2 Samuel 13:21

21 cum autem audisset rex David verba haec contristatus est valde

2 Samuel 13:21 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 13:21

But when King David heard of all these things
Of Amnon's ravishing Tamar, and turning her out of doors in that inhuman manner he did, and of her distress upon it:

he was very wroth;
with Amnon; but we read not of any reproof he gave him, nor of any punishment inflicted on him by him. Abarbinel thinks the reason why he was not punished was because his sin was not cognizable by a court of judicature, nor was punishable by any way, or with any kind of death inflicted by the sanhedrim, as stoning, burning, &c. nor even by scourging, because there were no witnesses; but the punishment of it was cutting off, i.e. by the hand of God. The Jews say

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 a law was made on this, that virgins or unmarried persons should not be alone; for if this was done to the daughter of a king, much more might it be done to the daughter of a private man; and if to a modest person, much more to an impudent one.

F5 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 21. 1.

2 Samuel 13:21 In-Context

19 quae aspergens cinerem capiti suo scissa talari tunica inpositisque manibus super caput suum ibat ingrediens et clamans

20 dixit autem ei Absalom frater suus num Amnon frater tuus concubuit tecum sed nunc soror tace frater tuus est neque adfligas cor tuum pro re hac mansit itaque Thamar contabescens in domo Absalom fratris sui

21 cum autem audisset rex David verba haec contristatus est valde

22 porro non est locutus Absalom ad Amnon nec malum nec bonum oderat enim Absalom Amnon eo quod violasset Thamar sororem suam

23 factum est autem post tempus biennii ut tonderentur oves Absalom in Baalasor quae est iuxta Ephraim et vocavit Absalom omnes filios regis