2 Samuel 18:16

16 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and the troops broke off their pursuit of Israel because Joab had restrained them.

2 Samuel 18:16 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 18:16

And Joab blew the trumpet
As the sign of a retreat:

and the people returned from pursuing after Israel;
upon the sound of the trumpet, the meaning of which they understood:

for Joab held back the people:
from shedding any more blood; the head of the conspiracy being removed, the thing would be crushed at once; and Joab neither chose to slay any more, nor take any prisoners, to be tried as traitors, being unawares, without thought, drawn into this rebellion.

2 Samuel 18:16 In-Context

14 But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree.

15 And ten young men who carried Joab’s armor surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him.

16 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and the troops broke off their pursuit of Israel because Joab had restrained them.

17 They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.

18 During his lifetime, Absalom had set up for himself a pillar in the King’s Valley, for he had said, “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.” So he gave the pillar his name, and to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument.