Truce

The clearest break in fighting in scripture comes after the running battle between Abner's men and Joab's men at the pool of Gibeon. The day's combat has cost both sides, and at sunset Abner makes the call to disengage.

A Battlefield Halt at Gibeon

Abner addresses Joab from the top of the hill where the sons of Benjamin have rallied: "Will the sword devour forever? Don't you know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long will it be then, before you bid the people return from following their brothers?" (2 Sam 2:26). The question places the burden of stopping the bloodshed on Joab — the pursuer, not the pursued.

Joab's reply concedes the point and ties the cessation to Abner's having spoken first: "As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone away, nor followed every one his brother" (2 Sam 2:27). The pursuit would have continued through the night had Abner not asked for a halt.

The disengagement is signaled by trumpet: "So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither did they fight anymore" (2 Sam 2:28). The blast carries the order across the field — the army stops moving, the pursuit ends, the battle is over.

Withdrawal and Casualties

Once the trumpet sounds, both sides withdraw without further contact. Abner and his men take the long route home: "And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah; and they passed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and came to Mahanaim" (2 Sam 2:29). Joab gathers his force and counts: "And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David's slaves nineteen men and Asahel" (2 Sam 2:30). The Benjaminite and Abnerite losses are heavier: "But the slaves of David had struck of Benjamin, and of Abner's men, [so that] three hundred and threescore men died" (2 Sam 2:31).

The halt is verbal — a question from Abner, an answer from Joab, a trumpet blast — and it holds. There is no formal pact, no oath, no terms exchanged; the fighting stops because one commander asks and the other commands the stop. The result is not peace between the houses of Saul and David — that war continues — but it ends this day's killing and lets each force return to its base.