Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Samuel 14:6

"And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and killed him." — 2 Samuel 14:6 (ASV)

They two strove together. —The woman represents the fratricide as unpremeditated and without malice. This really made the case essentially different from that of Absalom; but at this point of the story the object is to dispose the king favorably towards the culprit, while by the time the application is reached, this point will have passed out of mind.