2 Samuel 13:6

HE DEFILES HER. (2Sa. 13:6-27)

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Sa 13:6 So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick: and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand.

Ver. 6. So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick.] He was Cereus in vitium flecti, easily drawn to do evil. He answered Jonadab, upon the matter, as Tiberius did Justinus, I am only thy clay and wax. Oh that we could find men so docile and ductile to that which is good! Sed hoc est magis optabile quam opinabile.

And when the king was come to see him.] As fearing to lose him, like as he had lately done the child of his adultery. But could he have foreseen what shortly followed, he would either have wished himself childless with Augustus, or else have said with Moses in another case, Lord, if thou deal thus with me, "kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness." {Num 11:15}

And make me a couple of cakes.] Laganet ante oculos meos duo lagana. Let her prepare me two cordial cakes, such as may refresh my heart; so the word signifieth.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Meaning, some delicate and dainty meat.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(6) That I may eat at her hand.—This request from an invalid seemed natural, and was readily granted.

Sent home.—Literally, into the house; i.e., to the private apartments of the women—the harem.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. cakes] The word occurs here only, and may denote some special delicacy suited for an invalid.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick,.... Took the advice of his cousin Jonadab, and acted according to it:

and when the king was come to see him; as he quickly did, after he had heard of his illness:

Amnon said unto the king; who perhaps inquired of his appetite, whether he could eat anything, and what:

I pray thee let my sister Tamar come; he calls her sister, as Jonadab had directed, the more to blind his design; though it is much that so sagacious a man as David was had not seen through it; but the notion he had of his being really ill, and the near relation between him and Tamar, forbad his entertaining the least suspicion of that kind:

and make me a couple of cakes in my sight; heart cakes, as the word may be thought to signify; called so either from the form of them, such as We have with us, or from the effect of them, comforting and refreshing the heart:

that I may eat at her hand; both what is made by her hand, and received from it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 2Sa 13:8, called a לביבה lābı̂ybâh; according to some, it was, from its etymology, shaped like a heart.

2Sa 13:9

The dish into which she poured the לביבה lābı̂ybâh was doubtless borne to him by one of the servants into the chamber where he lay, and from which, the doors being open, he could see the outer room where Tamar prepared the meat.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Messes. Hebrew, "cakes, or cordials;" what which refresh the heart, and give an appetite. The queen of Perdiccas, of Macedon, baked bread for her servants. (Herodotus viii. 137.) (Genesis xviii. 6.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

6. Cakes — Hebrews, heart cakes; some kind of delicious pastry, perhaps folded and laid together in the shape of a heart.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.