The Royal Family Scandal

“Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to thy brother Amnon’s house, and dress him meat. So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was laid down. And she took flour, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes.” [2 Samuel 13:7-8 KJV]

Amnon slept with his sister and created a ROYAL SCANDAL that affected Jesus Christ and you. It was an incident with eternal consequence, which affects you. Yes, it affects you!

This story would make a blockbuster sinister film if it were made in Hollywood. But it was a true story about a tragic royal family incestual scandal. As darkness descends upon the world and thick darkness descends upon the people of the world. A story like this no longer surprises, especially in light of the recent cases of the American Pizzagate, the billion-dollar racket of international child trafficking, and the alleged paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein with the Ghislaine Maxwell saga.

The story went forth in 2 Samuel 13 verses 1 to 20, Good News Bible version reads:
1.  David’s son Absalom had a beautiful unmarried sister named Tamar. Amnon, another of David’s sons, fell in love with her.
2.  He was so much in love with her that he became sick, because it seemed impossible for him to have her; as a virgin, she was kept from meeting men.
3.  But he had a friend, a very shrewd man named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shammah.
4.  Jonadab said to Amnon, “You are the king’s son, yet day after day I see you looking sad. What’s the matter?” “I’m in love with Tamar, the sister of my half brother Absalom,” he answered.
5.  Jonadab said to him, “Pretend that you are sick and go to bed. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please ask my sister Tamar to come and feed me. I want her to fix the food here where I can see her, and then serve it to me herself.’ ”
6.  So Amnon pretended that he was sick and went to bed. King David went to see him, and Amnon said to him, “Please let Tamar come and make a few cakes here where I can see her, and then serve them to me herself.”
7.  So David sent word to Tamar in the palace: “Go to Amnon’s house and fix him some food.”
8.  She went there and found him in bed. She took some dough, prepared it, and made some cakes there where he could see her. Then she baked the cakes
9.  and emptied them out of the pan for him to eat, but he wouldn’t. He said, “Send everyone away”—and they all left.
10.  Then he said to her, “Bring the cakes here to my bed and serve them to me yourself.” She took the cakes and went over to him.
11.  As she offered them to him, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me!”
12.  “No,” she said. “Don’t force me to do such a degrading thing! That’s awful!
13.  How could I ever hold up my head in public again? And you—you would be completely disgraced in Israel. Please, speak to the king, and I’m sure that he will give me to you.”
14.  But he would not listen to her; and since he was stronger than she was, he overpowered her and raped her.
15.  Then Amnon was filled with a deep hatred for her; he hated her now even more than he had loved her before. He said to her, “Get out!”
16.  “No,” she answered. “To send me away like this is a greater crime than what you just did!” But Amnon would not listen to her;
17.  he called in his personal servant and said, “Get this woman out of my sight! Throw her out and lock the door!”
18.  The servant put her out and locked the door. Tamar was wearing a long robe with full sleeves, the usual clothing for an unmarried princess in those days.
19.  She sprinkled ashes on her head, tore her robe, and with her face buried in her hands went away crying.
20.  When her brother Absalom saw her, he asked, “Has Amnon molested you? Please, sister, don’t let it upset you so much. He is your half brother, so don’t tell anyone about it.” So Tamar lived in Absalom’s house, sad and lonely.

If you look at Tamar’s sad experience as just a story, one that exposed the dark secrets of a wonderful royal family, you will feel sad, if not depressed, for the victim in the circumstance, Tamar. God, in His manifold wisdom, allowed it to happen and be recorded in the Bible so that we could learn from it and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. But, that is not all. It goes much deeper than that, even back to the Fall in the Garden and then to the Resurrection.

While the above story is traumatic, it should also make us ask the Holy Spirit to reveal why it was included in the Bible. Obviously, you shouldn’t be washing your dirty linen in public as it would only put you in a bad light. Not God, He has no bad linen to wash except this matter that affects you and me.

The Spirit’s answers are always comforting and exciting as He makes us see a bigger picture of God’s canvas despite the stain of sin.

More importantly, you are affected by the Royal Family’s scandal.

How Does Tamar’s life Affect You?

1. Tamar did not go by her own ordination.
2. Tamar was obedient to her father.
3. Tamar was so naive (no one could have suspected the outcome).
4. Such evil had never happened before. There was no precedence.
5. What went wrong with her?
6. Must she bear the consequence of someone else’s evil against her for the rest of her life?
7. Should her honour and her happiness be sacrificed to satisfy his uncontrollable passion?
8. Shouldn’t there be compensation (justice) for her?

Jonadab is the instrument of Satan. He is the allegory of the world. His mind has access to the tools of deception. He has all the subtleties of lust. He can scheme all sorts of mischief without blinking at the consequence and damage it can cause. What does he care? His loyalty resides in the bosom of narcissism, he just can’t be bothered. His reasoning is that the end justifies the means.

