It has not just been since Monday that I have been working (struggling) with the following post. I wrote the study for this chapter more than 6 months ago--at the height of my gestational depression--and I have come to realize that this chapter is the reason it took me so long to get back here. This is a tough one. As some of you know, when I started this whole-Bible study adventure, I felt extremely ill-equipt. But I was continually amazed at the insight the Lord poured into my heart as I started to type my notes into the website. Today I am feeling the same way I did when I started.
So bear with me as I muddle through this emotionally-driven passage of Scripture. I think you'll be surprised at the blessings He has prepared for us through it.
v1 Even as we are introduced to the cast of characters, I am struggling with the use of the word "love" in verse one. As we will soon find out, Amnon did NOT LOVE Tamar.
v2 Because she was a virgin, there would eventually be evidence of his actions with her. Was this royal family so used to debauchery that it was normal to act out with anyone they wanted?
v3 Again, the wording is getting to me. This describes Jonadab as a "shrewd" man. I have always understood shrewd to mean wise or thoughful--positive traits. This man is calculating and coniving.
v7-9 Each step toward the violent deed makes me sick as I read of it. Why!? Why didn't anyone see what was happening?
v12 Tamar has the presence of mind to try to reason with him. Remember who you are! You are an Israelite! You are not one to bring disgrace to your family!
v13 She tries another angle. What about me? Think what the consequences will be for me. Think what this will do to the way people see you. It doesn't have to be this way! And then, in what I see is the absolute last hope of stopping him: Our father would give me to you in marriage if you would only ask him. This girl is desperate to stop her brother.
Tamar does everything right. She is calm and reasonable. She doesn't insult him or degrade him, which might have caused things to escalate. But sometimes, even when you do everything right, the worst still happens.
v14 And it did here,too.
v15 "...for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her." Isn't that a statement! He had never loved her. Not really. It was only lust, greed, desire. Love does not delight in evil. Love always protects.
v16-18 And on top of her shame he adds public disgrace.
v19 Acting out her shame. Mourning the loss of her purity, her innocence, her happy future.
v20-23 Absalom lies in wait like a spider with its prey. Two full years! How does David's reaction resonate with you? So he was very angry...then what? I found myself extremely frustrated by this. Was his lack of action about Amnon having more basic rights than Tamar, as a man? Being a potential future king?
v25-27 Extreme pre-meditation. He threw David off by first requesting that he go along. Amnon seems like a consolation, when all along he was really the target.
v29 The king's sons have no sense of loyalty to each other. They just want to get out as soon as possible.
v32 Here is Jonadab again, part of every devious plot in the kingdom.
v35 And Jonadab seems like the loyal, dependable advisor.
As I said when I started this chapter with you, it is one I have been struggling with for months. How could God allow such a terrible thing to happen to an innocent young woman? Where was her father? Why did he not protect her, or at the very least avenge her? Why is the one man who loved her (Absalom) forced to take matters into his own hands?
These questions were swirling in my head and were causing much distress. And then it hit me. God didn't cause this sweet girl to be attacked. She was hurt by and evil man who took advantage of the free will that each of us was given. The fact that he was allowed to live his life for two years without consequence is disgusting and horrible. I don't even want to think about the injustice!
But this is the world where we live. Terrible people get away with worse every day. The Bible is not a feel-good, everything-will-be-fine-in-the-end story book. It is a collection of historical events--events that happened in the same, sad, depraved world that we live in now.
So what hit me was this. We didn't ask to be born into this messy life filled with pain, hurt, and sorrow. But Jesus did. From the beginning of sin, He knew the pain, shame, and dispare that rule the world, and He chose to be part of it anyway!
Stories like this one break my heart. But imagine how the Father must have felt as He watched it happen. And He knows of every case of painful injustice that has ever occurred. Ever. And instead of shutting His eyes to it like I want to do, He entered into it, took the injustice onto Himself, and gave His life so that we would have hope for an eternity without pain, shame, or dispare.
Doesn't that make you want to just fall on your face and worship Him! Praise be to God.
Comments