History of the Old Testament Volume 5, Part 13
Amnon and Tamar.
IT is not poſſible, that any word of God ſhould fall to the ground: Dauid is not more ſure of forgiueneſſe, then ſmart: Three maine ſins paſſed him in this buſineſſe of Vriah; Adultery, murder, diſſimulation: for all which, he receiues preſent payment, for adultery, in the deflouring of his daughter Thamar; for murder, in the killing of his ſon Amnon; for diſſimulation in the contriuing of both. Yet all this was but the beginning of euils. Where the father of the family, brings ſinne home to the houſe, it is not eaſily ſwept out: Vnlawfull luſt propagates it ſelfe by example; How iuſtly is Dauid ſcourged by the ſin of his ſons, whom his act taught to offend?
Maacah was the daughter of an Heatheniſh King; By her, had Dauid that beautifull, but vnhappy iſſue; Abſalom, and his no leſſe faire ſiſter, Thamar: Perhaps, thus late doth Dauid feele the puniſhment of that vnfit choyce: I ſhould hauehave maruelled, if ſo holy a man had not found croſſes in ſo vnequall a match, either in his perſon, or at leaſt in his ſeed.
Beauty, if it be not well diſciplin'd, proues not a frend, but a traytour; three of Dauids children are vndone by it at once; What els was guilty of Amnons inceſtuous louelove, Thamars rauiſhment, Abſaloms pride? It is a bleſſing to bee faire, yet ſuch a bleſſing, as if the ſoule anſwer not to the face, may lead to a curſe; How commonly hauehave we ſeene the fouleſt ſoule dwell faireſt? It was no fault of Thamars, that ſhe was beautifull; the candle offends not in burning, the fooliſh flye offends in ſcorching it ſelfe in the flame; yet it is no ſmall miſery to become a tentation vntounto another; and to be made but the occaſion of others ruine. Amnon is louelove-ſicke of his ſiſter Tamar, and languiſhes of that vnnaturall heat. Whither will not wanton luſt, carry the inordinate mindes of pampered and vngouerned youth; None but his halfe-ſiſter, will pleaſe the eyes of the young Prince of Iſrael: Ordinary pleaſures will not content thoſe, whom the conceit of greatneſſe, youth, and eaſe, hauehave let looſe to their appetite.
Perhaps, yet this vnkindely flame might, in time, hauehave gone out alone, had not there beene a Ionadab, to blow theſe coles with ill counſell. It were ſtrange, if great Princes ſhould want ſome paraſiticall followers, that are ready to feede their ill humours. Why art thou, the Kings ſon ſo leane from day to day? As if it were vnworthy the heyre of a King, to ſuffer either law, or conſcience, to ſtand in the way of his deſires: Whereas wiſe Princes know well, that their places giuegive them no priuiledge of ſinning: but call them in rather to ſo much more ſtrictneſſe, as their example may be more preiudiciall.
Ionadab was the cozen german of Amnon; Ill aduiſe is ſo much more dangerous, as the intereſt of the giuer is more; Had he been a true frend, he had bent all the forces of his diſſwaſion, againſt the wicked motions of that ſinfull luſt; and had ſhewed the Prince of Iſrael how much thoſe lewd deſires prouoked God, and blemiſhed himſelfe; and had lent his hand to ſtrangle them in their firſt conception. There cannot bee a more worthy improuement of frendſhip, then in a feruent oppoſition to the ſinnes of them; whom wee profeſſe to louelove: No enemy can be ſo mortall to great Princes, as thoſe officious clients, whoſe flattery ſoothes them vp in wickedneſſe; Theſe are traytors to the Soule, and by a pleaſing violence kill the beſt part eternally.
How redy at hand is an euill ſuggeſtion? Good counſell is like vntounto well water, that muſt be drawne vp with a Pumpe, or bucket; Ill counſell is like to Conduit-water, which if the cocke be but turned, runs out alone; Ionadab hath ſoone proiected how Amnon ſhall accompliſh his lawleſſe purpoſe. The way muſt bee to fayne himſelfe ſicke in body, whoſe minde was ſicke of luſt; and vnderunder this pretence to procure the preſence of her, who had wounded, and only might cure him.
