שמואל ב, פרק י״ג, פסוק ל״ז

Following a brutal assassination within the royal family, the narrative splits into two parallel realities: a killer fleeing from justice and a father sinking into deep, prolonged grief. Absalom escapes to his maternal grandfather, Talmai, the king of Geshur. This close family tie provides him with the assurance of safe asylum, trusting that the king will never surrender him to David [רד״ק, מצודת דוד, אברבנאל, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. His escape likely unfolds in stages. Initially, he wanders from place to place alongside his grandfather. However, as he observes that David's intense mourning shows no signs of ending, Absalom begins to fear that his father might send men to hunt him down. Consequently, he barricades himself inside a heavily fortified, walled city in Geshur [מלבי״ם].

While Absalom secures his safety, David is left behind to mourn his son. The primary approach among commentators is that this grief is centered on the murdered Amnon, though it is reasonable to conclude that David is also deeply saddened by the loss of Absalom to exile [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The exact duration of this mourning period is viewed in several ways. Some understand that David grieves for Amnon for the rest of his life [מצודת דוד]. Others limit this intense mourning to the three years Absalom spends in exile [רד״ק, אברבנאל]. A further perspective suggests a literal daily grief, meaning David mourns every single day without exception, refusing to pause his sadness even for Sabbaths and festivals [רלב״ג, אברבנאל].

This heavy, unyielding grief for Amnon raises a question when compared to David's past behavior. Years earlier, when the first infant born to him and Bathsheba died, David immediately arose, washed, anointed himself, and ate, stating that there was no use in mourning the dead. To explain this shift, one view proposes that with the infant, David only ceased his fasting. Fasting serves as a prayer and a cry to God to change a harsh decree, but his natural sadness over the loss remained, making it consistent with his ongoing grief for Amnon [רלב״ג].

Conversely, another approach argues that David truly ended his mourning for the infant entirely. The child was a newborn who had barely seen the world and passed away by the hand of heaven in accordance with the prophecy of God. Amnon, however, was a grown man and the designated heir to the throne. He was brutally murdered by his own brother's sword rather than dying by natural or divine causes. These profoundly tragic circumstances struck David to the very core of his soul, causing him to refuse all comfort and mourn for an extended period [אברבנאל].