2 Samuel 18:16

THE FIGHTING ENDED; ABSALOM WAS BURIED

"Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel; for Joab restrained them. And they took Absalom, and threw him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones; and all Israel fled every one to his own home. Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar which is in the King's Valley, for he said, "I have no son to keep my name in remembrance"; he called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom's monument to this day."

"They threw him ... into a great pit in the forest" (2 Samuel 18:17). The use of the definite article here (`THE' great pit, as in the Masoretic Text ) seems to indicate that it was well known."[20]

"The King's Valley" (the King's Dale in the KJV) (2 Samuel 18:18). "This is the same as the Vale of Shaveh (Genesis 24:17 ASV). Here the king of Sodom met Abraham, but the exact location of the place is unknown."[21] Young also pointed out that, "Absalom's Tomb which is today pointed out in the valley of the Kidron is of Roman manufacture and probably resulted from a later tradition."[22] Bennett thought that the purpose of introducing this word about the monument in this passage was that of showing the contrast between the monument Absalom wanted and the one he actually received.[23] Payne conjectured that, "Absalom had erected that monument in the King's Valley upon the occasion of the death of his three sons (1 Samuel 14:27)."[24]

THE NEWS OF THE GREAT VICTORY SENT TO DAVID

By Joab's having taken charge of the line of communications with David, it is evident that he was the supreme commander of the three divisions of David's Army.