But Absalom fled
As before related, but here repeated for the sake of what follows:
and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur:
his mother's father, see ( 2 Samuel 3:3 ) , where he might hope for protection and safety:
and [David] mourned for his son every day;
or "all the days" F17, i.e. of the three years Absalom was in Geshur, about the end of which he was comforted concerning Amnon, as the following verses show. Some think it was for Absalom he mourned, but rather for Amnon. The reason why he mourned for him, when he did not for his child by Bathsheba, who died, because that was an infant, this a grown man, and heir to his crown, and was slain by the sword of his brother, and so fulfilled a threatening to himself on account of his own sin, which, hereby no doubt, was brought fresh to his mind.