The Tragedy of Tamar

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the chosen people. 00:00:03 Speaker 2: My king, I am with child. 00:00:06 Speaker 3: Are you certain? 00:00:08 Speaker 4: Could it be your husband's? 00:00:10 Speaker 2: My husband, you mean Uriah? Uriah, one of your generals. Euriah has been on the battlefield since the snow's melted. You know that you sent him. It's your child. 00:00:29 Speaker 4: Set Uriah at the forefront of the charge when he marches, in order the other soldiers to delay before following him. I need Euriah to fall on that battlefield. 00:00:44 Speaker 3: The says the Lord, God of Israel and God of Justice. I anointed you king over this nation. I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you this house, this kingdom, this crown, and had that not been enough, I would have given you more. Yet you have despised my word. You have done what is evil in my sight. You struck down, you Riah Hittite, with the sword of your enemies. 00:01:22 Speaker 5: You took his wife, his only treasure, and made her your. 00:01:28 Speaker 6: Own sid Before the Lord, I have not expose ok. Look, only guilt. 00:01:54 Speaker 3: Blood shall answer blood. 00:01:56 Speaker 7: Because you have doubted violence, so too, so shall violence rise in your own walls. 00:02:10 Speaker 8: He craved her, then cursed her all in one breath. Shelloh, my friends, from here in the Holy Land of Israel. I'm l Extein with International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and welcome to the Chosen People. Today we return once again to the House of David, a house once filled with music and victory songs, now choked with something else, something colder, something that lingers in the shadows. Today's episode comes from Two Samuel, chapter thirteen, and I have to warn you it's a painful one. A daughter, a prince, a scheme, and then silence. But before we listen, I want to ask you something. What we do when power protects the wrong people, when dignity is destroyed behind closed door. This story doesn't flinch, but neither should we. 00:03:05 Speaker 1: This episode of The Chosen People with yil Extein contains explicit content that may be triggering for some listeners and inappropriate for young children. Listener discretion is advised. The sun stood high and cruel over the city of David, casting down its heat like judgment. Tamar stood at the palace well, dabbing at her neck with a cloth soaked in cool water. She leaned forward to splash her face, savoring a fleeting moment of solitude beneath the shade of a fig tree, where the air stirred and the stone well still held the memory of morning's chill. Then came a shadow. She turned swiftly, her breath catching, her hand pressed to her chest. It was only Amnon, her half brother. The prince stepped back, hands raised, ingesting apology. 00:04:04 Speaker 5: I didn't mean to startle you. I only came for a drink. I didn't know you'd be here alone. 00:04:12 Speaker 1: Tamar lowered her eyes and forced a smile. 00:04:16 Speaker 9: I was just cooling off. The heat is dreadful. 00:04:20 Speaker 5: Would you mind filling me a cup as well? 00:04:23 Speaker 1: Tamar dipped a ladle, filled the water skin, and passed it to him with bowed head. Though they shed blood their father the same king, their connection was thin. Tamar was close to Absalom, her full brother, and kept cordial distance from the rest of David's brood. But Amnon. Amnon lingered more than the others. He watched Tamar more closely. His silences lasted too long, his stare too piercing. He drank, not thirstily, but to watch her while he did, his eyes lingered where they shouldn't. Tamar adjusted her head scarf and stood, Oh see. 00:05:10 Speaker 9: You at supper. May the Lord bless your day brother. 00:05:14 Speaker 1: She walked away, briskly, not wanting to look back. Amnon stared as she went, lips parted, breath thin. He watched the sway of her hips, the elegant curve of her shoulders, and the hair tucked neatly beneath her head, covering His eyes. Burned with a hunger that had grown past reason. He did not even notice when Jonadab crept up beside him. 00:05:42 Speaker 4: Hello, am None, are you there? 00:05:46 Speaker 1: John Adab drawled, draping an arm over his cousin's shoulder. He was lean as a reed and twice as slippery, the son of Shima, David's brother. The rest of the family loathed him, but Amnon couldn't be picky with his friends, since most loathed him as well. 00:06:06 Speaker 10: What troubles you, noble prince? No coin for the brothers today? 00:06:11 Speaker 5: There is only one woman I want. 00:06:15 Speaker 11: Gods, don't tell me it's some married noble pain. 00:06:19 Speaker 1: Who is she? Ah Tamar Absalom's sister. John and Dab choked on his water and spat into the well. 00:06:30 Speaker 9: Your half sister, you dog you. 00:06:35 Speaker 5: I can't eat, I can't sleep. Every night I see her, I feel like I'm dying. 00:06:43 Speaker 10: Then take her. 00:06:45 Speaker 5: I wish she would never allow it. 00:06:48 Speaker 11: You don't need the mission. 