Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Laid her hand on her head - To hold on the ashes (see the marginal references).

Went on crying - i. e. “went away, crying out as she went.”

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And Tamar put ashes on her head,.... In token of sorrow and distress; see Joshua 7:6,

and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her; signifying that her virginity was rent from her in a forcible manner, or that she was ravished:

and laid her hand on her head; through grief and shame; see Jeremiah 2:37,

and went on crying; from Amnon's house to her brother Absalom's, as one abused and injured.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.

Put ashes — To signify her grief for some calamity which had befallen her, and what that was, concurring circumstances easily discovered.

Head — In token of grief and shame, as if she were unable and ashamed to shew her face.

Crying — To manifest her abhorrency of the fact, and that it was not done by her consent.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Samuel 13:19 And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that [was] on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.

Ver. 19. And Tamar put ashes on her head.] Most grievously bewailing in the open street the loss of her virginity; exclaiming against Amnon, as Chrysostom thinketh, and saying that he had ravished her, lest she should be thought to have been put away as a whore.

And rent her garment of divers colours] To show that her virginity had been by force rent from her.

And laid her hand on her head.] To cover her face, that seat of shamefacedness. See Jeremiah 2:37.

And went on crying.] She cried not out before, that she might have been rescued: but now, like one grown desperate, as not caring what became of her, she made known by her crying what abuse she had suffered.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Put ashes on her head, and rent her garment; to signify her grief for some calamity which had befallen her, and what that was concurring circumstances did easily discover.

Laid her hand on her head, in token of grief and shame, as if she were unable and ashamed to show her face. See Jeremiah 2:37.

Went on crying, to manifest her abhorrency of the fact, and that it was not done by her consent.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

19.Ashes on her head’ rent her garment’ hand on her head — Signs of humiliation, agony, and despair. See references.

Went on crying — Screaming aloud through the streets of the city, frantic over the disgrace and violence she had so cruelly received.

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

2 Samuel 13:19. Tamar put ashes upon her head — To signify her grief for some calamity which had befallen her, and what that was, concurring circumstances easily discovered. And laid her hand on her head — In token of shame and sorrow, as if she were unable to show her face. And went on crying — To manifest her abhorrence of the fact, and that it was not done by her consent.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Head, as if to hide her face, Ezechiel xxvii. 30., and Jeremias ii. 37. So Mezentius: "Canitiem immundo deformat pulvere et ambas

Ad Cœlum tendit palmas."----- (Virgil, Æneid x.) See Homer, Iliad 2. (Calmet)

--- Crying, that no one might think she had consented. (Menochius) --- She probably went directly to her brother's house, and related the affair to him; or he met her in this condition. (Salien)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

laid her hand. Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, put for "grieved".

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.

Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours ... laid her hand on her head, and went on crying - i:e., sobbing. Oriental manners would probably see nothing beyond a strong sense of the injury she had sustained, if Tamar actually rent her dress. But as her veil is not mentioned, it is probable that Amnon had turned her out of doors without it, and she raised her hand with the design to conceal her face. By these signs, especially the rending of her distinguishing robe, Absalom at once conjectured what had taken place. Recommending her to be silent about it, and not publish her own and her family's dishonour, he took no notice of it to Amnon. But all the while he was in secret 'nursing his wrath, to keep it warm,' and only 'biding his time' to avenge his sister's wrongs, and by the removal of the heir-apparent, perhaps further also his ambitious designs.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) Went on crying.—Literally, went going and cried; i.e., as she went away she cried aloud. Tamar put on every external mark of the deep grief within; and this was not only fitting in itself, but was a proper means to obtain justice for her wrongs.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.

put ashes

1:2; Joshua 7:6; Job 2:12; 42:6

laid her

Jeremiah 2:37

Reciprocal: Genesis 44:13 - General;  Leviticus 13:45 - his clothes;  1 Samuel 4:12 - with earth;  2 Samuel 15:32 - coat rent;  1 Kings 20:41 - the ashes away;  2 Chronicles 11:12 - he put shields;  Esther 4:1 - with ashes;  Job 2:8 - he sat;  Lamentations 2:10 - cast up;  Malachi 2:13 - covering;  Revelation 18:19 - they cast