This chapter is the culmination of the tragic story of Amnon and Tamar. It’s been three years since the death of Amnon at Absolom’s hands and David’s heart is still heavy. Joab convinces a wise woman to tell an elaborate story to tug at David’s heart to convince him to allow his son Absolom to return to Jerusalem.
Author: Daniel
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2nd Samuel 13 — tying up loose ends
This discussion wraps up some dangling questions about the events that lead to Amnon’s death, Absolom’s exile and Absolom’s eventual return to Jerusalem. We also learn more about how cunning Jonadab really is and how this story gives us insights into the character of the Messiah and Satan.
Many passages in the Bible were written with a chiastic structure, which is like rhyming patterns in poetry but pairing similar information or concepts instead. That’s one reason why some passages seem to be highly repetitive. The point of chiastic structures is to point the reader to a key concept. Daniel explains that the Book of Esther is one large chiastic structure, focusing on a messianic prophecy in the middle.
We will compare three tragic “couples”: Adam and Eve, David and Bathsheba, and Ammon and Tamar. God repeats a story three times to help teach us a lesson about sin and transgression.
He’s also introducing Absolom as a Messianic figure. From here, we will be following his life closely for messianic clues.
After the prophet Natan (Nathan) confronted David over his adultery with bat-Sheba (Bathsheba) and murder of her husband, Uriah, David expresses true repentance — revealed in Psalm 51 — and is granted mercy.
This is the second time Nathan had to come to David with a word from the Lord, at least the second time recorded in Scripture. But this time David spoke the prophetic word upon himself.
David committed a series of sins that started out minor and culminated in the most egregious of sins of adultery and murder. This tragedy sets up a series of later tragedies that nearly take David off the throne permanently but they also harken back to the story of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace.