And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the
wood
In the wood of Ephraim, near to which the battle was fought, and into which Absalom fled, and where he was slain:
and laid a very great heap of stones upon him:
his punishment was very exemplary; he was first hanged on an oak, and then thrust through with darts, and swords, and then covered with stones, ( 2 Samuel 18:9 2 Samuel 18:14 2 Samuel 18:15 ) , pointing to the death that a rebellious son, according to the law, ought to die, ( Deuteronomy 21:21 ) ; though this might be done in honour of him as a king's son; for such "tumuli", or heaps of stones or earth, were used by the ancients as sepulchral monuments, and the larger the more honourable F14; (See Gill on Joshua 7:26) and (See Gill on Joshua 8:29);
and all Israel fled everyone to his tent;
or to his city, as the Targum; everyone returned to their own house, and to their own business, and so the rebellion ceased.