21 When King David heard all this, he was furious. 22 And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar.
28 Absalom ordered his men, “Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I given you this order? Be strong and brave.” 29 So Absalom’s men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. Then all the king’s sons got up, mounted their mules and fled.
- 2 Samuel 13
Tamar and Absalom were siblings of the same mother. Amnon was their half brother of another mother, whose father was King David. Amnon had just raped his half sister Tamar because he felt desperately in love with her. When Absalom knew about what had been done to his sister, he remained silent and unmoved. Their father King David was angry but did not do anything to deal with the wrong that has been done. With this story, we can therefore conclude that David may have been a great King but he was not the best father to his children. A good father would have dealt with sin and wrong that is being done to his children and among them.
King David should have punished Amnon for doing such a disgraceful thing in his family but nothing was done. As a result, Absalom chose to do something about it in an even more violent way. He may have been silent but in his heart was anger, rage and murder. We can't ever settle the wrongs being done to us unless we surrender it all to GOD. GOD will surely punish the wicked and will give full justice. But because King David didn't discipline his children, his own children did not know GOD, did not fear GOD and did not trust GOD to give them justice when they have been wronged. As a result David's house was full of tragic events. We may be god fearing in all our ways, but we should never forget to teach our children why we fear and love GOD. We can't miss this great responsibility especially for parents and risk living the kind of life that David had to live. Being a parent entails great responsibilities, never take them lightly.
