2 Samuel 10:18

And the Syrians fled before Israel,.... After an obstinate and bloody fight between them: and David slew [the men of] seven hundred chariots of the Syrians; the word "men" is rightly supplied, for

And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there. Seven hundred chariots of the Syrians.

The men of seven hundred chariots; Heb. seven hundred chariots, i.e. the men belonging to them, that fought in or with them; as plainly appears, 1. Because the men only, and not the chariots, were capable of being killed, as these are said to have been. 2. Because it is thus explained in the Book of Chronicles, which was written after this book, for this end, to explain what was dark or doubtful, and to supply what was omitted here; where, instead of these words, are seven thousand men which fought in chariots, . And this is a very common metonymy; of which see above, , and the notes on . Although there might be seven thousand chariots in all, whereof seven hundred where chosen ones; according to the distinction made . Forty thousand horsemen; for which in , is forty thousand footmen; which may be reconciled divers ways. 1. Both these may be true, that he slew forty thousand horsemen, which being the most considerable part and strength of the army, it might seem sufficient to name them, and every one could easily understand that the footmen in that case were certainly cut off; and that he slew also forty thousand footmen, as is said in 1 Chronicles where he mentions them only, because they were omitted in 2 Samuel, and the horsemen being expressed here, it was needless to repeat them in 1Ch 2. The horsemen may be here called footmen, in opposition to those that fought in chariots; because they sometimes fought on horseback, and sometimes came down from their horses, and fought on foot, when the place of the battle was more commodious for footmen than for horsemen; which it is not improbable was their case here; for David being a soldier of great prudence and experience, and understanding the great numbers of the Syrian horsemen, whereas the Israelites had but very few, , would doubtless endeavour to choose a place as inconvenient for their horsemen as he could. 3. Peradventure the Syrians designed to bring the war into David’ s country, and therefore hastened their march, and for that end put their footmen on horseback, (as hath been frequently done in like cases,) who, when they came to the place of battle, carne down from their horses, and fought on foot. So there is no need of acknowledging an error of the scribe in the sacred text; which yet if it were granted in such historical passages of no moment to the doctrine of faith and good life, it would not shake the foundation of our faith in matters of great importance, which it might reasonably be presumed the providence of God would more watchfully preserve from all depravation or corruption.

2 Samuel 10:18 And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew [the men of] seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there.Ver. 18. And David slew the men of seven hundred chariots.] Heb., Slew seven hundred chariots; that is, seven thousand men that fought in chariots And forty thousand horsemen.] Which yet are said to be footmen. They might be dragoons, as we now call them; or there might be forty thousand of each sort. The Chronicles are therefore called Paralipomena, because they supply that which was wanting in the former books. Equites curules.

(18) Seven hundred chariots.—In this campaign David delivered a crushing blow upon his foes, from which they did not recover during the rest of his reign or that of his son. For the seven hundred here 1 Chronicles 19:18 has seven thousand, which is almost an incredible number of chariots, and the number here is evidently the more correct; but the same place has forty thousand footmen, while here it is forty thousand horsemen. Probably both statements are meant to include both infantry and cavalry, though only one of them is especially mentioned in each case. Comp. Note on 2 Samuel 10:6.

Verse 18. SEVEN HUNDRED chariots - and forty thousand HORSEMEN] In the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 19:18, it is said, David slew of the Syrians SEVEN THOUSAND men, which fought in chariots. It is difficult to ascertain the right number in this and similar places. It is very probable that, in former times, the Jews expressed, as they often do now, their numbers, not by words at full length, but by numeral letters; and, as many of the letters bear a great similarity to each other, mistakes might easily creep in when the numeral letters came to be expressed by words at full length. This alone will account for the many mistakes which we find in the numbers in these books, and renders a mistake here very probable. The letter ז zain, with a dot above, stands for seven thousand, נ nun for seven hundred: the great similarity of these letters might easily cause the one to be mistaken for the other, and so produce an error in this place.

18. seven hundred chariots … forty thousand horsemen] The present text of Chronicles has seven thousand chariots … forty thousand footmen. It seems best to retain the reading seven hundred chariots, and follow Chronicles in reading footmen. But the omission of horsemen in the one and footmen in the other makes it likely that there is some further corruption.

Seven hundred chariots - More probable than the “seven thousand” of 1 Chronicles 19:18.

18. Seven hundred chariots — In 1 Chronicles 19:18, we have seven thousand. The discrepancy is doubtless the error of a copyist.