When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. 2 Samuel 13:21
The tragic story of Tamar and Amnon revolves around David. Amnon is David’s son (13:1). Absalom is David’s son by another mother (13:1). Jonadab is the son of David’s brother (13:3). Tamar is David’s daughter and she lives in David’s house (13:7).
So what will David do about this outrage in his own family and in the kingdom in which he had been given power and authority? We are told David was very angry. But what did he do? Absolutely nothing.
David does nothing to comfort his daughter. He does nothing to discipline his son. He does not even bring his daughter home (13:20).
The point is often made that David would not have felt that he was in a position to deal with the sin of Amnon because he saw a reflection of his own sin in his son. But that is no excuse for David. As a father he has a duty to love his daughter and a duty to discipline his son, and in these two things he failed completely.
David’s failure left Amnon without discipline, it left Tamar without justice, and the door was opened for Absalom to take the law into his own hands. For David, love seems to have been giving his children whatever they wanted, and then turning a blind eye when there was the most foul sin in his own family.
Absalom hid the truth. David ignored it. But God will not ignore and will not hide what happened to Tamar. God tells her story when no one else will. God says, “This is what happened to my daughter, Tamar. I will not have it hidden and I will not have it ignored.”
Is there a difficult truth you are tempted to ignore rather than openly deal with?
