Amnon and Tamar
13 Now it was after this that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon the son of David was in love with her. 2 But Amnon was so frustrated on account of his sister Tamar that he made himself ill, for she was a virgin, and it [a]seemed too difficult to Amnon to do anything to her. 3 But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of [b]Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very clever man. 4 And he said to him, “Why are you, the king’s son, so depressed morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.” 5 Jonadab then said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill; when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please have my sister Tamar come and give me food to eat, and have her prepare the [c]food in my sight, so that I may see it and eat from her hand.’” 6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please have my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of pastries in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.”
7 Then David sent a messenger to the house for Tamar, saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare [d]food for him.” 8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house, and he was lying in bed. And she took dough, kneaded it, made pastries in his sight, and baked the pastries. 9 Then she took the tray and served them to him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, “Have everyone leave me.” So everyone left him. 10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the [e]bedroom, so that I may eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the pastries which she had made and brought them into the bedroom to her brother Amnon. 11 When she brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, sleep with me, my sister.” 12 But she said to him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this disgraceful sin! 13 As for me, where could I [f]get rid of my shame? And as for you, you will be like one of the [g]fools in Israel. Now then, please speak to the king, for he will not [h]withhold me from you.” 14 However, he would not listen to [i]her; since he was stronger than she, he violated her and slept with her.
But Amnon had a friend… famous last words for those who take the advice of fools. Indeed, it was actually his cousin, but the advice is still pretty terrible. He counseled Amnon to trick his father, and his sister, and have his way with her. Not that he actually needed to finish the scenario, for no doubt they both knew the ending.
So the advice I would give to you, is be careful who you surround yourself with. It can be tough to detach yourself from anyone, much less a friend who drags you down (or is even family to boot). Failure to guard your life from such influence will be a mistake you regret for a very long time.
Learn from Amnon, the greatest of the fools in Israel. He got what he wanted, but as we soon shall see, He got much more that he did not expect in the bargain.