2 Samuel 18:17

17 They threw Absalom’s body into a deep pit in the forest and piled a great heap of stones over it. And all Israel fled to their homes.

2 Samuel 18:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 18:17

And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the
wood
In the wood of Ephraim, near to which the battle was fought, and into which Absalom fled, and where he was slain:

and laid a very great heap of stones upon him:
his punishment was very exemplary; he was first hanged on an oak, and then thrust through with darts, and swords, and then covered with stones, ( 2 Samuel 18:9 2 Samuel 18:14 2 Samuel 18:15 ) , pointing to the death that a rebellious son, according to the law, ought to die, ( Deuteronomy 21:21 ) ; though this might be done in honour of him as a king's son; for such "tumuli", or heaps of stones or earth, were used by the ancients as sepulchral monuments, and the larger the more honourable ^F14; (See Gill on Joshua 7:26) and (See Gill on Joshua 8:29);

and all Israel fled everyone to his tent;
or to his city, as the Targum; everyone returned to their own house, and to their own business, and so the rebellion ceased.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Homer. Iliad. 23. ver. 245, 257.

2 Samuel 18:17 In-Context

15 Ten of Joab’s young armor bearers then surrounded Absalom and killed him.

16 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and his men returned from chasing the army of Israel.

17 They threw Absalom’s body into a deep pit in the forest and piled a great heap of stones over it. And all Israel fled to their homes.

18 During his lifetime, Absalom had built a monument to himself in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and it is known as Absalom’s Monument to this day.

19 Then Zadok’s son Ahimaaz said, “Let me run to the king with the good news that the LORD has rescued him from his enemies.”