2 Samuel 13

Order of Service

• Announcements
• Opening Hymn — Now Thank We All Our God
• Call to Worship — Hebrews 12:18-24
• Hymn — Now Thank We All Our God
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 8, Section 1
• Scripture Reading — Exodus 12:21-28
• Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — O Sacred Head Now Wounded
• Sermon
• Lord's Supper Hymn — Jesus Paid It All (stanzas 1–2)
• Administration of the Lord's Supper
• Lord's Supper Hymn — Jesus Paid It All (stanzas 3–4)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Horror Show of Sin in the House of David

Scripture: 2 Samuel 13:1-22

I. Amnon — Heat Without Humanity

A. Amnon's desire is entirely self-directed — he wants to do something to Tamar, not love her as a person

• His words to Tamar are only those that lure her in; he cannot hear her pleas for mercy
• In 2 Samuel 13:17, the Hebrew literally reads "get this out," treating her as an object

B. Verse 15 reveals the horror of sin's effect: the "love" that drove Amnon turns immediately to hatred

1. If you treat, speak about, or think of people as dirt, they become dirt in your eyes — twisted love becomes horrific hate
2. Amnon's hatred of Tamar is a projection of self-loathing; once the lustful spell breaks, he recognizes himself as a fool and projects that shame outward
3. Compare Adam in Genesis 3: "the woman you gave me" — the same pattern of projecting self-loathing onto others

C. True love requires a three-part biblical understanding of self

1. Created in the image of God
2. Fallen into sin
3. Redeemed and restored by the blood of Christ

• Only with all three can we fulfil Matthew 22:39 — "Love your neighbor as yourself"
• Without redemption, what looks like love is ultimately a form of hate projected outward

II. Jonadab — Intelligence Without Integrity

A. Jonadab (David's nephew) is described in 2 Samuel 13:3 as "very crafty" — the same Hebrew word used elsewhere for wisdom, but exercised without the fear of the Lord

1. He possesses all the practical ingredients of wisdom: shrewd thinking, foresight, skillful execution
2. What makes him dangerous is the complete absence of integrity and godliness

B. Intelligence without integrity produces history's greatest horror shows

1. Nazi Germany, the Soviet Gulags — brilliant minds and brilliant organizers with no moral anchor
2. The story of the Vicar of Bray illustrates craftiness without conviction: changing allegiances with every regime to preserve personal position

C. Application for the church (quoting Dale Ralph Davis)

• "Those with the greatest gifts pose the greatest threat, for unless their gifts are wrapped in godliness they multiply disaster among Christ's flock"
• The church wants your gifts to shine, but desires your godliness even more
• Godliness should be like the sun; your gifts are the rays emanating from it — giftedness exercised through the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)

III. Tamar — A Victim Without a Voice

A. Tamar seeks someone to see and hear her, and finds no one

1. Amnon overpowers and defiles her, then casts her out — stripping the robe that symbolized her virginity (2 Samuel 13:18-19)
2. Absalom offers hollow comfort — "do not take this to heart" — silencing rather than entering her pain; he is already plotting his own revenge rather than seeing his sister
3. She lives as a desolate woman the rest of her life

B. David's response is righteous indignation without righteous action

1. The Septuagint adds: "he would not punish Amnon because he loved him, since he was his firstborn"
2. David's anger does nothing for Tamar — a show of indignation without justice or restoration
3. Warning: we can be so wrapped up in rage over injustice that we never actually see or hear the victim; the victim becomes a statistic that fuels our anger rather than a person we love

C. What Tamar needed — and what the Lord's Table provides

1. A King who does not merely display anger over sin but acts to deal with it
2. A King who enters personally into the pit with the victim — who sees, hears, and knows each person by name
3. Christ at the cross is both the act of justice and the act of intimate solidarity — he enters the victim's place, bears the shame, and says "this is for you"
4. The Lord's Supper is the token and down payment of that intimate union: a King who knows his sheep by name (John 10:14) and who has paid it all