But Absalom fled. And the young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, many people were coming from the road behind him by the side of the mountain.
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.