00:06:49 Speaker 10: You're the son of King David. Take what you please. You know your father does. 00:06:58 Speaker 11: Listen to me, Drill, not a common cough, something grave. When your father comes to your bedside, tell him the only thing that will lift your spirits is Tamar. Ask him, descender. She'll come. She's kind, she's obedient, and when she does, you'll have the right where you want her. 00:07:22 Speaker 1: Even the wind seemed to hush at Jonadab's suggestion. It was a wicked plot, brazen and vile. But Amnon, drunk on longing weak of will, nodded slowly, Right where I want her. John Adab took an apple out of his tunic and took a huge crunch, mouthful elbow, leaning on his cousin's shoulder. 00:07:47 Speaker 10: Yeah, she'd be a foolder a few of you. And if she does, who cares? Like I said, you're the prince, first born and David's rival there and a future king takes. 00:08:05 Speaker 1: What he wants, and what would that be exactly? Amnon and Jonadab jumped as Absalom approached from behind. Absalom was an imposing man, most respected among David's children. He was broad shouldered, with long flowing, dark hair and a wide jaw. He was every bit the warrior as David was, but with keener political savvy. He and Amnon couldn't be more different in ambition and personality. Absalom leaned in closer to Jonadab, snarling, Come on, Jonadab, tell me what should Amnon take. Jonadab gulped, laughed nervously, and shifted his eyes to Amnon. 00:08:53 Speaker 4: I will am noon, and I would just. 00:08:57 Speaker 1: I mean, oh, not so swift tongued. 00:09:01 Speaker 5: Now are you get. 00:09:03 Speaker 10: Out of here? 00:09:04 Speaker 9: Leech gladly. 00:09:08 Speaker 1: John Adab departed, leaving Amnon and Absalom alone. Absalom gave Amnon a knowing glare. I saw you speaking with my sister. 00:09:22 Speaker 5: She was just giving me a drink of water. 00:09:24 Speaker 9: That's all. That's all, eh. I see the way you look at her. 00:09:29 Speaker 1: Your eyes winger too long. I can see you salivating every time she passes. 00:09:37 Speaker 5: Erhabsalom, Come on, has anyone ever told you you're a little too uptight looking for trouble where it doesn't exist. I love all my sisters, wish brotherly affection. Tamar is no different. Perhaps you should loosen your grip on. 00:09:55 Speaker 7: Her a bit. 00:09:56 Speaker 5: Maybe then she'd finally find a suitor. Scaring them all off. 00:10:01 Speaker 3: Good weeds out the cows. 00:10:05 Speaker 1: Our family has had enough of them already. There was a long pause between the sons of David. Amnon stared blankly, betraying nothing. Finally, Amnon shrugged. 00:10:19 Speaker 5: All right, Absalom, you'll win this little staring contest or whatever it is. I'm going to my chambers. I feel a sickness coming on. Mary, just feel dridful. 00:10:33 Speaker 1: Amnon left, with Absalom's eyes staring into his back. Absalom saw Amnon for who he really was, even if the king didn't. The next morning, Prince Amnon lay in his bed, wrapped in silk sheets and lies. He tossed back and forth, moaning like a wounded hound, crying out for help in a voice thick with feigned pain. 00:11:01 Speaker 5: Oh Gods, Oh, this sickness will be the end of me. 00:11:11 Speaker 1: His cries echoed down the halls of the king's house. At last, the king himself came. David entered the chamber with concern carved deep into his brow. Amnon gave a rasping cough, his lips curled in a pitiful smile. 00:11:28 Speaker 5: I don't know, father, My body fails me, my spirit wanes. I fear death may take me soon. 00:11:38 Speaker 1: David reached out, stroking the hair from his son's brow. Amnon hesitated, then whispered like a child, asking for honey. 00:11:47 Speaker 5: There is one thing, perhaps, if Tamar my sister, if she came to me and baked me her cakes, if she fed me with her own hands, then I might have the strength to live. 00:12:07 Speaker 1: As soon as the king departed, the prince cast aside his blankets. Rising from his false affliction with a wicked grin, he stood, tall, eyes shining like polished steel, and whispered to the empty room. 00:12:21 Speaker 5: Let the game begin. 00:12:25 Speaker 1: Hours passed before the knock came. When the door opened, Tamar stepped inside, covered and modest, her arms cradling a small tray of warm cakes. The scent of honey and almond filled the room. Amnon sat upright in bed, his eyes gleaming like a wolf in heat. 00:12:46 Speaker 5: Oh, dear sister, how sweet you are to come. 00:12:50 Speaker 9: Of course, how are you feeling? 00:12:52 Speaker 1: Amnon said nothing. His eyes devoured her. Tamar once again felt her skin crawl with discomfort. She set the cakes on a small table near the bed and turned. 00:13:06 Speaker 9: Oh. I added clove to the dough this time. I hope they please you. I will leave you to rest. 00:13:14 Speaker 5: No, no, stay, stay. 00:13:19 Speaker 1: Please, Tamar paused, showing a tinge of unease. Am None rose from his bed slowly like a viper, uncoiling. 00:13:29 Speaker 5: You've always been kind to me, not like the others. 00:13:33 Speaker 9: You understand me. 00:13:36 Speaker 11: I am non. 00:13:36 Speaker 1: Brush Tamar's arm. Tamar stepped away, smiling awkwardly. 