Q1. Disciplining Your Children

[Commissioned]

Q1. (2 Samuel 13:21-22) Why do you think David doesn’t discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister?

I believe that David doesn’t discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister because he remembers his own sinful desires as a younger man and that he favored him being his first born son.

What are the consequences of David’s inaction?

The consequences of David’s inaction caused him to lose the moral leadership of his family and in so doing led to the death of Amnon. Absalom took matters in his own hands and killed Amnon..

[tammie7]

Because, he was his firstborn

the king's son,

he was heir to the throne.Daivid lost his moral authority.

[Lorraine Overstreet]

Q1. (2 Samuel 13:21-22)

Why do you think David doesn’t discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister? What are the consequences of David’s inaction?

a) David did not punish/correct Amnon even though he was angry. David

took no action to punish this criminal act. Amnon was David's firstborn and

his favorite son. David was weak when it came to punishment of his family

or close friends, he did not seek God's will in correcting Amnon for his crime.

David lost the moral authority he had as the righteous king who loves

Yahweh. Since he didn't punish or correct his sons he lost his authority in

his family. His sons were competing against each other and lawlessnes

took over his family. David lost focus on God and stopped asking of God's

will. God used David's family troubles to bring him back to God.

[royk]

Q1. (2 Samuel 13:21-22) Why do you think David doesn’t discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister? What are the consequences of David’s inaction?

David actions with Bathsheba and Urriah make him unable to discipline Amnon, who has not done any worse than his father; perhaps Amnon did "less worse" if that is possible, since he only morally killed his half-sister. I wish I had been studying this 20 years ago so as to be able to share this story with my son.

[wifee]

11a)David doesn’t punish Amnon’s rape,as he didn’t seek God’s will for situation.Influenced by weakness in challenging famlies actions,embarrassed,reminded of own past guilt, wanting to protect his son as wanted him to succeed him to throne because he was his first born.He may have thought,ignore problem in denial,it may go away.He showed little respect or value of women.

b)Consequences,not sure exactly, further calamity came on the family,beautiful daughter changed to full of projected shame,lack of trust in father to do the best for Tamar,lack of hope.David lost all moral authority in family.His faith in Yahweh wasn’t being demonstrated by actions to his children.Amnon’s sinful actions unchecked provoked in him,to more schemes of man,David’s family were hating each other,no respect for Torah,lawlessness took hold.Amnon’s sin found him out.Absalom takes matters into own hands.

[cjenkins1388]

It's hard to discipline your children when you feel like your sins are much worse.  So when you let things slide the children become spoiled and usually do not respect the parents.

[karynjg]

(2 Samuel 13:21-22) Why do you think David doesn't discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister? What are the consequences of David's inaction?

I think David understood that he was experiencing the punishment and consequences of his own sin with Bathsheba, although we don't see David warning Amnon of what he will experience as well.  Amnon was not repentant and there was alot of anger all around, which ultimately resulted in Amnon's murder by Absolom.  David's uninvolvement turned a bad situation into  tragedy.

[WinstonY]

Q1. (2 Samuel 13:21-22) Why do you think David doesn’t discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister? What are the consequences of David’s inaction?

David and did not punish the Crown Prince for several reasons :

• First, the Crown Prince was possibly a favorite of David because he was the first born son and he would be the one two take over the position of kingship from David.
• Secondly, as far as the David was concerned Tamar was just another female and with all his duties and with so many children and wives he probably did not even know her. As well
• How can David punish a son who is only doing the same thing that David did with Bathsheba. Is he able to punish the Crown Prince when he himself would be seen as an adulterer and a murderer for something and not much worse then the Crown Prince. Both are acting under ****.
• What effect would a severe punishment of the Crown Prince have upon the relationships in the country. At this time the future of the Crown Prince may have been thought to have been more important then his sexual relationship with his half-sister.
• As well David might have thought that this would all blow over not realizing the hate off his son Absalom for the Crown Prince. Absalom no doubt was the jealous and probably was looking for a way to get rid of the Crown Prince before he even raped absence sister. Now Absalon head excuse to rid him self off Ammon. His actions bring him a two full reward, the Crown Princess removed and he has an excuse for his actions. Is one the knot supposed to look after family?

The consequences of David's action or lack thereof is that things get out of hand on him and his favorite Ammon is removed from the scene and now he will have to deal with Absalom. As we will see this will have disastrous results for the king in the Kingdom.

[Al Lee]

Because he would feel like a hypocrite. Amnon used his superior strength to overpower Tamar. David used his position as king to force Bathsheba. Most importantly, I've yet to see a parent execute their child.

[Zibuyile]

1.Why David did not discipline his son Amnon? Out of guilt as he once committed the kind of sin , making him afraid to discipline his own.