The daily-increaſing languor, and leaneneſſe, and paleneſſe of louelove-ſicke Amnon might well giuegive colour to a kercheife, and a pallet. Now it is ſoone told Dauid that his eldeſt Sonne is caſt vponupon his ſickebed; there needs no ſuit for his viſitation; The carefull father haſtens to his bed-ſide, not without doubts and feares▪ He that was lately ſo afflicted with the ſickneſſ of a childe that ſcarce liued to ſee the light, how ſenſible muſt we needs thinke he would be, of the indiſpoſition of his firſt borne Sonne, in the prime of his age and hopes; It is not giuen to any Prophet to foreſee all things; Happy had it beene for Dauid, if Amnon had beene truly ſicke, and ſick vntounto death; yet who could hauehave perſwaded this paſſionate father to hauehave beene content with this ſucceſſion of loſſes, this early loſſe of his ſucceſſor: How glad is hee to heare, that his daughter Tamars skill might be likely to fit the dyet of ſo deare a patient. Conceit is wont to rule much both in ſickneſſe, and the cure. Tamar is ſent by her father to the houſe of Amnon; Her hand only muſt dreſſe that diſh, which may pleaſe the nice Palate of her ſicke brother. Euen the children of Kings, in thoſe homelyer times, did not ſcorne to put their fingers, to ſome workes of huſwifrie: (She tooke floure and did knead it, and did make cakes in his ſight, and did bake the cakes, and tooke a panne, and poured them out before him.) Had ſhe not beene ſometimes vſed to ſuch domeſtique imployments, ſhee had bene now to ſeeke; neither had this bene required of her, but vponupon the knowledge of her skill: She doth not plead, the impayring of her beauty by the ſcorching of the fire; nor thinkes her hand too dainty for ſuch meane ſeruices; but fettles to the worke, as one that had rather regard the neceſſities of her brother, then her owne ſtate: Only pride and idleneſſe, hauehave baniſht honeſt and thrifty diligence, out of the houſes of the great.
This was not yet the diſh that Amnon longed for. It was the Cooke, and not the cates which that wanton eye affected. Vnlawfull acts ſeeke for ſecrecy; The company is diſmiſſed, Tamar only ſtayes; Good meaning ſuſpects nothing; Whiles ſhee preſents the meat ſhe had prepared, to her ſicke brother, her ſelfe is made a pray to his outragious luſt. The modeſt virgin intreats, and perſwades in vain; ſhe layes before him the ſinne, the ſhame, the danger of the fact; and ſince none of theſe can preuaile, faine would win time by the ſuggeſting of vnpoſſible hopes; Nothing but violence can ſtay a reſolued ſinner; What he cannot by intreaty, he will hauehave by force. If the Diuell were not more ſtrong in men, then nature, they would neuer ſeeke pleaſure in violence. Amnon hath no ſooner fulfilled his beaſtly deſires, then he hates Tamar more then he loued her. Inordinate luſt neuer ends but in diſcontentment; Loſſe of ſpirits, and remorſe of ſoule make the remembrance of that act tedious, whoſe expectation promiſed delight. If we could ſee the back of ſinfull pleaſures, ere wee behold their face, our harts could not but bee forſtalled with a iuſt deteſtation. Brutiſh Amnon, it was thy ſelfe whom thou ſhouldſt hauehave hated for this villany; not thine innocent ſiſter; Both of you lay together; only one committed inceſt: What was ſhe but a patient, in that impotent fury of luſt? How vniuſtly doe carnall men miſ-place their affections? No man can ſay whether that louelove, or this hatred were more vnreaſonable: Fraud drew Thamar into the houſe of Amnon, force intertained her within; and droue her out. Faine would ſhe hauehave hid her ſhame where it was wrought, and may not bee allowed it; That roofe vnderunder which, ſhee came with honor, and in obedience and louelove, may not be lent her for the time as a ſhelter of her ignominy. Neuer any ſauage could be more barbarous: Shechem had rauiſhed Dinah, his offence did not make her odious; his affection ſo continued, that he is willing rather to draw blood of himſelfe and his people, then forgoe her whom he had abuſed; Amnon in one houre is in the exceſſe of louelove and hate; and is ſicke of her, for whom he was ſicke; She that lately kept the keyes of his hart, is now lockt out of his doores. Vnruly paſſions runne euer into extremities, and are then beſt apayd, when they are furtheſt off from reaſon and moderation.
