Tag Archives: Tamar

2 Samuel 13-14

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2 Samuel 13-14

Chapter 13: Ammon Rapes his Sister Tamar

Absalom, the son of David had a sister named Tamar and his brother Amnon was in love with her. Amnon had a friend (who happened to be David’s brother’s son, or Amnon’s cousin) who told him that if he loved her, then he should have her. So Jonadab (Amnon’s cousin) tells Amnon to make himself sick and then ask David to have Tamar come unto him to take care of him and make him food.

So David commands Tamar to come in unto Amnon and make him food. After she made him food, Amnon commands everyone in the room to leave, so that he can be alone with his sister. When his sister came to him to give him food, he grabs her and tells her she should “lie down with him”, but Tamar fights and pleads for him to not do this, because this would be committing a great “folly” (a stupid idea or act). It says that she told him to not do it, but Amnon being stronger than her, was able to force her, that is what we call “RAPE”.  After he is done raping her, he is filled with anger and commands that she leave. Tamar tells him that by telling her to leave and sending her away after he had raped her, was as bad if not worse than the act of raping her in the first place.

From this, we can learn about the Law of Chastity (The law of chastity is a moral code defined by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to the church, chastity means abstinence from sexual relations before marriage, and complete fidelity to one’s husband or wife during marriage), President Ezra Taft Benson once said;

“There is no lasting happiness in immorality…  Just the opposite is true. There may be momentary pleasure… But quickly the relationship will sour. Guild and shame set in… Love begins to die. Bitterness, jealousy, anger and even hate begin to grow. All of these are the natural results of sin and transgression. On the other hand,  when we obey the Law of Chastity and keep ourselves morally clean, we will experience the blessings of increased love and peace, greater trust and respect for our marital partners, deeper commitment to each other, and, therefore a deep and significant sense of joy and happiness.” (“The Law of Chastity,” in Brigham Young University 1987-88 Devotional and Fireside Speeches [1988], 51).

Tamar runs off crying and takes her robe of colors off (that was for virgins), she was ashamed and went to see her brother Absalom, who comforted her and gave her a place to rest from her pain. Absalom was upset and when King David found out, it said that he was “wroth” with anger.

Absalom has Ammon killed under his hand and Absalom flees to Geshur to get away from everything, King David longs for his son Absalom and his comforted by the fact that Ammon is dead!

Chapter 14: Absalom Sees the King after Years

Joab decides to try and reconcile the estranged relationship between Absalom King David. We learned from the last chapter that Absalom fled to a city of refuge and in previous books we learn that cities of refuge were actually designed for the innocent and not for the guilty. They were designed to help get away from someone (after accidental manslaughter) so the next of kin wouldn’t try and take revenge.

Three years has gone by and Joab decides it is time to reconcile with King David. So Joab has an elderly woman come in and talk with David about how she was in similar situation. She mentions that we are like water that is spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. Essentially saying that the day of reconciling must be today, because once we die… there is no way to do it.

Two more years go by and Absalom and King David are finally reconciled.

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Genesis 37-39

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Genesis 37-39

Chapter 37: Joseph Sold into Egypt

Jacob/Israel dwelt in the land of Canaan and loved Joseph more than all of his sons. Because Israel loved Joseph more than all of his other sons (the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah), his other sons despised Joseph because they were jealous.

Israel even gave Joseph a special coat, a coat of many colors. Joseph has a dream that his brothers would bow down to him and this upset everyone. Joseph’s brothers are in the land of Shechem feeding their father’s flock and Israel tells him to go and help them.

Joseph journey’s after his brothers, and when he cannot find them in the field a man tells him that they went down to Dotham, so he travels there, but as he travels his brothers look off from a distance and conspire to kill Joseph. So as Joseph approaches him, they take his coat from him and desire that he be placed into a pit in the wilderness, then cover the coat with sheep’s blood and tell Israel that he was devoured by a wild beast.

After they throw him in the pit, they sit and eat bread, when they notice some Ishmeelite merchants from Gilead coming towards them. So they decide to sell Joseph to these merchants. They sell him for twenty pieces of silver, and they bring Joseph to Egypt. Later he gets sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s in Egypt.

When Joseph’s brothers bring Israel the bloody coat and tell him that he was killed by wild beasts in the wilderness, Israel mourns for many days.

Chapter 38: Judah and Tamar

Judah goes down to a Canaanite named Shuah and lies with her and she bares a son named: Er. Then she conceives again and they name the son: Onan. Then she conceives yet again and bares a son and they name the son: Shelah.

Er marries Tamar and does evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord slays him. Onan by custom would then come in and marry his brother’s widow, to raise seed unto Er. Well Onan does not like this and makes sure that Tamar cannot get pregnant, by “spilling his seed on the ground” (see Genesis 38:8-10), what Onan does, displeases the Lord and he is also slain by the Lord.

Now that Tamar is a widow with no one to take care of her, she is invited to come and live with her father, until Shelah is old enough to marry her. But when Shelah is old enough, Judah does not permit him to marry Tamar. During this time Judah’s wife also dies, so Judah takes a trip to where his sheep are being sheered and by the roadside Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute (because she knew that Judah would be coming that way).

So Judah asks this “prostitute” (not knowing that the “prostitute” was Tamar) to sleep with him, and Tamar asks him: “…What wilt thou give unto me, that thou mayest come in unto me?” (Genesis 38:16), Judah responds: “…I will send thee a kid from the flock (a young goat)… what pledge shall I give thee?” (Genesis 38:17-18) Tamar the “prostitute” asks for his signet, bracelets and staff, because it had his seal on it. Then she “lies” with him and conceives with him.

So, after this Judah sends a friend to bring this “prostitute” her young goats and to collect his things, but cannot find her anywhere. Judah gives up the search, for fear that he be ridiculed. But 3 months later he finds that Tamar is pregnant and commands that she be burnt and Tamar tells him here are the things of the man that I slept with. Judah realizes that it was him and Tamar does not get burnt. Judah also realizes that he was in the wrong, because he never had Shelah marry Tamar. Tamar bares two sons (twins), Pharez and Zarah.

Chapter 39: Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

Joseph was brought down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh buys him from the Ishmeelites. Potiphar sees that the Lord is with Joseph and makes him the overseer of his house. Joseph was a good person and was highly favored. But Potiphar’s wife noticed Joseph and repeatedly asks him to “lie” with her, thus committing adultery.

After several failed attempts by Potiphar’s wife, because Joseph resisted her every single time. Potiphar’s wife grabs his garment as he fled from her one day and falsely accuses Joseph of wanting to lie with her. Potiphar finds out about this and sends Joseph to prison.

But the Lord looked out for Joseph and made the keeper of the prison realize how great Joseph was, and gave him the power to run/control the prison and the prisoners.