Today, we have some modern-day Jonadabs who behave exactly like this in the Church. They engage in activities that endanger the lives of others, whom Christ died for, by setting up their brother or sister in the household of faith for a trap. But, it is evil, and not from God. As Jesus said, “it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea” (Mark 9:42).

Amnon is an allegory for the soul. Fallen in nature, corrupted by the influences of Satan and the world. With an unclean mind, its will is not strong enough to resist a destructive future, its intelligence is blinded by lust and its emotions are already wrongly inflamed. It is now set to defy the laws of God and face the consequence.

It is written, “the wages of sin is death …. the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Romans 6:23 and Ezekiel 18:4).

A lot can be said about Amnon, who should have been a protective element around her sister, but he turned out to be her source of destruction.

The king sent Tamar on an errand, so Tamar went. She was an obedient child. Beautiful and charming, innocent and elegantly quiet. Unassuming and alluring at the same time. Tamar is an allegory for the body. The body has been an unwilling participant in the soul’s exploits. Once she was abused, losing her virginity in the process, her fate was sealed. Her glory was turned into shame. She became obscure, never to be heard or considered as someone worthy of a presence again.

If anyone deserved a happy ending, it was Tamar. But once Absalom took her into his home to care for her, she disappeared. Nothing to be heard from her again. We can easily conclude that her life was taken away from her that day. She died within.

She did everything right, except for one thing, her choice of solace. Tamar’s need for consolation and comfort in the arms of her brother was the worst decision she ever made. It doomed her future. She should not have gone into the care of Absalom, but of her father who sent her on the errand. She was trying to work it out herself. Unfortunately, all our righteousness is like filthy rags.

Adam did not create himself. He was brought into an environment that had a tree of the knowledge of good and evil existing. Was God to be blamed? Not at all. There was an enemy who just hated all that was good. And like Jesus said, “An enemy hath done this”. [Matthew 13:28]

If only she had gone back to her father, he would definitely have found a way to make his daughter happy and live a deserved happy ending. She should have sought justice and redemption in the house of her father who put her in that position. His house is the house of prayer.

While we always see the relationship of Christ and the Church as that of Bridegroom and Bride, we have overlooked a beautiful side of God, that of the precious Father that He is. This royal scandal would ultimately indicate the justice of God. While Absalom tried to mete justice for Tamar by killing Amnon, it was not God’s way.

Tamar’s ultimate compensation would truly wipe out every tear she shed and make her forget her past.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” [Revelation 21:4]

David, the King, is an allegory for God. We see Him in the Son, coming into the world to die for His daughter. He simply exchanged His clean life for that of His abused daughter. Before He gave this life to His daughter, He demonstrated the glory of the new life over a period of forty days.

The justice for Tamar would be redemption with a completely new body, a gift from her Father. A transformed body that is much more glorious than her first estate. It would more than compensate for her loss.

The justice for Adam and his wife was a life that is beyond defilement and reproach. The Father’s plan was perfect. His Spirit would come into the abused body to restore it to newness.

“The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.” [Haggai 2:9]

By His Spirit, He would bring complete redemption to the body by giving her a new and glorious body, full of life, never to be subjected to abuse or decay again. But, Tamar cannot receive the new body without the vicarious death of His Son, Jesus Christ. The new body needs a life that cannot be abused by Satan, sin, sickness or death.

Paul wrote this clearly in Romans 8:23, “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” The Holy Spirit in you is working and redeeming your body as you grow by grace and truth.

Jesus showcased this body. One that cannot be overcome by any evil, sickness or disease. In this new body, death cannot touch “Tamar”. It will not be subject to the harassment of the elements again, which means it will never be raped again. It is indeed a glorious body. Full of life!

Were you born with some disability? Were you a child of rape? Did witchcraft powers try to make your life miserable? Were you sold into some form of life’s slavery by people you trusted? Don’t ever think God is ignorant of what may have befallen you! Your life may have been a scandal, but God is looking forward to you coming to Him and speaking to Him about it.

Beloved of God, rejoice, this is the Good News! Your life is made anew in Christ. But, He did not stop there, His very life, called Eternal Life, abides in you. You must be aware of this.

Many still cannot fathom why God raised Jesus “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come and … raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus!” (Ephesians 1:21; 2:6)

Saint, it was because of you. Christ needn’t any raising were it not because He had to raise the abused Adam from the grave. It was because of you that He went through the shock of angels to cause the scandal of dying for His beloved. The royal scandal became the royal exaltation and celebration.

“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit…. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” [1 Corinthians 15:45-49]

Amen.

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https://bible.com/bible/1/2sa.13.7-8.KJV