Introduction
Here we see the beginning of the collapse of David’s family and government. After Amnon rapes his half sister, David needed to have taken action against him. Marrying a half sister was prohibited in the law of Moses and was punishable by death. However, David was also guilty of a capital offence in his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband. This destroyed his moral standing to carry out such a punishment. However, he may still have given him a lesser punishment, such as banishment. However, it seems that David was also given to allowing emotional reactions to prevent him from making rational and correct decisions. Examples of this are his taking back Michael as his wife when she had been given to another man. Remarrying an exwife that had subsequently remarried was prohibited by Moses. Even though this was specifically in the case that her first husband had divorced her, it still seems to show an emotional but irrational decision on David’s part. The same can be seen in subsequent dealing with his children and, perhaps in the way he danced before the Lord. His unwillingness to punish his son Amnon created an injustice towards his daughter Tamar and her full brother, Absalom. This alienated Absolom and made him a threat to David’s position as king.
