Amnon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the moshav in northern Israel, see Amnon (moshav).

Amnon (Hebrew: אַמְנוֹן), a character in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, was David's eldest son. He raped Tamar and was murdered by Absalom.

Amnon was the progeny of David and Ahinoam. Tamar and Absalom were the progeny of David and Maachah. Thus Amnon and Absalom were half-brothers, like Abraham's sons Ishmael and Isaac.

Jewish law forbade Amnon to marry a half-sister, and taking evil advice he pretended to be sick. He lured Tamar into his quarters with the pretense that he wanted her to cook a special meal for him, ignored her protests, and raped her. Two years later, Absalom engineered Amnon's death. (2 Samuel 13:1-22)

[edit] Books

• The Rape of Tamar, novel by Dan Jacobson (ISBN 1-84232-139-0)

[edit] External links

• A Christian commentary on the incident and its aftermath