2 Samuel 18:17

17 and they take Absalom and cast him in the forest unto the great pit, and set up over him a very great heap of stones, and all Israel have fled -- each to his tent.

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 And they go round -- ten youths bearing weapons of Joab -- and smite Absalom, and put him to death.

16 And Joab bloweth with a trumpet, and the people turneth back from pursuing after Israel, for Joab hath kept back the people;

17 and they take Absalom and cast him in the forest unto the great pit, and set up over him a very great heap of stones, and all Israel have fled -- each to his tent.

18 And Absalom hath taken, and setteth up for himself in his life, the standing-pillar that [is] in the king's valley, for he said, `I have no son to cause my name to be remembered;' and he calleth the standing-pillar by his own name, and it is called `The monument of Absalom' unto this day.

19 And Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, `Let me run, I pray thee, and I bear the king tidings, for Jehovah hath delivered him out of the hand of his enemies;'