2 Samuel 13:2

2 et deperiret eam valde ita ut aegrotaret propter amorem eius quia cum esset virgo difficile ei videbatur ut quippiam inhoneste ageret cum ea

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 factum est autem post haec ut Absalom filii David sororem speciosissimam vocabulo Thamar adamaret Amnon filius David

2 et deperiret eam valde ita ut aegrotaret propter amorem eius quia cum esset virgo difficile ei videbatur ut quippiam inhoneste ageret cum ea

3 erat autem Amnonis amicus nomine Ionadab filius Semaa fratris David vir prudens valde

4 qui dixit ad eum quare sic adtenuaris macie fili regis per singulos dies cur non indicas mihi dixitque ei Amnon Thamar sororem Absalom fratris mei amo

5 cui respondit Ionadab cuba super lectulum tuum et languorem simula cumque venerit pater tuus ut visitet te dic ei veniat oro Thamar soror mea ut det mihi cibum et faciat pulmentum ut comedam de manu eius