m the crown, had fallen in love with one of his
half-sisters named Tamar, the daughter of Maacah, and, instead of
demanding her in marriage, procured her attendance on him by a feigned
illness, and forced her to accede to his desires. His love was thereupon
converted immediately into hate, and, instead of marrying her, he had
her expelled from his house by his servants. With rent garments and
ashes on her head, she fled to her full-brother Absalom. David was
very wroth, but he loved his firstborn, and could not permit himself to
punish him. Absalom kept his anger to himself, but when two years had
elapsed he invited Amnon to a banquet, killed him, and fled to his
grandfather Talmai, King of Geshur.*

* It is to be noted that Tamar asked Amnon to marry her, and
that the sole reproach directed against the king's eldest
son was that, after forcing her, he was unwilling to make
her his wife. Unions of brother and sister were probably as
legitimate among the Hebrews at this time as among the
Egyptians.

His anger was now turned against the king for not having taken up the
cause of his sister, and he began to meditate his dethronement. Having
been recalled to Jerusalem at the instigation of Joab, "Absalom
prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him,"
thus affecting the outward forms of royalty. Judah, dissatisfied at
the favour shown by David to the other tribes, soon came to recognise
Absalom as their chief, and some of the most intimate counsellors of the
aged king began secretly to take his part. When Absalom deemed things
safe for action, he betook himself to Hebron, under the pretence of a
vow which he had made daring his sojourn at Geshur. All Judah rallied
around him, and the excitement at Jerusalem was so great that David
judged it prudent to retire, with his Philistine and Cherethite guards,
to the other side of the Jordan. Absalom, in the mean while, took up his
abode in Jerusalem, where, having received the tacit adherence of the
family of Saul and of a number of the notables, he made himself king. To
show that the rupture between him and David was complete, he had tents
erected on the top of the house, and there, in view of the people, took
possession of his father's harem. Success would have been assured to
him if he had promptly sent troops after the fugitives, but while he was
spending his time in inactivity and feasting, David collected together
those who w