📖 Biblical Definition
Amnon was David’s eldest son by Ahinoam of Jezreel, born in Hebron during David’s seven-and-a-half-year reign there (2 Samuel 3:2). He raped his half-sister Tamar, daughter of David and Maacah, in a pre-meditated act of feigned illness — sending all his attendants away and forcing her in his chamber (2 Samuel 13:1-22). The narrative is among the most disturbing in Scripture, deliberately echoing the language of Genesis 39 (Joseph and Potiphar’s wife) with Amnon as the inverse anti-Joseph. David was furious but did nothing — a paternal failure that haunted the rest of his reign. Two years later, Absalom (Tamar’s full brother) had Amnon assassinated at a sheep-shearing feast in vengeance, and fled into exile. David’s sons reap what David sowed by silence.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
David's eldest son; raped Tamar; killed by Absalom.
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David's eldest son by Ahinoam of Jezreel. The disastrous chapter 13 of 2 Samuel: Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar (full sister of Absalom), then turned on her in revulsion and threw her out; David was "very wroth" but failed to discipline his son; two years later Absalom orchestrated Amnon's murder at a sheep-shearing feast. The first generation of the prophesied judgment on David's house "the sword shall never depart from thine house" (2 Sam 12:10) following the Bathsheba affair.
📖 Key Scripture
2 Samuel 13:14-15 — "Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her. Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her."
2 Samuel 13:21 — "But when king David heard of all these things, he was very wroth."
2 Samuel 13:28-29 — "And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and fled."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The disturbing chapter is sometimes skimmed; Tamar's pain and David's failure to discipline are sermon-essential.
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2 Samuel 13 is unflinching about sexual violence in royal family. David was wroth but did not discipline Amnon; the result was Absalom's two-year-long plotting and Amnon's murder. The Bathsheba consequences (2 Sam 12:10) cascade through the next generation.
Recover the sober warning: parental sin compounds in children when not addressed. David's failure with Amnon was not the rape itself but the failure to act after it. Discipline-avoidant fathers produce avenger-sons.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew Amnon.
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['Hebrew', 'H550', 'Amnon', 'Amnon, faithful']
Usage
"David was wroth but did nothing."
"Discipline-avoidant fathers produce avenger-sons."
"Sin's consequences cascade through generations."