Upon returning to his throne and palace in Jerusalem, David's immediate priority is addressing the tragic fate of his ten concubines, who had been violated by his son Absalom during the recent rebellion. This action serves as more than just a personal resolution; it is a public declaration of his sovereignty. By treating Absalom as a mere commoner rather than a legitimate king, David sends a firm warning to Sheba son of Bichri and the remaining insurgents. He establishes that they will be judged strictly as rebels against the crown, effectively casting a sense of awe and fear over the nation [מלבי״ם].
David takes the women he had originally left behind and places them in a secure, guarded location. His intention is twofold: to care for them safely [ביאור שטיינזלץ], and to ensure that no other man can approach them, as the king's concubines remain strictly forbidden to anyone else [מצודת דוד, רלב״ג]. Within this protected environment, he takes full responsibility for their well-being, providing for all their daily needs and sustenance [מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ].
Despite ensuring they are well cared for, David severs all intimate relations with them. Commentators offer two distinct perspectives on his motivation for this separation. One approach suggests that the women were now strictly forbidden to him by Jewish law. This is based on a logical deduction: if a commoner's item becomes forbidden to its owner once a king uses it, certainly a king's item used by a commoner, in this case Absalom, becomes forbidden to the king [רד״ק]. Conversely, another viewpoint maintains that the women remained completely permitted to David, yet he chose to abstain on his own accord. According to this perspective, David suppressed his desires as an act of atonement. Because he had previously indulged his desires with something forbidden to him, he now deliberately denied himself something that was permitted [רד״ק, מצודת דוד].
The result of this complicated reality is that the women are left bound and tied to their circumstances [מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון, רד״ק]. They remain effectively chained, lacking the legal permission to marry another man, yet unable to return to the king [רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. They live out the rest of their days in this restricted state, experiencing a tragic form of living widowhood, functioning as widows while their husband is still very much alive [מצודת דוד, רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ].