They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled, each to his own tent.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 17. Him. Thus was the law executed upon Absalom. Deuteronomy 21:18. S. Jerom. Menochius.—History scarcely affords a more detestable character; and his punishment was no less terrible than instructive. He was a figure of the Jews persecuting Jesus Christ, while he gave his blood for the redemption of these his enemies, and prayed for them. As they continued obdurate, they were held up as objects of horror both to heaven and to all nations, like Absalom suspended on the tree, and rejected by heaven and earth. Calmet.