00:13:43 Speaker 9: Into your cakes and regain your strength. You will bring some more tomorrow. 00:13:47 Speaker 10: Pleases. 00:13:49 Speaker 5: I don't want the cakes. 00:13:51 Speaker 9: I want you. 00:13:52 Speaker 1: His words struck her like cold steel. She tried to step back, but his hand seized her. 00:14:00 Speaker 9: What are you doing? 00:14:02 Speaker 10: Lie with me? 00:14:03 Speaker 6: Tamar? 00:14:04 Speaker 1: Let me home? 00:14:05 Speaker 4: You feel you just once? 00:14:09 Speaker 1: Tamar yanked her arm away. 00:14:11 Speaker 9: Please and none, don't do this. If you do, I will never find a husband. 00:14:16 Speaker 5: You think I want any other man touching what should be mine. 00:14:20 Speaker 1: She stumbled toward the door, but he was on her in a flash. 00:14:24 Speaker 9: Please this is a disgrace before God. You do my future? What about the king? 00:14:31 Speaker 2: I'm going to be king? 00:14:34 Speaker 1: And with that he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the bed. 00:14:38 Speaker 6: Stop stop an please. 00:14:43 Speaker 1: Her words were muffled by his hand as he forced her down, and then he took her. When it was over, Tamar lay crumpled like a torn cloth, weeping into the pillows, non rolled away, panting. He felt no satisfaction from it, only emptiness. The love he had claimed for years had vanished. In its place, a cavern of hate opened wide. 00:15:16 Speaker 2: Worthless, waste of my time. 00:15:19 Speaker 1: Tamar sobbed, clutching the torn remains of her robe. She kept her head low, shame dripping off her like sweat. 00:15:28 Speaker 5: Get out of my sight. 00:15:33 Speaker 9: Please, please, if you cast me out now, my future is ruined. I'll live in shame. At least that's father from my hand. At least do that. 00:15:44 Speaker 5: You think I care about your honor? Now leave, we'll take you again. Out of spite. 00:15:52 Speaker 1: Tamar limped from the room, her hair wild, her body trembling. She left behind her cakes untouched and cold, and in the halls of the king, the curse of David spread like poison through veins. Tamar reached her chambers and locked the door. Her hands trembled as she stared into the bronze mirror above her table. Her fingers found the small blade used for embroidery, and with it she cut the sleeves from her robe. Then, with mechanical precision, she dipped her fingers into a bowl of ashes set beside the hearth. She dragged the soot across her forehead and into her hair. Her breath hitched, her chest rose and fell, and then the dam broke. The sounds of her wailing poured through the palace like smoke from a fire, but no one came until Absalom arrived. He had returned from his estate beyond the eastern hills. Upon entering the palace, he heard her cries echo down the marble corridors. He ran to her door, threw it open, and found her on the floor, torn, bloodied, and clothed in ruin. Ashes crowned her like a funeral veil. Absalom knelt beside her without a word, and pulled her into his arms. 00:17:27 Speaker 2: Oh, come here, sh. 00:17:33 Speaker 9: Absalom. 00:17:41 Speaker 1: Tamar couldn't speak. Absalom held her tightly. It was amnon, wasn't it? It wasn't a question he already knew. Although Tamar answered with a slow nod, Absalom kissed her brow and whispered. 00:17:57 Speaker 5: Hold your peace, my sister, be strong. 00:18:01 Speaker 1: I will take care of you. From that day on, Tamar lived in Absalom's house. His wife welcomed her, his sons protected her, and she was treated as a daughter of their household. But she never smiled again. When news reached David, it came like a sword to the chest. What David roared, rising from his seat near the fire, His fists clenched and the veins bulged in his neck. 00:18:33 Speaker 4: Yeah to my throne has defiled my daughter. 00:18:35 Speaker 1: His own sister, Absalom stood quietly nearby, along with Kiliab and Jeremov, sons of Abigail. They watched their father pace like a caged wolf, fury in every step. 00:18:49 Speaker 10: How can I trust the kingdom of the insolent, feeble minded? 00:18:54 Speaker 1: David cut himself off, dragging his hands down his face, forcing himself to breathe. He turned to Absalom. Still be your thoughts, Absolom. It was a test. It was always a test of all his sons. David admired Absalom's mind the most. Not as reckless as Amnon, not as green as the others. Absalom was his steel, polished, sharp and unyielding. Absalom met his father's gaze. Reading him, Absalom huffed. He knew David wouldn't do anything. His mercy was his weakness. Absalom also knew if he showed too much of his own feelings, it would hinder his ability to act in secret against Amnon. It's your decision, mike him. Do what you feel is just. But behind Absalom's calm eyes, his fury seethed like molten iron. His tongue was a sword still sheathed, his wrath a tide yet to rise. Amnon had taken Tamar with lust and violence. Now Absalom would take Amnon with silence and patience. Vengeance is best served cold. For two years, Absalom waited, planning, preparing a lion in the tall grass, and Amnon, poor fool, never