So Absalom fled,.... This is the third time it is mentioned, and the reason of it here Abarbinel thinks is, that when he first fled to his grandfather, he used to stand openly in the court of his palace, and go with him wherever he went from place to place; but when he understood that his father mourned so for the death of Amnon, he was afraid he would send some person to lay hold on him, and take vengeance on him; and therefore he would go no more with the king from place to place, but went and abode in Geshur always, which was a fortified city, as it follows:
and went to Geshur, and was there three years: and never went out of it, until he was fetched by Joab, as 2-Samuel 14:23 relates; nor is there anything in 2-Samuel 13:37 disturbed and mutilated, as Spinosa (r) intimates, but the whole is very expressive and emphatic.
(r) Tractat. Theolog. Politic. c. 9. p. 176.