Tamar (Daughter of David)

Biblical Account

Tamar was a daughter of David. According to 2 Samuel 3:3, Absalom was the son born to Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, and Tamar was Absalom's full sister. 1 Chronicles 3:9, after listing the sons of David, concludes, "and Tamar their sister." Tamar's story appears in 2 Samuel 13.

• Amnon's crime: Amnon, David's firstborn son, desired his half-sister Tamar so intensely that he became ill. Following the scheme of his cousin Jonadab, Amnon feigned illness and asked David to send Tamar to him. When Tamar came and prepared cakes for him, Amnon seized her. Tamar refused him, saying that "no such thing ought to be done in Israel," and urged him to speak to the king, but Amnon overpowered her and forced her (2 Samuel 13:1–14).
• Expulsion: Afterward Amnon hated Tamar more intensely than he had loved her before, and he drove her out. Tamar tore the garment of divers colours worn by the king's virgin daughters, put ashes on her head, and went away crying aloud (13:15–19).
• Aftermath: Absalom told Tamar to hold her peace and not to take the matter to heart, and Tamar "remained desolate" in Absalom's house. When David heard of these things, he was very angry (13:20–21), but the text records no punishment of Amnon. Two years later, at a sheep-shearing feast at Baal-hazor, Absalom had Amnon killed and then fled to Geshur, where he stayed three years (13:23–38). Absalom later named his own daughter Tamar (14:27).

Significance Within Scripture

This episode is commonly read as the first stage in the fulfillment of Nathan's prophecy that the sword and evil would come upon David's house (2 Samuel 12:10–11). The wrong done to Tamar leads to Amnon's death and ultimately to Absalom's rebellion. The New Testament does not mention this Tamar. The Tamar of Matthew 1:3 is Judah's daughter-in-law from Genesis 38, a different person.

Interpretation and Issues

• The marriage proposal: Tamar's plea to "speak unto the king" (13:13) is difficult to reconcile with Leviticus 18:9, 11, which forbids marriage between half-siblings. Some interpreters therefore hold that this prohibition was not strictly observed in the royal household at the time, while others take her words as an attempt to buy time and escape the danger.
• The garment of divers colours: Tamar's "garment of divers colours" is said to translate the same Hebrew expression used for the coat of Joseph (Genesis 37:3). Some interpreters accordingly read the two narratives in light of each other.
• David's silence: Some ancient textual witnesses, including the Septuagint, contain an additional clause in 13:21 to the effect that David did not grieve Amnon's spirit because he loved him as his firstborn. The New Korean Revised Version does not include this clause.
• The victim's perspective: Traditionally, the chapter has often been read as depicting the consequences of David's sin. More recently, some interpreters have focused on Tamar's resistance and suffering, and on how the instruction to "hold thy peace" reflects a pattern that silences victims. Such readings are sometimes cited in discussions of sexual violence in the church. Because the text says nothing of Tamar's later life, any account of it is conjectural.

In the Korean Church

Tamar's story is mentioned chiefly in sermons on the tragedy of David's family and the consequences of sin, and in expository preaching on 2 Samuel. Because it involves sexual violence, it generally receives little attention in children's Sunday school curricula. In recent years, the Tamar passage has also been cited in lectures and writings addressing the protection of victims of sexual violence and the responsibility of the church.