2 Samuel 18:17 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit They would not bring his body to be disposed of by his father's 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 Joshua 7:26; Joshua 8:29; Joshua 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, Deuteronomy 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.