This document is about Jonadab (son of Shimeah). For other homonyms, please refer to the Jonadab document.
He was the son of Shimeah, David's brother. In other words, David's nephew.
In the Bible, he is described as a very shrewd man.
Seeing that Amnon, David's son, harbored an improper desire for his half-sister Tamar, he advised him on a scheme to force himself upon her.
2 Sam 13:3Now Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimeah, and Jonadab was a very shrewd man.2 Sam 13:4And he said to Amnon, “O son of the king, why are you so thin from day to day? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.”2 Sam 13:5Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’”
Later, when an enraged Absalom killed Amnon, he was with the other princes and fled to safety. At that time, David received false information that Absalom had killed all the princes, but he later came to David and reported that only Amnon had actually died.
2 Sam 13:32But Jonadab the son of David's brother Shimeah answered and said, “Let not my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men the king's sons, for only Amnon is dead. For this has been determined by Absalom from the day that Amnon forced his sister Tamar.2 Sam 13:33Now therefore let not my lord the king be grieved, thinking that all the king's sons are dead, for only Amnon is dead.”2 Sam 13:34But