“But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother. And Jonadab was a very crafty man.” (2 Sam. 13:3, ESV)
Shimeah (or Shammah; see 1 Sam. 16:9) was David’s third brother. Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, was David’s nephew. Amnon was David’s firstborn. Amnon wanted Tamar, Absalom’s sister, so bad that he “was so tormented that he made himself ill.” (13:2, ESV) As a friend and a cousin, Jonadab gave Amnon a piece of advice to approach his sister from another mother: “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’” (13:5, ESV) This piece of advice sets the tone for the following narrative (2 Sam. 13-18): Tamar got raped; Absalom murdered Amnon; Absalom fled; Absalom returned and conspired against David; and Absalom was killed.
On the one hand, God’s judgment through Nathan was being fulfilled in the family of David (2 Sam. 12:10-12). Sin has its consequences. David killed Uriah and took his wife: murder and adultery (2 Sam. 11). The text says it clearly: “The thing that David had done displeases the Lord.” (2 Sam. 11:27, ESV) When Nathan confronted and rebuked David with a parable, David could have killed the prophet. (12:1-12) But David repented, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (12:13a, ESV) Instead of committing one more crime, David turned away from his sin. “And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.’” (12:13b, ESV) David was forgiven. But still David bore with the consequences.
On the other hand, unlike readers, characters in the narrative do not know anything about God’s will through Nathan’s prophecy. They just make choices according to what is right in their eyes. They act according to their personal values and personalities. Personal choice and personality make a difference as the story goes. The text says, “Jonadab was a very crafty man.” The Hebrew word hakam can be understood as “wise” or “shrewd.”[1] This guy was wise in a negative way. He didn’t wisely use his smartness. Thus, bible translators usually translate it as “crafty” (ESV, NLT, NRSV). Jonadab counseled his cousin with his craftiness. He counseled according to Amnon’s self-satisfied gratification. His counseling lacked of any moral judgment. Jonadab was wise, but he did not know and fear the Lord. (cf. Prov. 1:7; 9:10)
Jonadab’s craftiness was his character—the core of his being. The narrator does not hide his personality from us. Rather, he allows us to see beyond his outer action: his motive, his character, his inner person. We say that we can only judge people by their actions, for actions show and tell what is inside. Jonadab’s crafty shrewdness pointed Amnon to a wrong direction. Amnon had a bad company who led him to a wrong action even though Amnon was fully responsible for his own action.
In 1 Corinthians 15:33 Paul urges the Corinthians to recognize that ‘evil company corrupts good habits’. Intimate friendships with evil characters will invariably have a negative effect on our lives. Likewise, one can say that ‘good company promotes good habits’.[2]
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