2 Samuel 8:4

4 Y tomó David de ellos mil y setecientos de á caballo, y veinte mil hombres de á pie; y desjarretó David los caballos de todos los carros, excepto cien carros de ellos que dejó.

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 ) .

---

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 Hirió también á los de Moab, y midiólos con cordel, haciéndolos echar por tierra; y midió con dos cordeles para muerte, y un cordel entero para vida; y fueron los Moabitas siervos debajo de tributo.

3 Asimismo hirió David á Hadad-ezer hijo de Rehob, rey de Soba, yendo él á extender su término hasta el río de Eufrates.

4 Y tomó David de ellos mil y setecientos de á caballo, y veinte mil hombres de á pie; y desjarretó David los caballos de todos los carros, excepto cien carros de ellos que dejó.

5 Y vinieron los Siros de Damasco á dar ayuda á Hadad-ezer rey de Soba; y David hirió de los Siros veinte y dos mil hombres.

6 Puso luego David guarnición en Siria la de Damasco, y fueron los Siros siervos de David sujetos á tributo. Y Jehová guardó á David donde quiere que fué.