Absalom fled. — This is connected on one side with 2 Samuel 13:29, and on the other with 2 Samuel 13:37. Several things were happening at once. When the king’s sons fled to the palace, Absalom, taking advantage of the confusion, escaped another way. The reason for mentioning the fact just here is that otherwise he would seem to be included among “the king’s sons” of the two following verses.
Behind him — i.e., from the west, the Oriental always being supposed to face the east in speaking of the points of the compass.