“Where could I go with such shame? And as for you, you will be regarded as one of Israel’s vulgar brutes. Now therefore, please! Speak to the king, because he won’t keep me from you.”-2 Samuel 13:13
When we last left off, things were tense…
And now about to get worse.
Amnon, driven by uncontrolled lust, told his sister Tamar to sleep with him.
What was going on in this guy’s twisted mind?
I do not doubt that, in some deranged way, he thought of this situation as romantic…
And that Tamar also wanted him as much as he wanted her.
The guy was as delusional as he was outta control.
In an attempt to ward off her brother’s advances, Tamar says to him…
“Where could I go with such shame? And as for you, you will be regarded as one of Israel’s vulgar brutes. Now therefore, please! Speak to the king, because he won’t keep me from you.”
That part about speaking to the king because he won’t keep him from her is interesting.
A lot of folks have completely misinterpreted that verse.
They think it means that David would in some way make provision for Amnon and Tamar to be married so they could avoid falling into sexual immorality.
No such thing.
Remember, the Torah forbids sexual relations between a brother and sister…
Again, it doesn’t matter if it’s a half-brother or half-sister.
And NOBODY overrides the Torah…
Not even the King of Israel…
Or even the Messiah…
Ya feel me?
So what’s going on here?
Well, let’s look at things from Tamar’s perspective.
She’s in a terrifying situation.
Imagine being cornered by an uncaged lion…
You have this dangerous beast of prey eyeing you…
And ready to pounce on you at any moment.
How would you feel?
Desperate and ready to do anything to escape, right?
I wish there had been a baseball bat nearby so Tamar could’ve picked it up and conked her brother over the head.
My point is that things had escalated to the point where Tamar was willing to say or do anything to get out of that situation.
So when she said, “Now therefore, please! Speak to the king, because he won’t keep me from you”…
That statement wasn’t based on reality…
It was a desperate ploy to convince her brother to reconsider his actions.
Unfortunately, her plea would fall on deaf ears.
Amnon had likely replayed this moment over and over again in his mind.
The woman he had lusted over to the point of illness was right there in front of him.
And she was alone.
This was his once-in-a-lifetime chance, and he knew it.
The dopamine rushing through his brain would not be denied.
What was once a man had turned into a beast.
He lunged forward and grabbed his sister…
Then he forced himself upon her.
So what’s the takeaway here?
It’s simple.
When lust goes unchecked…
Even a prince can turn into a predator.
Amnon didn’t fall because he was tempted…
He fell because he fed that temptation…
He fantasized about it…
Heck, he even justified it…
And then he let it grow into a monster.
By the time Tamar begged her brother to stop…
It was already too late.
His mind was made up…
And his conscience shut down.
Let that sober you.
Because sin doesn’t start in the bed…
It starts in the brain…
In the imagination…
In those secret thoughts you think nobody sees….
So starve the beast before it grows teeth.
Ya feel me?
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“But I say to you that everyone
who looks at a woman with lustful intent
has already committed adultery
with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5:28
“But each person is tempted
when he is lured and enticed
by his own desire.
Then desire when it has conceived
gives birth to sin,
and sin when it is fully grown
brings forth death.”
James 1:14–15
“But put on the Lord Messiah Yeshua,
and make no provision for the flesh,
to gratify its desires.”
Romans 13:14
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