2 Samuel 8:4

4 David captured 1,700 horsemen^[a] and 20,000 foot soldiers from him, and he hamstrung all the horses, and he kept 100 chariots.^[b][c]

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 He also defeated the Moabites, and after making them lie down on the ground, he measured them off with a cord. He measured every two cord lengths [of those] to be put to death and one length [of those] to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David's subjects and brought tribute.

3 David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, who went to restore his control at the Euphrates River.

4 David captured 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers from him, and he hamstrung all the horses, and he kept 100 chariots.

5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to assist King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 Aramean men.

6 Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became David's subjects and brought tribute. The Lord made David victorious wherever he went.

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX, DSS read 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen
• [b]. Or chariot horses
• [c]. 1 Ch 18:4