2 Samuel 18:16

16 Joab had the trumpet blown to stop the fighting, and his troops came back from pursuing the Israelites.

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 "I'm not going to waste any more time with you," Joab said. He took three spears and plunged them into Absalom's chest while he was still alive, hanging in the oak tree.

15 Then ten of Joab's soldiers closed in on Absalom and finished killing him.

16 Joab had the trumpet blown to stop the fighting, and his troops came back from pursuing the Israelites.

17 They took Absalom's body, threw it into a deep pit in the forest, and covered it with a huge pile of stones. All the Israelites fled to their own hometowns.

18 During his lifetime Absalom had built a monument for himself in King's Valley, because he had no son to keep his name alive. So he named it after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom's Monument.