2. What are the consequences  of his inaction?

Lack of leadership

[crissy464]

David was angry, but he did not do anything.
Because of David’s scandalous behavior with Bathsheba, David felt he had no moral right to rebuke his son. But the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament adds a sentence to this account that suggests another of David’s weaknesses. But he would not hurt Amnon because he was his firstborn
 

David’s action made it easy for Absalom to take matters into his hands and killed his brother
 

[Irmela]

Q1. (2 Samuel 13:21-22)

Why do you think David doesn't discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister?

What are the consequences of David's inaction?

As has been said by others, we don't really know, we can only surmise , and as with any game  being watched from the side lines, the spectators seem to be the better players and the know-alls, much of the time.  

Amnon was the first-born son and so very likely at this stage favoured to be the heir to the throne.  We do not know much about David's interaction with his children, accept that there were a fair amount of them and by many women.  How much interaction between father and children there was was in that time, we cannot say either.  What we do know is that this happened after David's affair with Bathsheba and that David was possibly in his fifty's by this stage and the older sons in their early twenty's. Thus marriable age.  Tamar must have been a beautiful teenager.  

The background painted above shows David to have been forgiven of his sin, but it was not something that could have been hidden from his boys.  As David was consumed with desire for Bathsheba, so Amnon was consumed with desire for Tamar.  David had acted and so had Amnon acted. The difference was that Amnon shamed his half-sister by not then marrying her.  He abused her and then sent her packing.  As the sins committed were both sexual, I guess David did not have much he could fall back on to discipline his son.  David had been guilty of much more. His sin continued by murdering a loyal soldier.  

The consequence was a tearing apart of David's family.  Absalom eventually was guilty of killing Amnon for what he had done.

[Krissi]

David wears many hats -- he's a ruler, a father and a lover of God. He's also a sinner. 

As ruler, his power is contingent on maintaining a united family front as well as not showing obvious cracks and divisions within the family that outsiders (and insiders) could exploit. To deal with the matter privately, or not deal with it at all assuming it stays in the family compound, is a political choice that makes sense given his situation. David's kingly position is secure, but ... after his own sin with Bathsheba which I'm sure got around the nation as if it were on Twitter, the last thing he needed was to resurrect that lousy "news cycle" that weakened him publicly. David didn't want people to regard his family as morally and sexually corrupted. So, as a ruler, from purely a political point of view, what he did makes sense. I'm sorry to say that he acted like a clever politician.

As a father, however, his inaction was deplorable. He set the stage for more sexual/moral/greed problems in his family by not disciplining Amnon immediately. He needed to gather the family together in this challenging time by making certain that Amnon's discipline was well-known and -heeded by other males who may have been tempted to do the same thing. In sociological terms, David didn't assert himself as the alpha male, protecting his harem and the children of his harem. As I envision his circumstances, the various wives each had their own house and servants and didn't interact much with other families. Thus, Amnon didn't "feel" tamar to be his sister but rather he saw her as "just another female" to be subjugated. She was a stranger to him, not a sister. Also, as a father, David probably had more than a hundred kids, maybe several hundred. He would have mixed up their names if he even knew them in the first place! He was, then, a genetic father only -- a royal sperm-donor -- not a loving dad involved in the lives of his children. Absalom's "honor killing" of Amnon makes sense if you view them as coming from competing families, not one family. 

As a lover of God, David's story is tragic. I wonder what his relationship to the Lord was like after this severe chastening. Was he closer to God -- that's a real possibility!  He learned the hard way to be dependent on God to keep morally pure in a tempting situation of unlimited power. Maybe David's spiritual life was purified through this humbling? If psalm 51 (and maybe 32) were written after Bathsheba event, as some scholars say, then David's faith was deepened through this tragic sin.

As a sinner, David lives on in body, but his social and family life is truncated; the effectiveness and worthiness of his family line greatly diminished. The consequences of sin persisted to the third and fourth generation, as warned in Scripture. 

[Nicolaas A.P. Mostert]

Q1. (2 Samuel 13:21-22)

Why do you think David doesn't discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister?

David has lost the moral authority he had as the righteous king who loves Yahweh. He can't judge his own son for sexual sins and not judge himself.

What are the consequences of David's inaction?

His  children have neither a consistent role model nor an authority figure by which to guide their own actions.

[LadyT]

Q1. (2 Samuel 13:21-22) Why do you think David doesn't discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister? I find it rare in the Bible where men actually give a crap about women. This is the thing that continues to rattle my faith in God. There are countless examples of women being treated worse than property and I hate it. In my opinion, David cared more about protecting his son than his daughter who did NOTHING wrong!

What are the consequences of David's inaction? He set the stage for his son's death (which I don't blame Absalom for). He shows his beautiful, daughter of Israel that her being violated and living her life alone without love of her own husband or children is meaningless compared to his evil son's reputation.