  Here were two half brothers and sister with the younger brother listening to the crafty and evil-minded cousin Jonadab.  Amnon the younger lusted for his half sister Tamar but only let that sin come to conception after being persuaded by ungodly advice of the cunning cousin to set a trap to rape her by feigning illness to gain her presence alone in the guise of nursing him with food.  It quickly turns sinister as Amnon followed the ungodly plan and took her to bed against her will; she even pleaded that he go to their father the king for permission to satisfy his supposed love with marriage, but his love was really only physical desire which he satisfied himself with as he dishonored Tamar, then cast her aside in hateful disgust after the rape.  She was devastated, her brother Absalom by the same mother (Maachah) found out what crime against her and the LORD their half brother Amnon had done, and set his vengeful hate in motion with cold calculation.  King David even got wind of what had happened, but it only angered him at what his son had done.  This entire episode shows the danger of allowing sinful desires to fester in the mind while driven by feelings over obedience to God’s moral law.  We see the patten of sin and death laid out in James 1:14-15 from temptation to forbidden desire (1 John 2:15-16) and on to sin in action, ultimately ending in death.  Genesis 4:7 provided the answer to Amnon, that he should beware of sin’s pull to dominate and overtake his willful thoughts and resulting actions, for he and we are to reign in and over that sin of desire (מָשַׁל mâšal, to rule, dominate).  Amnon listened to evil counsel of a cousin leading him away from God’s clear word of commanding counsel for our good, and the result was devastating to his half sister in the act and hatred afterwards, not to mention the long term repercussions to follow in the family.  Our thoughts must be brought into captivity (Romans 7:23) to Christ and His words of command for life and godliness or we will suffer similar consequences.  What dominates us, sinful satisfaction of temporary (Hebrews 11:25) pleasure to suffer the inevitable consequences, or ruling over these temptations to be pleasing to God by willfully yielding to His good design for our thoughts and behavior?