2 Samuel 8:4

4 David le capturó mil carros, siete mil jinetes^[a] y veinte mil soldados de infantería; también desjarretó los caballos de tiro, aunque dejó los caballos suficientes 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 También derrotó a los moabitas, a quienes obligó a tenderse en el suelo y midió con un cordel; a los que cabían a lo largo de dos medidas los condenó a muerte, pero dejó con vida a los que quedaban dentro de la medida siguiente. Fue así como los moabitas pasaron a ser vasallos tributarios de David.

3 Además, David derrotó a Hadad Ezer, hijo del rey Rejob de Sobá, cuando Hadad Ezer trató de restablecer su dominio sobre la región del río Éufrates.

4 David le capturó mil carros, siete mil jinetes y veinte mil soldados de infantería; también desjarretó los caballos de tiro, aunque dejó los caballos suficientes para cien carros.

5 Luego, cuando los sirios de Damasco acudieron en auxilio de Hadad Ezer, rey de Sobá, David aniquiló a veintidós mil de ellos.

6 También puso guarniciones en Damasco, de modo que los sirios pasaron a ser vasallos tributarios de David. En todas las campañas de David, el SEÑOR le daba la victoria.

Footnotes

• [a] "mil carros, siete mil jinetes " (LXX; véanse Qumrán y 1Cr 18:4); "mil setecientos jinetes " (TM).