[1] : Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

absalom
   father of peace; i.e., "peaceful" david's son by maacah 2 sam.
   3:3; comp. 1 kings 1:6. he was noted for his personal beauty
   and for the extra-ordinary profusion of the hair of his head 2
   sam. 14:25,26. the first public act of his life was the
   blood-revenge he executed against amnon, david's eldest son, who
   had basely wronged absalom's sister tamar. this revenge was
   executed at the time of the festivities connected with a great
   sheep-shearing at baal-hazor. david's other sons fled from the
   place in horror, and brought the tidings of the death of amnon
   to jerusalem. alarmed for the consequences of the act, absalom
   fled to his grandfather at geshur, and there abode for three
   years 2 sam. 3:3; 13:23-38.
   
     david mourned his absent son, now branded with the guilt of
   fratricide. as the result of a stratagem carried out by a woman
   of tekoah, joab received david's sanction to invite absalom back
   to jerusalem. he returned accordingly, but two years elapsed
   before his father admitted him into his presence 2 sam. 14:28.
   absalom was now probably the oldest surviving son of david, and
   as he was of royal descent by his mother as well as by his
   father, he began to aspire to the throne. his pretensions were
   favoured by the people. by many arts he gained their affection;
   and after his return from geshur 2 sam. 15:7; marg., r.v. he
   went up to hebron, the old capital of judah, along with a great
   body of the people, and there proclaimed himself king. the
   revolt was so successful that david found it necessary to quit
   jerusalem and flee to mahanaim, beyond jordan; where upon
   absalom returned to jerusalem and took possession of the throne
   without opposition. ahithophel, who had been david's chief
   counsellor, deserted him and joined absalom, whose chief
   counsellor he now became. hushai also joined absalom, but only
   for the purpose of trying to counteract the counsels of
   ahithophel, and so to advantage david's cause. he was so far
   successful that by his advice, which was preferred to that of
   ahithophel, absalom delayed to march an army against his father,
   who thus gained time to prepare for the defence.
   
     absalom at length marched out against his father, whose army,
   under the command of joab, he encountered on the borders of the
   forest of ephraim. twenty thousand of absalom's army were slain
   in that fatal battle, and the rest fled. absalom fled on a swift
   mule; but his long flowing hair, or more probably his head, was
   caught in the bough of an oak, and there he was left suspended
   till joab came up and pierced him through with three darts. his
   body was then taken down and cast into a pit dug in the forest,
   and a heap of stones was raised over his grave. when the tidings
   of the result of that battle were brought to david, as he sat
   impatiently at the gate of mahanaim, and he was told that
   absalom had been slain, he gave way to the bitter lamentation:
   "o my son absalom, my son, my son absalom would god i had died
   for thee, o absalom, my son, my son" 2 sam. 18:33. comp. ex.
   32:32; rom. 9:3.
   
     absalom's three sons 2 sam. 14:27; comp. 18:18 had all died
   before him, so that he left only a daughter, tamar, who became
   the grandmother of abijah.
   

[2] : Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's)

absalom, father of peace

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