Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? Now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother; do not take this to heart.” 2 Samuel 13:20
After Tamar’s trauma and ordeal, notice the response of her brother Absalom whom she might have looked to for some help and some comfort.
Absalom is clearly loyal to his sister, but his counsel is sadly mistaken: “Hold your peace!” In other words, “Don’t say anything about this to anyone. Keep quiet and move on.” Then he adds, “Do not take this to heart.” He speaks to Tamar as if what had happened was no big deal. It was all in the family.
But Absalom knew that this was a big deal—so big that he would take the law into his own hands and kill his own brother Amnon as an act of revenge. In fact, Absalom had decided that he would take his brother’s life on the day that Amnon violated his sister (13:32).
What Absalom should have done that day is to confront Amnon with the truth. But he never spoke a word to Amnon (13:22). He simply ignored him. Hatred burned in Absalom’s heart for two years, and in the end that hatred led to the destruction of his own life as well as Amnon’s.
Is there a grievance you are hiding in your heart that you may need to confront somebody about?
