2 Samuel 13:6

6 So Ammon lay down, and made as if he were sick: and when the king came to visit him, Ammon said to the king: I pray thee let my sister Thamar come, and make in my sight two little messes, that I may eat at her hand.

2 Samuel 13:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 13:6

So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick
Took the advice of his cousin Jonadab, and acted according to it:

and when the king was come to see him;
as he quickly did, after he had heard of his illness:

Amnon said unto the king;
who perhaps inquired of his appetite, whether he could eat anything, and what:

I pray thee let my sister Tamar come;
he calls her sister, as Jonadab had directed, the more to blind his design; though it is much that so sagacious a man as David was had not seen through it; but the notion he had of his being really ill, and the near relation between him and Tamar, forbad his entertaining the least suspicion of that kind:

and make me a couple of cakes in my sight;
heart cakes, as the word may be thought to signify; called so either from the form of them, such as We have with us, or from the effect of them, comforting and refreshing the heart:

that I may eat at her hand;
both what is made by her hand, and received from it.

2 Samuel 13:6 In-Context

4 And he said to him: Why dost thou grow so lean from day to day, O son of the king? why dost thou not tell me the reason of it? And Ammon said to him: I am in love with Thamar the sister of my brother Absalom.

5 And Jonadab said to him: Lie down upon thy bed, and feign thyself sick: and when thy father shall come to visit thee, say to him: Let my sister Thamar, I pray thee, come to me, to give me to eat, and to make me a mess, that I may eat it at her hand.

6 So Ammon lay down, and made as if he were sick: and when the king came to visit him, Ammon said to the king: I pray thee let my sister Thamar come, and make in my sight two little messes, that I may eat at her hand.

7 Then David sent home to Thamar, saying: Come to the house of thy brother Ammon, and make him a mess.

8 And Thamar came to the house of Ammon her brother: but he was laid down: and she took meal and tempered it: and dissolving it in his sight she made little messes.