What could Amnon thinke, would be the euent of ſo foule a fact, which as he had not the grace to preuent, ſo he hath not the care to conceale? If he lookt not ſo hie as heauen, what could he imagine would follow herevpon, but the diſpleaſure of a father, the danger of law, the indignation of a brother, the ſhame and out-cryes of the world; All which hee might hauehave hoped to auoyd by ſecreſie, and plauſible courſes of ſatisfaction. It is the iuſt iudgement of God vponupon preſumptuous offenders, that they loſe their wit, together with their honeſty; and are either ſo blinded, that they cannot fore-ſee the iſſue of their actions, or ſo beſotted that they doe not regard it.
Poore Thamar can but bewaile that which ſhe could not keepe, her virginty, not loſt, but torne from her by a cruell violence: She rends her princely robe, and layes aſhes on her head, and laments the ſhame of anothers ſinne; and liues more deſolate then a widdow, in the houſe of her brother Abſalom.
In the meane time, what a coroſiue muſt this newes needs be to the heart of good Dauid, whoſe fatherly command had out of louelove, caſt his daughter into the iawes of this Lyon? What an inſolent affront muſt hee needs conſtrue this, to bee offred by a Sonne to a father; that the father ſhould be made the Pandar of his owne daughter to his ſonne? He that lay vponupon the ground weeping for, but the ſicknes of an infant, how vexed doe wee thinke he was with the villany of his heyre, with the rauiſhment of his daughter, both of them worſe then many deaths? What reuenge can he thinke of, for ſo haynous a crime leſſe then death; and what leſſe then death is it to him, to thinke of a reuenge? Rape was by the law of God, capitall, how much more, when it is ſeconded with inceſt? Anger was not puniſhment enough for ſo hye an offence; Yet this is all that I heare of, from ſo indulgent a father, ſauing that he makes vp the reſt with ſorrow; puniſhing his ſons outrage in himſelfe; The better-naturd, and more gracious a man is, the more ſubiect he is to the danger of an ouer remiſſeneſſe, and the exceſſe of fauour and mercy: The milde iniuſtice is no leſſe perilous to the common-wealth, then the cruell.
If Dauid (perhaps out of the conſcience of his owne late offence) will not puniſh this fact, his ſonne Abſalom ſhall: not out of any care of iuſtice, but in a deſire of reuenge. Two whole yeares, hath this ſlie Courtier ſmothered his indignation, and fayned kindeneſſe; els his inuitation of Amnon in ſpeciall, had beene ſuſpected. Euen gallant Abſalom was a great ſheep-maſter; The brauery and magnificence of a Courtier, muſt bee built vponupon the grounds of frugality; Dauid himſelfe is bidden to this bloody ſheep-ſhearing; It was no otherwiſe meant, but that the fathers eyes, ſhould be the witneſſes, of the tragicall execution of one ſon by another; Only Dauids louelove kept him from that horrible ſpectacle: He is carefull not to be chargeable to that ſon, who cares not to ouer-charge his fathers ſtomach with a feaſt of blood.
Amnon hath ſo quite forgot his ſinne, that hee dares goe to feaſt in that houſe where Tamar was mourning; and ſuſpects not the kindenes of him, whom he had deſerued, of a brother to make an enemy; Nothing is more vnſafe to be truſted, then the faire looks of a feſtered hart: Where true charity or iuſt ſatiſfaction, hauehave not wrought a ſound reconciliation, malice doth but lurk for the opportunity of an aduantage.
It was not for nothing, that Abſalom deferred his reuenge; which is now ſo much the more exquiſite, as it is longer protracted: What could be more feareful, then when Amnons hart was merry with wine, to be ſuddenly ſtriken with death? As if this execution had bene no leſſe intended to the Soule, then to the body; How wickedly ſoeuer this was …one by Abſalom, yet how iuſt was it with God, that he, whom in two yeares impunity would finde no leaſure o… repentance, …ould now receiue a puniſhment without poſſibility of repentance.
O God, thou art righteous to reckon for thoſe ſinnes, which humane partiality or negligence hath omitted, and whiles th…u puniſheſt ſinne with ſin, to puniſh ſinne with death; If either Dauid had called Amnon to account for this villany, or Amnon had called himſelfe, the reuenge had not beene ſo deſperate; Happy is the man that by an vnfayned repentance acquits his ſoule from his known euils, and improues the dayes of his peace to the preuention of future vengeance; …hi…h if it be not d…ne, the hand of God ſhall as ſurely oue…ake vsus in iudgement, as the hand of Satan hath ouertaken vsus in miſcariage vntounto ſin.