David's sons are on their way to the palace in Jerusalem but before they can get there, a rumor reaches him that every one of his sons is dead. This is an example of why the expression exists that, "Bad news travels fast." This particular bad news is not true news but it reaches David before his sons do. "While they were on their way, the report came to David: 'Absalom has struck down all the king's sons; not one of them is left.' The king stood up, tore his clothes and lay down on the ground; and all his attendants stood by him with their clothes torn." (2 Samuel 13:30-31) Another expression you may be familiar with is, "Prostrate with grief." David is literally prostrate with grief. He cannot react to such terrible news in any way other than to lie facedown on the floor, weeping. His attendants don't know anything to do except to share in his grief and provide the comforting support of their close presence.
While David lies prostrate on the floor, he receives another message that corrects the first message. Amnon's advisor Jonadab, who is David's nephew, arrives with an eye-witness account of the event. "But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, 'My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom's express intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.'" (2 Samuel 13:32-33)
Jonadab bears a great deal of the blame for this whole situation. He is the very one, earlier in our chapter, who advised Amnon to arrange to be alone with Tamar. Jonadab didn't come right out and advise Amnon to rape Tamar but that's what was implied by his instructions. We can hardly imagine Jonadab thought Tamar---virtuous virgin daughter of the king---could be seduced into going to bed with her half-brother. He had to have known Amnon would need to force himself upon her in order to lie with her. What did Jonadab think the outcome of such a thing would be? That the king would agree to a marriage between Amnon and Tamar? Possibly, for although it was against the law in Leviticus for half-siblings to marry, Jonadab knew David would have made an exception if, upon finding out Amnon had already slept with Tamar, he was asked to make an exception. Allowing the marriage would have given Tamar the dignity of a married woman and the status of the wife of the presumed future king of Israel. In addition, it would have ensured that if a child was conceived during the sexual encounter it would not be born outside of marriage.
So when Jonadab sinfully suggested that Amnon should arrange to be alone with Tamar, he may have thought marriage with Tamar is what Amnon wanted since he had stated, "I'm in love with her." I do not think Jonadab foresaw Amnon throwing Tamar out of his house and refusing to ever see her again after raping her. I don't think Jonadab foresaw David not making Amnon marry her, or Absalom harboring a murderous hatred toward Amnon, or Absalom ordering Amnon killed two years after the event occurred. But Jonadab is not blameless by any means; David just doesn't know about his part in this terrible tragedy. Because Jonadab is aware of his guilt, he tries to place everyone's attention firmly on Absalom by saying, "He's plotted this all along! Ever since the day Amnon raped Tamar, Absalom has intended to kill him. This is premeditated murder. But at least you have the comfort, my king, of knowing that only Amnon is dead. All your other sons are alive and well."
If Jonadab had truly known or suspected that Absalom was plotting Amnon's death, it would have been his duty to bring the plot to the attention of his employer and to the attention of his king. But he never had any inkling such a plot was afoot. In the first days, weeks, or even months after Amnon raped Tamar, the household may have been on high alert to any threats from Absalom, but after two full years no one was on high alert anymore. If they had been, Amnon would not have accepted Absalom's invitation to attend his feast. Jonadab is trying to deflect any attention from his own part in this matter by focusing everyone's attention on Absalom's guilt and also (without coming out and saying it) by making David feel guilty for not taking charge of the situation when Amnon raped Tamar. David does bears a great deal of responsibility for the events of today's text, for if he had taken charge of the situation and made Amnon marry Tamar according to the law we previously studied in Deuteronomy, Amnon would still be alive and well. In addition, Absalom would not be living in exile, which is where he will be for the next three years. "Meanwhile, Absalom had fled." (2 Samuel 13:34a)
"Now the man standing watch looked up and saw many people on the road west of him, coming down the side of the hill. The watchman went and told the king, 'I see men in the direction of Horonaim, on the side of the hill.' Jonadab said to the king, 'See, the king's sons have come; it has happened just as your servant said.' As he finished speaking, the king's sons came in, wailing loudly. The king, too, and all his attendants wept very bitterly. Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But King David mourned many days for his son." (2 Samuel 13:34b-37) Talmai, the king of Geshur, is Absalom's grandfather on his mother's side. We were told in 2 Samuel 3:3 that Absalom's mother, Maakah, was the daughter of Talmai, the king of Geshur.
It is not completely certain who the Geshurites were. Many scholars believe they were an Aramean tribe. Their territory lay east of the Jordan River, within the region Moses agreed to give to the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Joshua 13:13 tells us that the Israelites did not drive the Geshurites out of their portion of the promised land but that they co-existed with them instead. This explains why David was friendly enough with the king of Geshur to have married a princess of Geshur. This marriage was likely more of a political match rather than a romantic match. Nevertheless, when Absalom commits a capital crime and is afraid of being arrested and executed for it, he flees to the capital city of Geshur (generally believed to be the city known as Bethsaida in the Bible) for asylum where he is protected by King Talmai. Excavations of Bethsaida have shown the walls to have been at least six feet thick---too thick to break through, thick enough for large numbers of armed soldiers to have stood on top of them to defend the city from invaders. Talmai was in a good position to prevent anyone from coming to his city to take his grandson away by force, which David has no intention of doing, as we'll see shortly.
"After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years. And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he was consoled concerning Amnon's death." (2 Samuel 13:38-39) David has, in a sense, lost two sons. Amnon is dead and Absalom is living across the Jordan where David cannot see him or talk with him. If any other man had killed the crown prince of Israel, we can be sure a warrant would have been issued for his arrest. A bounty would have been on his head. But David, likely due to his own guilt in this tragic tale along with the fact that he is the father of the guilty party, does not charge Absalom with premeditated murder and issue a warrant for his arrest. Instead he longs to see him. He mourns for him almost as much as for the dead Amnon---more perhaps, for after three years have passed his grief for this deceased son is not as sharp. He has also, perhaps, had to acknowledge Amnon's many shortcomings to which he willfully blinded himself while Amnon was still alive. Amnon was not a good man. The nation would not have fared well under Amnon's leadership had he become king someday. Sad as David is to have lost this son, I think he can't help realizing that Amnon did not have the best character for leading the nation, leading the army, or leading the family.
Join us tomorrow as we take a more detailed look at the complicated dynamics at work in David's family and discuss his reasons for doing---or not doing---certain things to remedy the family dysfunction.
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