Than the king arose, and sat in the gate
Of the city, a public place, where the inhabitants met on divers accounts at times, and where there were always people passing and repassing:
and they told unto all the people;
or it was reported to the soldiers particularly:
saying, behold the king doth sit in the gate;
has laid aside his mourning, appears in public, and receives his friends, and attends to business:
and all the people came before the king;
to congratulate him on the victory obtained, to receive his thanks and his favours:
for Israel had fled every man to his tent:
or to his city, as the Targum; that is, those that followed Absalom; which is observed not on account of what goes before, but of what follows after; see ( 2 Samuel 18:17 ) .