2 Samuel 13:2

2 Amnon était tourmenté jusqu'à se rendre malade à cause de Tamar, sa soeur; car elle était vierge, et il paraissait difficile à Amnon de faire sur elle la moindre tentative.

2 Samuel 13:2 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 13:2

And Amnon was so vexed
Distressed, straitened, and perplexed in his mind through unruly and unbridled lusts that raged in him:

that he fell sick for his sister Tamar;
as Antiochus son of Seleucus did for his mother in law Stratonice, who, to cure him of it, was delivered to him by his father ^F19:

for she [was] a virgin;
and so kept very recluse from the company of men, that he could not come at her; so Philo ^F20, speaking of the Jewish women, and particularly virgins, says, that they were shut up in their chambers, and through modesty shun the sight of men, even those of their own house; hence they are called (twmle) , from a word which signifies to hide; and Phocylides ^F21 the poet advises to the shutting of them up in like manner:

and Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her;
that it was difficult to have access to her, almost impossible, what he despaired of, and what, if attained to, would be wonderful and amazing; he was at his wits' end how to contrive any scheme to get at her, and obtain his desire.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 See the Universal History, vol. 3. p. 519. Ed. fol.
F20 In Flaccum, p. 977.
F21 Poem. admon. v. 203, 204.

2 Samuel 13:2 In-Context

1 Après cela, voici ce qui arriva. Absalom, fils de David, avait une soeur qui était belle et qui s'appelait Tamar; et Amnon, fils de David, l'aima.

2 Amnon était tourmenté jusqu'à se rendre malade à cause de Tamar, sa soeur; car elle était vierge, et il paraissait difficile à Amnon de faire sur elle la moindre tentative.

3 Amnon avait un ami, nommé Jonadab, fils de Schimea, frère de David, et Jonadab était un homme très habile.

4 Il lui dit: Pourquoi deviens-tu, ainsi chaque matin plus maigre, toi, fils de roi? Ne veux-tu pas me le dire? Amnon lui répondit: J'aime Tamar, soeur d'Absalom, mon frère.

5 Jonadab lui dit: Mets-toi au lit, et fais le malade. Quand ton père viendra te voir, tu lui diras: Permets à Tamar, ma soeur, de venir pour me donner à manger; qu'elle prépare un mets sous mes yeux, afin que je le voie et que je le prenne de sa main.