2 Samuel 13:13

13 For I shall not be able to bear my shame, and thou shalt be as one of the unwise men, (or the fools,) in Israel; but rather speak thou to the king, and he shall not deny me to thee.

2 Samuel 13:13 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 13:13

And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go?
&c.] She desires him to consider hey reputation, which would be lost; was she to go into a corner, into a place the most private and retired, yet she would blush at the thought of the crime committed; and still less able would she be to lift up her face in any public company; nor could she ever expect to be admitted into the matrimonial state; in short, her character would be entirely ruined:

and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel;
as the vilest and basest and most abandoned in the nation; who ought of all men to be most careful of his reputation, being a prince in Israel, and heir apparent to the throne:

now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king:
to give me to thee in marriage:

for he will not withhold me from thee;
this she said, either as ignorant of the law, which forbids such marriages, or as supposing the king had a power to dispense with it, and, rather than he should die for love, would; though she seems to say this, and anything that occurred to her mind, to put him off of his wicked design for the present, holding then she should be delivered from him; besides, she was not his sister by the mother's side, and, as the Jews say, was born of a captive woman before she was proselyted and married to David, and so was free for Amnon F26; and others say F1 she was the daughter of Maacah by a former husband, and not by David.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 Maimon. Hilchot Melacim, c. 8. sect. 8. Kimchi in 2 Sam. xiii. 1.
F1 R. Moses Kotzensis, pr. affirm. 122.

2 Samuel 13:13 In-Context

11 And when she had proffered the meat to him, he took her, and said, Come thou, my sister, lie thou with me. (And when she offered him the food, he took hold of her, and said, Come thou, my sister, lie thou with me/sleep with me.)
12 And she answered to him, My brother, do not thou, do not thou oppress me, for this is not leaveful in Israel (for this is not lawful in Israel); do not thou do this folly.
13 For I shall not be able to bear my shame, and thou shalt be as one of the unwise men, (or the fools,) in Israel; but rather speak thou to the king, and he shall not deny me to thee.
14 Soothly he would not assent to her prayers; but he was stronger in mights, and oppressed her, and lay with her.
15 And then (afterward,) with full great hatred Amnon hated her, so that the hatred was greater, by which he hated her, than the love by which he (had) loved her before. And Amnon said to her, Rise thou (up), and go.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.