2 Samuel 13:12–19

But she answered him, “No, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing should be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! And I, where could I take my shame? And as for you, you would be like one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you.” However, he would not heed her voice; and being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her.

Then Amnon hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Arise, be gone!”

So she said to him, “No, indeed! This evil of sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me.”

But he would not listen to her. Then he called his servant who attended him, and said, “Here! Put this woman out, away from me, and bolt the door behind her.” Now she had on a robe of many colors, for the king’s virgin daughters wore such apparel. And his servant put her out and bolted the door behind her.

Then Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her robe of many colors that was on her, and laid her hand on her head and went away crying bitterly.

This scene is just dripping with evil. Amnon’s “love” for Tamar is a horror movie. He forces himself on her, and then immediately rejects her with all the cold harshness he can muster.

Tamar is ruined. So is the whole family. They were supposed to protect her from exactly this kind of thing. She is now damaged goods. Her marriage prospects are greatly diminished.

When this happened to Dinah in Genesis 34, Dinah’s brothers responded by killing every male in an entire city—and that situation wasn’t as bad as this one. In Genesis 34, Shechem wanted to marry Dinah after forcing himself on her. There was at least a hint of him trying to do the right thing. Here, Amnon is perfectly dishonorable.

Frankly, his actions don’t even make sense. His crush on Tamar ends instantly for no apparent reason. It’s like he’s possessed or something.

As bad as Nathan’s prophesy was, it wasn’t as chilling as the reality.

What makes this especially bad is that this isn’t all on Amnon. He conspired with his cousin, Jonadab. In fact, this was all Jonadab’s idea.

So, we're not looking at just one bad apple. The rot is already widespread.

But it all did start with one bad apple—David. However, importantly, David isn’t really a bad apple, he just had a bad apple day (or month, really). And look at the train wreck that led to (which is about to get even worse).

Never underestimate the power of sin. Overconfidence is a ticket to disaster.

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.