When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. 2 Samuel 13:21 ESV
This short verse comes from the historical narrative in 2 Samuel chapter 13 where David’s first-born son, Amnon, has raped his half-sister, Tamar. Tamar is the full sister of Absalom.
This is one simple short verse that says a great deal. A notation in my Bible says that David loved Amnon deeply because he was his first-born, and he would not punish him. His anger was simply a useless waste of an emotion. It carried no punishment. It was accompanied by no positive action.
In Matthew 21:12 Jesus became angry because there were those using the Passover for profit in the temple. We should note a few things here. First, Jesus’ anger was righteous anger. He was not angry because of what someone had done to Him, but He was angry because these people had defiled His Father’s house. Secondly, He didn’t just get angry, He took action. He overturned the tables of the money changers and drove them out of the temple.
David got angry. His son had raped his daughter and he got angry and that was it. There were a number of problems with this. First of all, David was a judge who himself had charges of adultery and murder against him. Then his son comes along and commits rape and has no consequences for his action. This made David a weak king and a weak judge.
It sounds a great deal like what we see going on with our politicians today.
It also made David weak as a father. This mighty warrior that, when he was just a teen, killed Goliath and killed thousands of Philistines, was a weak father. This weakness would come back to haunt him.
The Bible has a lot to say about anger. Psalm 37:8 says, “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself, it tends only to evil.” James 1:20 says, “For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Ephesians 4:26-27 tells us to be angry and not to sin and not to let the sun go down on our anger or give an opportunity to the devil. Ephesians 4:31 tells us to let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and slander be put away from us, along with all malice.
In this world, we see a lot of anger today. We see anger that produces evil actions. We see anger that just festers and stirs others up to be angry.
Jesus warned in Matthew 5:22 that everyone who is angry with his brother is subject to judgment. He said that whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and that whoever says, “You fool!” will be subject to the hell of fire.
The Bible doesn’t tell us it’s a sin to be angry. We need to examine a few things, however, when we become angry. First of all is it righteous anger? Are you upset because someone has sinned against God or come against you? Secondly, does your anger produce a lot of noise and maybe even destruction or does it produce positive action? We can use our anger to motivate us to make positive changes.
We should never use anger to plot evil against another. We are clearly told in Romans 12:21 not to allow evil to overcome us, but to overcome evil with good.
Ephesians 4:26 tells us to be angry and not sin. Our anger should not produce evil behavior on our parts but should incite positive change. David was angry that his son had raped his daughter, but that was it. He did nothing about it. In doing nothing, he sent a message that this was okay.
I can’t imagine how his daughter felt knowing that her father did not take a stronger stance against her half-brother. David’s lack of judgment executed against Amnon only caused Absalom’s (Tamar’s full brother) hatred to grow.
If you are experiencing anger over some situation that happened recently or many years ago, give it to God. Seek His guidance on how to handle it. Trust in Him. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not to lean on our own understanding.
Give your anger over to God. Let Him guide you and help you to use it to bring about positive changes.
Have a great day!