2 Samuel 8:4

4 David le tomó mil setecientos hombres de a caballo y veinte mil soldados de a pie; David desjarretó los caballos de los carros, pero dejó suficientes de ellos para cien carros.

2 Samuel 8:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 8:4

And David took from him a thousand [chariots], and seven
hundred horsemen
"Chariots" are not in the text here, it is only 1700 "horsemen"; but it is supplied from ( 1 Chronicles 18:4 ) ; where the word is expressly mentioned, and there the horsemen are said to be seven thousand as in the Septuagint version here, and in Josephus ^F13; which may be reconciled by observing, with Kimchi and Abarbinel, that here the chief officers are meant, there all the chariots and horsemen that were under their command are mentioned, which together made up that large number; or else here are meant the ranks and companies of horse David took, which were seven hundred; and these having ten in a company or rank, made seven thousand; and there the complement of soldiers in those companies and ranks are intended:

and twenty thousand footmen;
the same as in ( 1 Chronicles 18:4 ) ; and so in Josephus ^F14:

and David houghed all the chariot [horses];
or hamstrung them, as Joshua was ordered to do with respect to the Canaanites, ( Joshua 11:6 ) ; he did not kill them, which might seem cruel and unmerciful to the brute creatures, but hamstrung them, that they might be useless for war; and the reason of it was, that horses might not be multiplied in Israel for that purpose, that so their trust and confidence might not be placed in them; see ( Deuteronomy 17:16 ) ;

but reserved of them [for] an hundred chariots;
for his own use, not for war, but for grandeur; which accounts in some measure for the number of chariots and horses Solomon had, ( 1 Kings 4:26 ) ( 2 Chronicles 1:14 ) ; the number of horses reserved is supposed to be four hundred, four horses being used in a chariot, which Jarchi gathers from ( 2 Chronicles 1:17 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1.)
F14 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1.)

2 Samuel 8:4 In-Context

2 Y derrotó a Moab, y los midió con cordel, haciéndolos tenderse en tierra; y midió dos cordeles para darles muerte, y un cordel entero para dejarlos vivos. Y los moabitas fueron siervos de David, trayéndole tributo.

3 David derrotó también a Hadad-ezer, hijo de Rehob, rey de Soba, cuando éste iba a restaurar su dominio en el río .

4 David le tomó mil setecientos hombres de a caballo y veinte mil soldados de a pie; David desjarretó los caballos de los carros, pero dejó suficientes de ellos para cien carros.

5 Cuando vinieron los arameos de Damasco en ayuda de Hadad-ezer, rey de Soba, David mató a veintidós mil hombres de los arameos.

6 Entonces David puso guarniciones entre los arameos de Damasco, y los arameos fueron siervos de David, trayéndole tributo. Y el SEÑOR ayudaba a David dondequiera que iba.