Absalom’s story unfolds in the household of King David. The key members of this household were Absalom, Amnon, and Tamar. Absalom and Amnon were David’s sons and Tamar was David’s daughter. Amnon and a man called Jona dab were secretly planning something. When they put their planning to action, Amnon tricked David. David commanded his daughter to take Amnon his breakfast in bed.
When Tamar came along, Amnon raped her. As soon as Absalom heard of this, he started plotting to kill Amnon. He told Tamar to keep quiet about it, and he took Tamar into his own house. In other words, he didn’t want Tamar to “press charges.’ According to the Law of Moses, there are specific rules for a situation like this. The Law states that if you rape a virgin, you must pay the father of the virgin fifty shekels of silver. After you have done this, she would be your wife (Deuteronomy 22: 28-29).
Absalom tricked David into sending Amnon to Absalom’s ranch. At the ranch, Absalom killed Amnon. David heard of this, he became angry at many things. His daughter had been raped by his son, which he had thought was only a rumor. Amnon had tricked him. Absalom had tricked him.
Furthermore, Absalom had made it impossible for David to punish Amnon according to the Law of Moses.
