2 Samuel 10:18

Forty thousand horsemen. 1 Chron. 19:18 says “forty thousand footmen.” There is no essential contradiction here, for both horsemen and footmen were included among those slain. The writer of Samuel places the emphasis upon the cavalry but Chronicles places it upon the infantry. Both were present and both were essential. It was a crushing defeat, one from which David’s foes did not recover during the rest of his reign, nor during Solomon’s reign.

Smote Shobach. In those days commanders fought with their men, exposing themselves to the same dangers and often suffering the same fate. Thus Ahab was slain in battle with the Syrians (1 Kings 22:34-37), and Josiah at Megiddo by Necho of Egypt (2 Kings 23:29).