A pillar, to preserve his name in memory; whereas it had been more for his honour if his name had been buried in perpetual oblivion. But this was the effect of his pride and vain-glory. The king's dale; a place near Jerusalem so called. Genesis 14:17. He said, I have no son. Object. He had three sons, 2 Samuel 14:27. Answ. Either they were all now dead; or if one of them was left alive, he thought him unfit and unworthy to keep up his name and honour; or he erected this pillar before his sons were born. But the first opinion seems most probable; and it was a remarkable judgment of God, that he who struck at his father's life, should be punished with the death of all his sons. Absalom's place, Heb. Absalom's hand, i.e. his work, made though not by his hand, yet for him and his glory, and by his procurement.
Related Commentaries of 2 Samuel 18:18
2 Samuel 18:18
18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place.