Tamar (2 Samuel)
Encyclopedia
Tamar is a character in 2 Samuel
Books of Samuel
The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...

 in the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

. She was the daughter of King David, and sister of Absalom
Absalom
According to the Bible, Absalom or Avshalom was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maachah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. describes him as the most handsome man in the kingdom...

. Her mother was Maacah
Maacah
Maacah is a non-gender-specific personal name used in the Bible to refer to:*A child of Abraham's brother Nachor, evidently a boy. *The wife of Machir, Manasseh's son....

, daughter of Talmai
Talmai
Talmai is a name in the Bible referring to a number of minor people. Its Aramaic version was connected to the Greek Ptolemy , and, later, to the Italian Bartolomeo, English Bartholomew etc....

, king of Geshur
Geshur
Geshur was a territory in the northern part of Bashan, in ancient Levant, adjoining the province of Argob and the kingdom of Aram or Syria. It was allotted to the half-tribe of Manasseh, which settled east of the Jordan river; but its inhabitants, the Geshurites, could not be expelled...

. According to the narrative in , she was rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

d by her half-brother Amnon
Amnon
According to the Bible, Amnon was the oldest son of David, King of Israel, with his wife, Ahinoam, who is described as "the Jezreelitess". -Rape of Tamar:...

.

Background

Michael D. Coogan attributes the placement of the rape of Tamar narrative, coming soon after the Bathsheba
Bathsheba
According to the Hebrew Bible, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She is most known for the Bible story in which King David seduced her....

 narrative, as a way for the narrator to compare Amnon
Amnon
According to the Bible, Amnon was the oldest son of David, King of Israel, with his wife, Ahinoam, who is described as "the Jezreelitess". -Rape of Tamar:...

 to David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

. As David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

 wronged Bathsheba
Bathsheba
According to the Hebrew Bible, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She is most known for the Bible story in which King David seduced her....

, so too will Amnon
Amnon
According to the Bible, Amnon was the oldest son of David, King of Israel, with his wife, Ahinoam, who is described as "the Jezreelitess". -Rape of Tamar:...

 wrong Tamar, "like father like son." Mark Gray, however, disagrees with this position, and argues that "the rape of Tamar is an act of such horrific defilement that it is marked off as distinct from David's encounter with Bathsheba."

According to , Tamar had a "richly ornamented robe" (NIV). Adrien Bledstein connects this to Joseph's coat of many colors
Coat of many colors
In the Hebrew Bible, the coat of many colours is the name for the garment that Joseph owned. It may be a mistranslation, and the actual nature of the garment is subject to dispute...

, and concludes that Tamar was a priestess, healer and "mistress of dreams".

Rape

According to the narrative, Amnon
Amnon
According to the Bible, Amnon was the oldest son of David, King of Israel, with his wife, Ahinoam, who is described as "the Jezreelitess". -Rape of Tamar:...

 over time developed feelings for his sister so much so that he became ill over his lust for her. Amnon had a friend named Jonadab
Jonadab
Jonadab is the name of two men in the Hebrew Bible:*In 2 Samuel 13:3 Jonadab son of Shimeah is described as a 'very shrewd man' . He suggests to Amnon the plan he uses to seduce Tamar....

 who is said to be a "crafty man" advised that Amnon pretend to be sick. Amnon did what was suggested and pretended to be sick, and asked Tamar to prepare him food. He then asked her to have intercourse with him . When Tamar objected, Amnon raped her. After the rape scene concludes, Amnon begins loathing her, and he sends her home. Tamar expresses her grief by tearing her robe and marking her forehead with ashes. She goes to her full brother Absalom, who attempts to comfort her and takes her into his home where she remained a "desolate woman." When King David, Tamar's father, hears of her rape he is angered but presumably does nothing. However, Absalom hates Amnon due to his rape of Tamar and after waiting two years Absalom has Amnon murdered .

Assessment

Mary J. Evans describes Tamar as a "beautiful, good-hearted obedient, righteous daughter" who is totally destroyed by her family." At the end of the Rape scene, Amnon
Amnon
According to the Bible, Amnon was the oldest son of David, King of Israel, with his wife, Ahinoam, who is described as "the Jezreelitess". -Rape of Tamar:...

attempts to send Tamar away. She responds "No, my brother; for this is wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me." This response references which states that a man who rapes a virgin must marry her. In Biblical law, it was unlawful for someone to have intercourse with their sister and Kyle McCarter suggests that either the laws are not in effect at this time or they will be overlooked by David, or they do not apply to the royal family.
Michael D. Coogan, in his section on women in 2 Samuel, describes Tamar as a "passive figure" whose story is "narrated with considerable pathos." Coogan also points out the poignancy of the image at the end of the narrative story where Tamar is left as a "desolate woman in her brother Absalom's house." This ending verse about Tamar is meant to make the reader feel compassion and pity for her.

Feminist critique of 2 Samuel 13

Feminist scholars have spent time exploring the character of Tamar, her relationships with her male family members and her experience of rape.

In her book The Cry of Tamar: violence against women and the Church's response, Episcopalian priest, Pamela Cooper-White argues that Tamar's story has a direct message for the church in its response to violence against women. The narrator of Tamar's rape at the hands of her brother is told with a focus that emphasizes the male roles of the story: David, Amnon, and Absalom. "Even the poignancy of Tamar's humiliation is drawn out for the primary purpose of justifying Absalom's later murder of Amnon, and not for its own sake" (p. 5). In focusing on the story with Tamar, not the men, as the focal point, Cooper-White hopes to remind the readers that the lesson should come from the true victim; the female who was raped and not the men left to deal with the situation. She emphasizes "power-within" over "power-over." With "power-over," one's power is related to how many creatures one has dominion over. Tamar demonstrates the "power-within," or en-theos (God-within) by resisting as much as she could, Amnon's attack and subsequent banishment. Throughout her book, she elaborates on the different kinds of violence women often face and also critiques the church response of forgiveness for the perpetrators at the expense of the victim. "All too often, survivors of violence are re-traumatized by pastors and other well meaning helpers who press forgiveness upon them as if it were something which, if they tried hard enough, they could simply will into happening. If the survivor tries to forgive, she can only fail, and her failure will reinforce all the self-blame and shame of her original abuse" (p. 253). She concludes that the lesson learned from Tamar is that women, and women victims, must be empowered within themselves with the full support of the Christian church.

The Feminist literary critic, Phyllis Trible, dedicates a chapter in her book, Texts of Terror: literary-feminist readings of Biblical narratives to the rape of Tamar, or what she calls "The Royal Rape of Wisdom". Trible gives a comprehensive literary critique of the text, calling out the patterns that reiterate the power struggle between the characters and the vulnerability of Tamar, the sole female in this narrative. For example, when Tamar is finally given a voice (she is speechless for the first 11 verses of the narrative) Trible argues that the "narrator hints at her powerlessness by avoiding her name." (p. 46). The speech of Jonadab, Amnon, Absalom and David is consistently introduced by the proper name of each. However, the first time Tamar speaks the narrator prefaces it passively using the pronoun 'she'. Trible argues that "this subtle difference suggests the plight of the female" (p. 46).

Trible does not simply concentrate on the plight of Tamar, but also on her apparent wisdom and eye for justice. She points to Tamar's request that Amnon simply "speak to the king, for he will not keep (Tamar) from (Amnon)" (13:13). Trible argues that "her words are honest and poignant; they acknowledge female servitude" (p. 45). That is, Tamar is wise to her place in the world and willing to work within it. Even after Amnon violently rapes her, she continues to plead for justice and proper order not letting anger cloud her judgement (p. 46).
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