Jonadab, friend and very wise (חכם מאד) confidant of Amnon, is often blamed for arranging Amnon’s rape of Tamar. David, Amnon’s doting father, likewise bears responsibility for neither preventing nor punishing Amnon. While David’s guilt is more obvious, the justifications offered in narrative readings for Jonadab’s guilt lack sufficient evidence. This article employs a narrative analysis focused on repetition in order to explain Jonadab’s situation vis-à-vis the rape. A close look at the narrative repetitions in the text reveals the curious alignment of Jonadab and David and distances the two of them from Amnon. In a fourfold repetition of events, the first (Jonadab) and third (David) iterations hold together, whereas the second (Amnon) and fourth (narration of Tamar) act as a pair. This does not indicate that David and Jonadab are innocent, but are guilty rather of the loss of royal authority (David) and its associated wisdom (Jonadab).
AlterRobert, ed. Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings: A Translation with Commentary. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
2.
AlterRobert. The Art of Biblical Narrative. 2nd ed.New York, NY: Basic Books, 2011.
3.
AndersonA. A.2 Samuel. Word Biblical Commentary 11. Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1989.
4.
BaderMary Anna. Sexual Violation in the Hebrew Bible: A Multi-Methodological Study of Genesis 34 and 2 Samuel 13. Studies in Biblical Literature 87. New York: Peter Lang, 2006.
5.
Bar-EfratShimeon. Das zweite Buch Samuel: ein narratologisch-philologischer Kommentar. Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament 181. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2009.
6.
CampbellAntony F.2 Samuel. The Forms of the Old Testament Literature 8. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2005.
7.
CaquotAndréde RobertPhilippeLes livres de Samuel. Commentaire de l’Ancien Testament 6. Genève: Labor et Fides, 1994.
8.
ConroyCharles.Absalom, Absalom!: Narrative and Language in 2 Sam 13-20. Analecta Biblica 81. Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1978.
9.
Dijk-HemmesFokkelien van. “Tamar and the Limits of Patriarchy: Between Rape and Seduction.” In Anti-Covenant: Counter-Reading Women’s Lives in the Hebrew Bible, edited by BalMieke, 135–56. Bible and Literature Series 22. Sheffield: Almond Press, 1989.
10.
FewellDanna Nolan. “The Work of Biblical Narrative.” In The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative, edited by FewellDanna Nolan, 3–26. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2015.
11.
FokkelmanJ. P.Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel: A Full Interpretation Based on Stylistic and Structural Analyses. Vol. 1. 4 vols. Assen: Van Gorcum, 1981.
12.
FrayneDouglas. “Sin-Iddinam.” In The Context of Scripture, Vol. II. Leiden: Brill, 1997.
13.
FrayneDouglas. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Old Babylonian Period: (2003 -1595 BC). Edited by GraysonA. KirkSweetRonald F. G. Early Periods 4. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990.
14.
GoslingaC. J.Het tweede boek Samuel. Kampen: Kok, 1962.
15.
GraysonA. Kirk. Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia 2. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.
16.
GunnDavid M.And Danna Nolan Fewell. Narrative in the Hebrew Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
17.
KeelOthmar. The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997.
18.
KeelOthmarSchroerSilvia. Creation: Biblical Theologies in the Context of the Ancient Near East. Translated by DanielsPeter T. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015.
19.
KetterPeter. Die Samuelbücher. Vol. 3,1. Herders Bibelkommentar. Freiburg: Herder, 1940.
20.
MooreStephen D. “Biblical Narrative from the New Criticism to the New Narratology.” In The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative, edited by FewellDanna Nolan, 27–50. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2015.
PetersKurtis. Hebrew Lexical Semantics and Daily Life in Ancient Israel: What’s Cooking in Biblical Hebrew? Biblical Interpretation Series 146. Leiden; Boston, MA: Brill, 2016.
23.
RidoutGeorge. “The Rape of Tamar: A Rhetorical Analysis of 2 Sam 13:1 - 22.” In Rhetorical Criticism: Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg, edited by JacksonJared JuddKesslerMartin, 75–84. Pittsburgh Theological Monograph Series 1. Pittsburgh, PA: Pickwick Press, 1974.
24.
SchroerSilvia. Wisdom Has Built Her House: Studies on the Figure of Sophia in the Bible. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000.
25.
SmithRichard G.The Fate of Justice and Righteousness During David’s Reign: Rereading the Court History and Its Ethics According to 2 Samuel 8:15-20:26. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 508. New York: T & T Clark, 2009.
26.
SternbergMeir. The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature and the Drama of Reading. The Indiana Literary Biblical Series. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1985.
27.
StoebeHans Joachim. Das zweite Buch Samuelis. Vol. 2. Kommentar zum Alten Testament 8. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verl.-Haus, 1994.
28.
StoneKen.Sex, Honor, and Power in the Deuteronomistic History. Journal for the Study of Old Testament Supplement Series 234. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.
29.
Tamarkin ReisPamela. “Cupidity and Stupidity: Woman’s Agency and The ‘Rape’ of Tamar.” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society25 (1997): 43–60.
30.
WestbrookApril D.“And He Will Take Your Daughters . . .”: Woman Story and the Ethical Evaluation of Monarchy in the David Narrative. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 610. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.
31.
WidengrenGeo. “The Ascension of the Apostle and the Heavenly Book.” Uppsala Universitets Årrskrift, no. 7 (1950).
32.
WyattN.There’s Such Divinity Doth Hedge a King: Selected Essays of Nicolas Wyatt on Royal Ideology in Ugaritic and Old Testament Literature. Society for Old Testament Study. Aldershot, Hants, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005.
