According to Hebrew Bible, King David had at least seven wives. One of them, Maacah had two siblings with him – a son, named Absalom and an exquisitely beautiful daughter, Tamar. However, Amnon was the eldest son of David with his other wife, Ahinoam. As they grew older, Amnon was attracted by the exquisite physical beauty of his half-sister Tamar and had an irresistible desire to get physical with her. But, she was out of Amnon’s reach.
As a royal princess and a virgin, she lived in the women’s quarters, and there seemed no opportunity for Amnon to meet her alone, let alone to have her in his bedroom. Soon he became depressed, as he could find no possible way to fulfill his lust. At this juncture, Amnon’s cousin, Jonadab, known to be a shrewd man, came up with a mischievous plan. He advised Amnon to pretend to be sick, so that he could ask for the presence of Tamar, to take care of him.
When King David was informed about his son’s sickness, he had no hesitation in allowing Tamar to go and take care of Amnon. Tamar also did not find anything odd about it, as Amnon was her brother, after all. One day, at night, when Tamar prepared a meal and placed it before Amnon, he pretended to be too sick to eat the food by himself. He then asked the servants to leave the room and requested Tamar to feed him. In good faith, she came near to him with his food, when Amnon grabbed her hand and pulled her nearer.
As Amnon was about to sexually assault her, the poor girl tried her best to resist him and protect her virginity. She could realize that, after the incident, she would lose her dignity and nobody would like to marry her. Finding no way to escape, Tamar requested him as a last resort to talk to their father for his permission to marry her. Amnon did not pay any heed to her protest or request and forcibly raped her.
After fulfilling his lust, Amnon’s attitude towards Tamar changed abruptly and told her to get lost. While at home, Tamar, wailing aloud in grief, tore her robe and marked her forehead with ashes. King David became angry, but he did not take any action to punish Amnon, as he was too much fond of his son. However, Tamar’s own brother, Absalom nursed the grudge against Amnon for the rape of his sister. After two years he invited all the sons of David in a grand feast. At the height of the festivities, when Amnon was half-drunk, Absalom had him stabbed to death and fled for sanctuary to Geshur, his grandfather’s territory.