saw the shadow drawing near. 00:20:32 Speaker 8: This one lands like a fist to the chest. There's no music playing, went to marfalls, no angelic resolution, just shattered cloth, scourged dignity, and Alon walk back through the halls of her father's house, and all along the marble palace floors. There's only silence. It hurts to hear, doesn't it. Well, it's supposed to do, because this story exposes something raw, something many would rather ignore that Sometimes the ones we expect to protect us sometimes they don't. Sometimes even kings look away, and Tomorrow, precious Tomorrow, she bears the consequence of a crime she didn't even commit. Her grief is public, but her healing is private and unfinished. Sometimes the Bible refuses to comfort us too quickly, doesn't it. Sometimes it doesn't tie everything up in a tidy bow. Sometimes, like today's difficult story, it makes us think what happens when purity is torn and the holy place is desecrated? Where does a soul go when her sanctuary becomes her snare? Tamar enters the room to serve, to care, to honor. But there's something deeper in the way that Tomorrow mourns. The Bible tells us that she tore her catorre samin. Now that phrase only appears in one other place, a place that we visited earlier. Do you remember Joseph's coat, the multi colored garment, the symbol of favor. It was called that same word kitoneit psamm. Tamar's robe was a declaration of her status, of her identity, and when she tears it, she's declaring to the world the girl you knew had been taken, and what remains is grief wrapped in ashes. Tradition teaches that Korea, the tearing of garments is a sacred act and an act of mourning, and in today's story, Tamar performs it for herself because no one else does. My Abba, my father, Rabbi Riel Ekstein, studied at Yeshiva University in New York. The head of the university's rabbinical school was the great Rabbi Joseph B. Salivachik, known as the Rav. Over a career of nearly fifty years, the Rav ordained more than two thousand rabbis, teaching those who teach the same Bible worth studying each day, leading those who would lead the chosen people. The Rov by Salavachik, was also one of the great modern Jewish philosophers, and he explained a verse in this very difficult story in a way that has helped me understand it better. And the ROV's explanation has helped me understand a lot about how Judaism looks at sin. After the horrible act that committed against Tomorrow, the Bible tells us then hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her, and everyone should ask themselves, wait, how can that be? 00:23:33 Speaker 11: Well? 00:23:33 Speaker 8: Rav Salavaichik explains that his sin was an abomination to him, hated himself, and he transferred his hatred to Tamorrow, humiliated through no fault of her own, The same wondrously beautiful Tomorrow was transformed in his mind into a symbol of abomination and hate. This perfectly describes what sin does to us. Sin isn't just an act of doing something wrong. Sin changes everything in us. Sin can make us go from love to hate, from purity to abomination. This very difficult story is a warning to all of us today, isn't it. We want to preserve love, not to destroy it, and we want to resist temptations so that it won't transform our perceptions and our very lives and personalities. That's what sin does. It changes who we are. I want to linger here just a little longer because what Tomor loses in this story, many women in history have also lost safety, dignity, voice. In the most tragic part, Tamar did nothing to deserve it. Her goodness, her obedience, her willingness to serve those were the very traits that led her into the snare. We saw echoes of Tomorrow and Ruth gleaning in the fields, vulnerable to harm, and and see her and esther who will have to hide her identity. We see Tamar in the countless unnamed women in the Bible who are caught in the power games of men. And stories like Tomor's are still unfolding on streets and homes and places of supposed safety. And our calling is to be present, to hear, to hold, to never look away. Maybe you're listening today and carrying a wound that no one else sees. Maybe you, like Tamor, had something taken from you and the silence that followed hurt even more. I want you to know this. Your story matters. You are more than what was done to you, and the God of the Chosen People sees you. He counts your tears, He sits with you in the ashes, and he doesn't rush you to heal. The God of Israel is there with you. Right now. 00:25:56 Speaker 1: You can listen to the Chosen People with the Isle exstein Ad free by downloading and subscribing to the prey dot Com app today. This Prey dog comproduction is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Gattina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yiel Eckstein, Edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paul Lanier, Robin van Ettin, kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot com app, available on the Apple App Store on Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yile Egstein, please rate and leave a review,