AMNON (EBR. « FEDELE »)

AMNON (Hebr. «faithful»). — Firstborn son of David by his second wife Ahinoam of Jezreel, at Hebron (2 Sam 3:2). Consumed by a violent passion for his half-sister Tamar, daughter of David and Maacah, who, like David’s other daughters, lived in a separate house, Amnon, on the advice of Jonadab, son of David’s brother Shimeah, feigned a serious illness and begged his father David to send Tamar to prepare a savoury dish (leḇiḇôt) in his presence. When Tamar came to him, Amnon—after rejecting her pleas and her suggestion that he ask David for her in marriage—raped her and then brutally cast her out. She tore her virgin’s tunic, covered her head with ashes, and wandered through the house weeping. She revealed the affront to Absalom, her full brother, who took her into his own house. When David learned of the incest, he was angry (according to the Hebrew text), but he did not punish Amnon, whom he favoured (2 Sam 13:21b is an addition in the Septuagint and Vulgate). Absalom, concealing his hatred for Amnon, sought to avenge the insult. Two years later, during the sheep-shearing at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited David and all the brothers. The brothers accepted. When Amnon was drunk at the feast, Absalom’s servants killed him on his orders. The other brothers fled. David grieved deeply over what had happened, and Jonadab explained the reason to him (2 Sam 13).