2 Sam. xiii. 15. Then Amnon hated her exceedingly ; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her, ivas greater than the love wherewith he had loved her.
THE word of God will surely take effect in due season ; and every threatening in it, as well as every promise, will be accomplished. God had, with most astonishing mercy, so far pardoned the iniquity of David, as to remit all punishment of it in the future world : but, as his sin had produced a public scandal, and had caused the name of God to be blasphemed through the land, God warned him by Nathan, that he should be visited with troubles through life ; with troubles in his own family, not unlike to those which
he himself had brought on the family of Uriah. Accordingly we find that these troubles speedily commenced. His eldest son Amnon, the heir to his throne, conceived a criminal desire after his half- sister, Tamar ; and so violent was his passion, that his health was visibly impaired by it. By the advice of his friend Jonadab, he laid a plan for getting her within his reach ; and then, when she would not consent to his impious purposes, he effected them by force. But no sooner had he accomplished his wishes, than his love was turned into a most invete- rate hatred ; insomuch that, as our text informs us, " the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her." Now this change of his mind gives us a deep insight into human nature; and affords us occasion for many pro- fitable remarks upon,
I. The love of the ungodly —
As it is not our design to dwell more than is ne- cessary on the particular event that is here recorded, we shall consider personal attachment as compre- hending both love and friendship. Now love, in this extended sense, may exist in a very high degree where there is no religious principle ; it may even in some respects vie with the most exalted instances that are to be found in the Church of God ; with the love of Jacob to Rachel, for the sake of whom seven years of servitude appeared but as a few days^; and with the friendship that subsisted between David and Jonathan, whose love for each other exceeded even the love of women''. But it must be confessed, that far the greater part of that which passes for love and friendship in the world, is bad ; and that even the best of it is very defective. For the elucidating of this point we shall shew,
1 . The criminality of that which is evil —
[Behold that which is spoken of in our text : it was ex- ceeding ardent, it is true ; but it was selfish, cruel, impious : it had respect to nothing but personal gratification ; it sought
a Gen. xxix. 20. ^ 2 Sam. i. 25, 26.