What Does 2 Samuel 13:3 Mean?
But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, and Jonadab was a very wise man.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.THE KEY
Jonadab’s sharp perception is called wisdom, but its moral character depends on the counsel it serves.
THE MEANING
This verse names a danger that remains present: a trusted companion can read another person closely and turn that insight into influence. Skillfulness alone does not make counsel good; its direction shows what it serves.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a close friend who understands you is automatically safe to trust.
THE ROOT
חָכָם
chākām
GROWS FROM
חכם
To be wise or skilled.
“wise” in this verse is chākām. The same root can describe wisdom as a capacity without promising that it serves what is good. Here, “subtil” catches its sharp, tactically astute edge; the question is what that acuity serves.
ALSO GROWS
chokhmāh: Wisdom, skill, or practical understanding.
חָכְמָה
It shows that this root names an ability whose purpose depends on how it is used.
chakamim: Wise or skilled people.
חֲכָמִים
The plural applies the same capacity to people: discernment can shape their counsel, for good or harm.
יְהוֹנָדָב
Yehonadav
GROWS FROM
נדב
To be willing, volunteer, or give freely; the name means “YHWH is generous” or “YHWH is willing.”
Jonadab’s name carries the language of generosity and willingness beside the verse’s description of his acuity. As his counsel unfolds, that generous-sounding name sharpens the tension between a name’s meaning and the purpose a person’s skill serves.
ALSO GROWS
nadiv: Noble, generous, or willing.
נָדִיב
It shares the name’s root and brings its language of generosity into view.
nedavah: A voluntary gift or freewill offering.
נְדָבָה
It shows the root’s connection to freely offered giving, making the name’s contrast with harmful counsel more pointed.
THE PATTERN
A person’s wisdom is revealed by the purposes their counsel advances.
The thoughts of the aligned are judgment, but the steering cords of the wicked are deceit.This wisdom does not come down from above, but is of the ground, of the living soul, and demon-like.For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, He catches the wise in their own craftiness.THE THREAD
And Jonadab said to him, Lie down on your bed, and make yourself sick. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, I pray you, let my sister Tamar come, and give me bread, and cook it in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her hand.The next verse makes the adjective concrete: Jonadab supplies Amnon with a rehearsed pretext to get Tamar alone. It shows how a close companion’s intelligence can organize violence before the violence itself occurs.
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