But Absalom fled, &c.— As he had committed a wilful murder, he could have no city of refuge in his own country; and therefore he fled out of the kingdom, to his mother's father. Thus did God, by withdrawing his restraining grace from Amnon, and leaving him a prey to his own passions, raise up evil to David out of his own house: a daughter ravished by her own brother; that brother murdered by another brother; that other in exile for it, and soon to perish by a fate yet more deplorable, had it not been, if possible, more deserved!
REFLECTIONS.—Bad news flies apace, and never loses in the relation.
1. David is alarmed with the death of all his sons; such were the first flying reports; and, ready to fear the worst in remembrance of his past doings, and the threatenings against his family, he rends his clothes, and falls prostrate on the earth in an agony of grief, while his servants, with their clothes rent, stand round him. Note; It becomes us to sympathize with the afflicted.
2. Jonadab, who suspected the truth from reflecting on former circumstances, suggests, that Amnon only is dead, in revenge for his rape of Tamar; and the event verified his conclusion, for the king's sons now appeared in sight from the watch-tower, and haste to his presence. There with tears they report the sad catastrophe; and, though it was some alleviation that they were not all slain, yet Amnon's death, awakened the king's bitter sorrow. Note; (1.) In all our calamities we have to thank God that they are no worse. (2.) The loss of a son, and a wicked son too, is a deep wound in a godly parent's heart.
3. Absalom fled immediately from justice, and sought an asylum with his grandfather Talmai, where three years he lived an exile. Note; One rash action often makes the whole life miserable.
4. As time wore off the grief for the dead Amnon, the love of the living Absalom revived. His sin was overlooked, and his return ardently longed for; though how to restore him, in opposition to honour and justice, David hardly knew. Note; (1.) It is a mercy that time blunts the edge of sorrow, else all our days would be embittered with mourning. (2.) The greatest provocations cannot extinguish parental affection.