Useful Bible Studies > 2 Samuel Commentary > chapter 13

Amnon forces Tamar to have sex

2 Samuel 13:14

Amnon had pretended to be so weak that he could not even get up from bed. Now, he used his physical strength to take advantage of Tamar, his sister. He forced her to have sex with him.

Let us consider how this act is against God’s law. People often expect the Bible to contain rules and punishments for every kind of evil act. However, it does not. Instead, the Bible’s laws are like lessons, to teach people how God wants them to live.

There are clear rules in the Bible against the man who has sex with his sister (Leviticus 18:9, 18:11 and 20:17). Those rules refer particularly to the situation where, as here, the brother and sister have the same father but different mothers. The Bible declares this to be a very serious crime.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29 deals with the situation where a man forces an unmarried woman to have sex. He must make a payment to the woman’s family as his punishment. He has a duty to marry the woman; the woman might demand this because afterwards, it might be difficult for her to find another husband.

God’s commands in Exodus 20:1-17 teach the same lessons more simply. God hates wrong sex acts (Exodus 20:14). He also hates murder (Exodus 20:13). So, he hates it whenever someone deals with another person in a cruel way. He hates the lies that people tell (Exodus 20:16). He hates wrong and evil desires, including the wrong desire to use another person for sex (Exodus 20:17).

Next part: True love or mere emotion? (2 Samuel 13:15)

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