The Secret Chord

Batsheva, who has become friends with Natan, sits with him as they watch Shlomo’s gentle control of his pet eagle. She asks him to come to the palace to speak to Maacah. He initially deflects her request, but Batsheva has grown more confident and assertive. She admits that her own experience of rape has made her more sympathetic to Tamar, but also insists the two experiences are not the same. In the end, Natan goes with her.

Maacah challenges Natan for failing in his duty as the king’s conscience. She confides that when she was sent to David, her own royal father assured her that she would be “all right, for though this Name had no face, it had a voice, and spoke through a prophet, who was fearless, and told the king if he did good or ill” (239). God responds by speaking through Natan, promising her justice but in God’s time. Natan struggles to explain that David and Amnon’s punishments are linked, but he cannot be more specific.

Shlomo continues to grow and learn. He learns to fight, but he is more interested in strategy than killing and more interested in justice than war. He soon attends David’s court on a regular basis to learn the skills of ruling. David, meanwhile, has grown old and is losing both the sharpness of his wit and his control over the kingdom.

Avshalom surprises the court by inviting David and all his brothers to a feast at his estate. David is pleased, believing that Avshalom is trying to reconcile the family. He says he cannot go but commands all his sons to accept Avshalom’s invitation. Amnon, though suspicious, cannot find an excuse to refuse. The chapter concludes with Natan’s vision of the disfigured Tamar on a farm, smiling fiercely as she says, “Soon.”

The brothers, including an excited Shlomo, set off to Avshalom’s estate. A shaken Shlomo returns 10 days later, having witnessed Avshalom’s murderous revenge on Amnon. Avshalom pretends friendliness with his brother. Then, after three days of lulling him into complacency, his followers kill Amnon. Tamar is there and throws off her veil as Amnon is stabbed to death. It’s uncertain whether he even recognizes her. The other brothers flee in a panic. Only Shlomo has the self-possession to know that Avshalom’s quarrel is limited to Amnon. Shlomo stays to retrieve Amnon’s body and bring it back to David. Tamar and Avshalom flee into exile in Geshur, the kingdom from which their mother came.

While David grieves the loss of his son, the rest of the city secretly rejoices, happy to be rid of the cruel Amnon hopeful that Natan’s “curse” decreeing punishment for David has finally been fulfilled. Natan knows that more suffering is still to come.