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And David took from him a thousand [chariots], and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot [horses], but reserved of them [for] an hundred chariots.
2 Samuel 8:4 — KJV
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2 Samuel 8:4
King James Version (KJV)
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— D.L. Moody
2 Samuel 8:4
Verse 4 of 18
Commentary
Commentary on 2 Samuel 8:4
Theological / DevotionalA thousand chariots. The word “chariots” is not found in the Hebrew, which reads “a thousand and seven hundred horsemen.” The parallel text (1 Chron. 18:4), however, has “a thousand chariots,” suggesting that “chariots” should be supplied in the Samuel account as in the KJV.
Seven hundred horsemen. The LXX reads “seven thousand horsemen,” which is the number given in 1 Chron. 18:4.
Houghed. That is, hamstrung. The procedure was to cut the sinews of the hind legs of the horses and thus render the animals unfit for use in war (see Joshua 11:6-9).
Reserved of them. Whether or not David did wrong in this we are not told. He probably felt the need for a number of horses to be used as a means of rapid communication. Yet the introduction of these horses may have been the entering wedge for Solomon’s multiplication of horses (1 Kings 4:26; 10:26, 28, 29) in direct violation of Deut. 17:16.
By SdaBc