Tamar’s Cry

“So Tamar lived, a desolate woman, in her brother Absalom’s house” –Gen. 13:20

I couldn’t drown out Tamar’s calloused tears this morning. I think it was that cold hard word…desolate. A state of bleak and dismal emptiness. It’s a word that comes with an echo. A ghost town was once a town and a desolate woman was once just a woman. In Tamar’s case she was once a young virgin, her father the king. Valuable. Precious. Princess.

Desolate.

She was treated like a piece of property to her half-brother. Engulfed with lust and passion for her, Amnon devised a plan to rape her. Then, with equal intensity, he despised her. The forbidden princess now but a tired whore, at least in Amnon’s twisted mind. He took her innocence and then despised her for it.

Not only does Amnon violate her but he refuses to provide for her. Who will have her now? She’s no longer Tamar the virgin. Don’t read your twenty-first century sensibilities into this text. Her identity is wrapped up in her virginity. Get angry about that all you want—throw stones at the culture—but that was reality. Amnon has taken her worth. And he refuses to take responsibility for her.

Her brother, Absalom, tells her to keep quiet and not “take this to heart”. We cannot be absolutely certain what that means—but what we do know is that her silence leads to her desolation.

The Tamar’s of Today

I heard Tamar weeping today. And she’s not alone in her tears. There are some 20 million adults and children bought and sold worldwide in the sex trade. 2 million of these are little girls.

If they aren’t yet desolate they will be. I pray that the church refuses to play the role of Absalom. My we not be silent and may we refuse such shoddy counsel as, “do not take this to heart”. She did take it to heart and it wrecked her. Let her speak. Point her to Jesus Christ.

To be continued…