Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, along the side of the hill. And the watchman went and reported to the king, “I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill.”
Here is, I. The fright that David was put into by a false report brought to Jerusalem that Absalom had slain all the king's sons, Sa2 13:30. It is common for fame to make bad worse; and the first news of such a thing as this represents it as more dreadful than afterwards it proves.
Commenting on 2 Samuel 13:30-39
But Absalom fled,.... He who promised his servants protection could not protect himself, and who no doubt fled with him; he knew what he had done was death by law, and that there was no city of refuge for such sort of murder as this, and he had no reason to hope the king would suffer so foul a crime as this to pass unpunished...
2Sa 13:34 “And Absalom fled.” This statement follows upon 2Sa 13:29. When the king’s sons fled upon their mules, Absalom also took to flight. 2Sa 13:30-33 are a parenthesis, in which the writer describes at once the impression made upon the king and his court by the report of what Absalom had done.