Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 18:17
And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.
17. a very great heap of stones ] A monument of shame over the rebel’s grave, as over that of Achan (Jos 7:26), and the king of Ai (Jos 8:29). Some think it was symbolic of the stoning which was the penalty of a rebel son (Deu 21:20-21). It is still a custom in the East for passers by to cast stones on the grave of a malefactor. See The Land and the Book, p. 490.
fled every one to his tent ] To his home. The use of the word tent is a relic of primitive nomad life. Cp. ch. 2Sa 20:1; 2Sa 20:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A great heap of stones – See the marginal reference. This kind of monument is common to almost all early nations.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. And laid a very great heap of stones] This was the method of burying heroes, and even traitors, the heap of stones being designed to perpetuate the memory of the event, whether good or bad. The ancient cairns or heaps of stones, in different parts of the world, are of this kind. The various tumuli or barrows in England are the same as the cairns in different parts of Ireland and Scotland. In the former, stones were not plenty; hence they heaped up great mounds of earth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Laid a very great heap of stones upon him, as a lasting monument of Absaloms sin and shame, and of the righteous judgment of God upon him. Compare Jos 7:26; 8:29; 10:27. He was first hanged, after a sort, which was an accursed death, Deu 21:23; and then thrust through with darts and swords; and, after all, in a manner stoned, which was the proper punishment of a rebellious son, Deu 21:21.
Every one to his tent; to their houses and dwellings, to avoid the shame and punishment of their rebellion.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. they took Absalom, and cast himinto a great pit . . . and laid a very great heap of stones uponhimThe people of the East indicate their detestation of thememory of an infamous person by throwing stones at the place where heis buried. The heap is increased by the gradual accumulation ofstones which passers-by add to it.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, 2Sa 18:9, pointing to the death that a rebellious son, according to the law, ought to die, De 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 n; [See comments on Jos 7:26] and
[See comments on Jos 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.
n Homer. Iliad. 23. ver. 245, 257.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But Absalom they cast into a great pit in the wood, and threw up over him a very large heap of stones, as an ignominious monument, like those thrown up over Achan (Jos 7:26) and the king of Air (Jos 8:29). This was the end of Absalom and his rebellion. “All Israel (that had crowded round him) had fled, every one to his tent” (i.e., home: see at Deu 16:7).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(17) Every one to his tent.An expression derived from the life in the wilderness, and meaning every one to his home. (Comp. Deu. 16:7; Jos. 22:4-8; 1Sa. 13:2; 2Sa. 19:8; 2Sa. 20:1; 2Sa. 20:22.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. En-rogel A well commonly supposed to be just below the junction of the Kidron and Hinnom valleys. But a number of modern travellers identify it with the “Fountain of the Virgin.” See on Jos 15:7.
They might not be seen to come into the city After the public occurrences recorded 2Sa 15:24-29, both the high priests and their sons would naturally be suspected of sympathy for David, and therefore closely watched; and if once within the city they could not easily escape to carry news to David.
A wench , the female servant. The word is made definite by the article. This maidservant of one of the high priests’
families went forth, as the women of Jerusalem do now, to draw water from the well, and, unsuspected, bore the secret tidings to her master’s son.
Told king David Here the historian, as is common with the Old Testament writers, anticipates the result (see 2Sa 18:21) before the particulars are told.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17. Heap of stones upon him As in the case of Achan and the king of Ai. Jos 7:26; Jos 8:29.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Sa 18:17. They took Absalomand laid a very great heap of stones upon him Bishop Patrick here observes, that thus he was, after a sort, stoned, as the law ordered a rebellious son should be. Adricomius, in his description of the Holy Land, says, that this heap remained to his days; and that all travellers, as they went by it, were wont to throw a stone to add to the heap, in detestation of his rebellion against his father. Thus this eastern custom seems commonly understood: but if that be true which Egmont and Heyman tell us, that all the Mohammedans who go in pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, never fail to visit the place where there is the print of a camel’s foot on the rock, supposed to be that of Mohammed’s, on which account they, by way of respect, bring with them a stone, which has occasioned a great heap of stones near that spot, it is evident that these heaps are considered by the eastern people merely as monuments to keep up the memory of certain events, whether good or bad; and that the adding a stone to them by every one who approaches them, is in truth only intended to prevent the dissipation of these uncemented materials. The first raising of this heap of stones over Absalom was, in like manner, intended merely as a memorial of this battle, and of the place in which he lay buried; and by no means as a kind of executing the law relating to rebellious sons upon him, like the hanging of people in effigy; as we may conclude from their being wont then, as well as now, to have heaps of stones for the preserving of agreeable things in remembrance, as well as facts that deserved detestation; which plainly appears from Gen 46:34 and Jos 3:6. See the Observations, p. 443.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Sa 18:17 And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.
Ver. 17. And laid a very great heap of stones upon him. ] Other disobedient sons were by the law to be stoned alive; so was Absalom when dead: and still, as Adrichomius reporteth, every one that goeth by throweth a stone to add to the rest; in detestation of that horrid sin, saying, Cursed be the parricide Absalom.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
heap of stones. Not a memorial to honour but to warn (Jos 7:26; Jos 8:29). See note on 2Sa 18:18.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
laid: This was the ancient method of burying, whether heroes or traitors; the heap of stones being designed to perpetuate the memory of the event, whether good or bad. The Arabs in general make use of no other monument than a heap of stones over a grave. Thus, in an Arabic poem, it is related, that Hatim the father, and Adi the grandfather of Kais, having been murdered, at a time before Kais was capable of reflection, his mother kept it a profound secret; and in order to guard him against having any suspicion, she collected a parcel of stone on two hillocks in the neighbourhood, and told her son that the one was the grave of his father, and the other of his grandfather. The ancient cairns in Ireland and Scotland, and the tumuli in England, are of this kind. Jos 7:26, Jos 8:29, Jos 10:27, Pro 10:7, Jer 22:18, Jer 22:19
Reciprocal: Gen 31:46 – Gather Gen 35:20 – the pillar 2Ki 14:12 – they fled Psa 119:96 – I have seen Ecc 3:5 – to cast Act 5:6 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 18:17. They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit They would not bring his body to be disposed of by his fathers order, lest it should excite his grief to excess. And laid a very great heap of stones upon him As a lasting monument of his sin and shame, and of the righteous judgment of God upon him. Thus the Israelites treated the dead body of Achan, and those of the king of Ai, and the five kings of the Amorites. See Jos 7:26; Jos 8:29; Jos 10:27. Absalom was, in a sort, first hanged, which was an accursed death, and then thrust through with darts and swords; and, after all, in a manner stoned, which was a proper punishment of a rebellious son, Deu 21:21-23. Adricomius, in his description of the Holy Land, according to Bishop Patrick, says, that this heap remained to his days, and that all travellers, as they went by it, were wont to throw a stone to add to the heap, in detestation of his rebellion against his father. And all Israel fled every one to his tent To their houses and dwellings, to avoid the shame and punishment of their rebellion.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18:17 And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great {e} pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.
(e) Thus God turned his vain glory to shame.