13:1-20 From henceforward David was followed with one trouble after another. Adultery and murder were David's sins, the like sins among his children were the beginnings of his punishment: he was too indulgent to his children. Thus David might trace the sins of his children to his own misconduct, which must have made the anguish of the chastisement worse. Let no one ever expect good treatment from those who are capable of attempting their seduction; but it is better to suffer the greatest wrong than to commit the least sin.Make me cakes ... a pan - The words here used occur nowhere else, and the etymology is doubtful. Some particular kind of cake or pudding is meant 2 Samuel 13:8, called a לביבה lābı̂ybâh; according to some, it was, from its etymology, shaped like a heart.2Sa 13:6-27. He Defiles Her.

6-8. Amnon lay down, and made himself sick—The Orientals are great adepts in feigning sickness, whenever they have any object to accomplish.

let Tamar my sister come and make me a couple of cakes—To the king Amnon spoke of Tamar as "his sister," a term artfully designed to hoodwink his father; and the request appeared so natural, the delicate appetite of a sick man requiring to be humored, that the king promised to send her. The cakes seem to have been a kind of fancy bread, in the preparation of which Oriental ladies take great delight. Tamar, flattered by the invitation, lost no time in rendering the required service in the house of her sick brother.

It is strange that so wise and sagacious a person as David did not see through so vain a pretence; but that must be ascribed partly to the instincts of nature, which generally preserve near relations from such monstrous actions; and partly to God’s providence, which blinded David’s mind, that he might bring upon him the designed and threatened judgments.

Then David sent home to Tamar,.... Who perhaps was not in the king's palace, but at her brother Absalom's house, 2 Samuel 13:20,

saying, go now to thy brother Amnon's house; who also had a separate house and equipage, being the king's son, and his eldest son:

and dress him meat; such as he may desire, and his stomach will bear.

Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to thy brother Amnon's house, and dress him meat.