2 Samuel — Chapter 18

And the king commanded Joab and Abisai and Ethai, saying: Save me the boy Absalom. Lapide: \"Paternal piety wrestles here with Absalom's impiety in open parricide. On one side fury; on the other, love. On one side madness; on the other, mercy. On one side cruelty; on the other, goodness\" (Chrysostom, Hom. De Absalom).

And it fell out that Absalom met the servants of David riding on a mule; and the mule went under a thick oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between heaven and earth, and the mule that was under him went on. Lapide: Absalom was suspended between heaven and earth — \"Heaven would not receive him, for it had cast out the first rebel (the devil); Earth refused him, not bearing to be polluted by the footsteps of a parricide\" (Chrysostom).

And Joab said: It is not for me to wait. And he took three lances in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom. Lapide: the three lances correspond to the triple guilt of Absalom's heart — feigned obedience to his father while nursing ambition and rebellion. Chrysostom: \"He struck the heart of the heartless one, piercing the receptacle of iniquity.\"

And they cast him into a great pit in the forest, and gathered together a very great heap of stones upon him. The stones piled over Absalom's grave. Lapide notes this monument still existed in his time near Jerusalem in the valley of the king — pilgrims cast a stone on it as they pass, cursing the parricide with the formula: \"Cursed be the parricide Absalom; and cursed be all who unjustly persecute their parents.\"

And the king was grieved, and went up to the upper chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, he spoke in this manner: My son Absalom, Absalom my son: who will grant me that I may die for thee, Absalom my son? Lapide: David wept not merely for the death but for the probable damnation of Absalom, who died in the act of parricide without time for repentance. He lists S. Augustine, Chrysostom, Salvian, S. Bernard, Theodoretus — all opining Absalom was damned.