2 Samuel 13:3-5
Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. He asked Amnon, "Why do you, the king's son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won't you tell me?" Amnon said to him, "I'm in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."
"Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, 'I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.' "
I chanced upon this individual, Jonadab, as I was reading the juicy story of King David’s children in 2 Samuel 13. The bible describes him as Jonadab son of Shimeah, a nephew of King David.
As I read the 2 brief accounts of him stated in the bible, I can’t help but to label him as a scoundrel. Why so? Jonadab was the one who developed the evil scheme for Amnon to have incest with his own sister. What’s worst is that despite his disgusting deed, you still see him providing counsel to King David subsequently.
2 Samuel 13:32-33
But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, "My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom's expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead."
If you read the earlier verse of 2 Samuel 13:30, it’s indeed surprising that Jonadab was able to inform King David of the fact that Absalom only killed Amnon, even though he wasn’t there or was there a clear report given!
Curious over this evil character, I tried to search for more information in the bible to see if anything happened to him for his evil deed, but I found none apart from the 2 references to him. I then asked myself what was the purpose of having such a devious character named and immortalized in the bible and it dawned upon me that the character of Jonadab was to depict the spirit of evil counsel.
Clearly, when Absalom plotted to kill Amnon and had planned to do it, Jonadab knew that Absalom would eventually do it. However it seemed that for the past 2 years after the rape of Tamar by Amnon, King David never noticed the intention of his son. Perhaps Jonadab even provided an ear to Absalom and counselled him to plot against Amnon?
The spirit of evil counsel is not something which is only found in the most-wicked of all people, which we often feel that we are unlikely to befriend such characters. In Amnon’s and David’s situation, this evil counsel was found in their relative who lived with them!
How does evil counsel destroy us? When we look at the character of Jonadab, we see that the spirit of evil counsel seeks to tap into our existing weakness and fuel our self-gratifying desires by instigating us to do what our flesh yearned for. It provides us with answers which we want to hear and helps us to fulfil our longings.
If Jonadab was a good friend and of the right spirit, he would have sought to correct Amnon of the evil, lustful desire which he had over Tamar. Instead, Jonadab developed the evil plans for Amnon to consider and fueled the feelings of lust into the required action step. Such is the ability of the evil counsel to deceive us and deepen our sin because it seeks out for an opportunity to mislead us and to overcome out faith with our self-gratifying desires.
Today, maybe someone just chided you and you are really irritated because you hate the judgement from that person - even if he/she was correct, or perhaps you’ve been in the wrong frame of mind and you just don’t feel like doing anything relate to God but to self-gratify yourself, or perhaps you felt the need to blast out at someone because of your self-righteous needs. Beware! If you don’t capture that thought or emotion and make it subject to the power of Holy’s Spirit, you open yourself to evil counsel that would cause you to go astray. It often starts from the tiniest of matters which takes over your will and instigates you to commit sin. Often it may also escalate into a full blown act of sinful gratification, similar to that of Amnon.
May you choose your counsel well because not everyone who you call friend is a true friend. Psalm 1:1 says “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers”.
Likewise, may we learn to subject our ideas and thoughts, so that our fleshly desires will not be tempted by any evil thoughts, suggestions or counsel.
Blessings,
M.
Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. (2 Peter 3:17)
06 September 2007
Evil Counsel
2 Samuel 13:3-5
Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. He asked Amnon, "Why do you, the king's son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won't you tell me?" Amnon said to him, "I'm in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."
"Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, 'I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.' "
I chanced upon this individual, Jonadab, as I was reading the juicy story of King David’s children in 2 Samuel 13. The bible describes him as Jonadab son of Shimeah, a nephew of King David.
As I read the 2 brief accounts of him stated in the bible, I can’t help but to label him as a scoundrel. Why so? Jonadab was the one who developed the evil scheme for Amnon to have incest with his own sister. What’s worst is that despite his disgusting deed, you still see him providing counsel to King David subsequently.
2 Samuel 13:32-33
But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, "My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom's expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead."
If you read the earlier verse of 2 Samuel 13:30, it’s indeed surprising that Jonadab was able to inform King David of the fact that Absalom only killed Amnon, even though he wasn’t there or was there a clear report given!
Curious over this evil character, I tried to search for more information in the bible to see if anything happened to him for his evil deed, but I found none apart from the 2 references to him. I then asked myself what was the purpose of having such a devious character named and immortalized in the bible and it dawned upon me that the character of Jonadab was to depict the spirit of evil counsel.
Clearly, when Absalom plotted to kill Amnon and had planned to do it, Jonadab knew that Absalom would eventually do it. However it seemed that for the past 2 years after the rape of Tamar by Amnon, King David never noticed the intention of his son. Perhaps Jonadab even provided an ear to Absalom and counselled him to plot against Amnon?
The spirit of evil counsel is not something which is only found in the most-wicked of all people, which we often feel that we are unlikely to befriend such characters. In Amnon’s and David’s situation, this evil counsel was found in their relative who lived with them!
How does evil counsel destroy us? When we look at the character of Jonadab, we see that the spirit of evil counsel seeks to tap into our existing weakness and fuel our self-gratifying desires by instigating us to do what our flesh yearned for. It provides us with answers which we want to hear and helps us to fulfil our longings.
If Jonadab was a good friend and of the right spirit, he would have sought to correct Amnon of the evil, lustful desire which he had over Tamar. Instead, Jonadab developed the evil plans for Amnon to consider and fueled the feelings of lust into the required action step. Such is the ability of the evil counsel to deceive us and deepen our sin because it seeks out for an opportunity to mislead us and to overcome out faith with our self-gratifying desires.
Today, maybe someone just chided you and you are really irritated because you hate the judgement from that person - even if he/she was correct, or perhaps you’ve been in the wrong frame of mind and you just don’t feel like doing anything relate to God but to self-gratify yourself, or perhaps you felt the need to blast out at someone because of your self-righteous needs. Beware! If you don’t capture that thought or emotion and make it subject to the power of Holy’s Spirit, you open yourself to evil counsel that would cause you to go astray. It often starts from the tiniest of matters which takes over your will and instigates you to commit sin. Often it may also escalate into a full blown act of sinful gratification, similar to that of Amnon.
May you choose your counsel well because not everyone who you call friend is a true friend. Psalm 1:1 says “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers”.
Likewise, may we learn to subject our ideas and thoughts, so that our fleshly desires will not be tempted by any evil thoughts, suggestions or counsel.
Blessings,
M.
Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. (2 Peter 3:17)
Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. He asked Amnon, "Why do you, the king's son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won't you tell me?" Amnon said to him, "I'm in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."
"Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, 'I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.' "
I chanced upon this individual, Jonadab, as I was reading the juicy story of King David’s children in 2 Samuel 13. The bible describes him as Jonadab son of Shimeah, a nephew of King David.
As I read the 2 brief accounts of him stated in the bible, I can’t help but to label him as a scoundrel. Why so? Jonadab was the one who developed the evil scheme for Amnon to have incest with his own sister. What’s worst is that despite his disgusting deed, you still see him providing counsel to King David subsequently.
2 Samuel 13:32-33
But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, "My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom's expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead."
If you read the earlier verse of 2 Samuel 13:30, it’s indeed surprising that Jonadab was able to inform King David of the fact that Absalom only killed Amnon, even though he wasn’t there or was there a clear report given!
Curious over this evil character, I tried to search for more information in the bible to see if anything happened to him for his evil deed, but I found none apart from the 2 references to him. I then asked myself what was the purpose of having such a devious character named and immortalized in the bible and it dawned upon me that the character of Jonadab was to depict the spirit of evil counsel.
Clearly, when Absalom plotted to kill Amnon and had planned to do it, Jonadab knew that Absalom would eventually do it. However it seemed that for the past 2 years after the rape of Tamar by Amnon, King David never noticed the intention of his son. Perhaps Jonadab even provided an ear to Absalom and counselled him to plot against Amnon?
The spirit of evil counsel is not something which is only found in the most-wicked of all people, which we often feel that we are unlikely to befriend such characters. In Amnon’s and David’s situation, this evil counsel was found in their relative who lived with them!
How does evil counsel destroy us? When we look at the character of Jonadab, we see that the spirit of evil counsel seeks to tap into our existing weakness and fuel our self-gratifying desires by instigating us to do what our flesh yearned for. It provides us with answers which we want to hear and helps us to fulfil our longings.
If Jonadab was a good friend and of the right spirit, he would have sought to correct Amnon of the evil, lustful desire which he had over Tamar. Instead, Jonadab developed the evil plans for Amnon to consider and fueled the feelings of lust into the required action step. Such is the ability of the evil counsel to deceive us and deepen our sin because it seeks out for an opportunity to mislead us and to overcome out faith with our self-gratifying desires.
Today, maybe someone just chided you and you are really irritated because you hate the judgement from that person - even if he/she was correct, or perhaps you’ve been in the wrong frame of mind and you just don’t feel like doing anything relate to God but to self-gratify yourself, or perhaps you felt the need to blast out at someone because of your self-righteous needs. Beware! If you don’t capture that thought or emotion and make it subject to the power of Holy’s Spirit, you open yourself to evil counsel that would cause you to go astray. It often starts from the tiniest of matters which takes over your will and instigates you to commit sin. Often it may also escalate into a full blown act of sinful gratification, similar to that of Amnon.
May you choose your counsel well because not everyone who you call friend is a true friend. Psalm 1:1 says “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers”.
Likewise, may we learn to subject our ideas and thoughts, so that our fleshly desires will not be tempted by any evil thoughts, suggestions or counsel.
Blessings,
M.
Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. (2 Peter 3:17)
