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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(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 1Chronicles 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 2Samuel 10:6.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:15-19 Here is a new attempt of the Syrians. Even the baffled cause will make head as long as there is any life in it; the enemies of the Son of David do so. But now the promise made to Abraham, Ge 15:18, and repeated to Joshua, Jos 1:4, that the borders of Israel should extend to the river Euphrates, was performed. Learn hence, that it is dangerous to help those who have God against them; for when they fall, their helpers will fall with them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Seven hundred chariots - More probable than the "seven thousand" of 1 Chronicles 19:18. The frequent errors in numbers arise from the practice of expressing numerals by letters, with one or more dots or dashes to indicate hundreds, thousands, etc.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. Hadarezer sent and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river—This prince had enjoyed a breathing time after his defeat (2Sa 8:3). But alarmed at the increasing power and greatness of David, as well as being an ally of the Ammonites, he levied a vast army not only in Syria, but in Mesopotamia, to invade the Hebrew kingdom. Shobach, his general, in pursuance of this design, had marched his troops as far as Kelam, a border town of eastern Manasseh, when David, crossing the Jordan by forced marches, suddenly surprised, defeated, and dispersed them. As a result of this great and decisive victory, all the petty kingdoms of Syria submitted and became his tributaries (see on [272]1Ch 19:1).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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, 1 Chronicles 19:18. And this is a very common metonymy; of which see above, 2 Samuel 8:4, and the notes on 1 Samuel 13:5. Although there might be seven thousand chariots in all, whereof seven hundred where chosen ones; according to the distinction made Exodus 14:7.

Forty thousand horsemen; for which in 1 Chronicles 19:18, 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, Deu 17:16, 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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 chariots could not be said to be slain, but the men in them; in 1 Chronicles 19:17, they are said to be seven thousand, here seven hundred; which may be reconciled by observing, that here the chariots that held the men are numbered, there the number of the men that were in the chariots given, and reckoning ten men in a chariot, seven hundred chariots held just seven thousand men; though Kimchi takes another way of reconciling the two places, by observing that here only the choicest chariots are mentioned, there all of them, but the former way seems best:

and forty thousand horsemen; in 1 Chronicles 19:17; it is forty thousand "footmen", and so Josephus (c); and the same may be called both horse and foot, be cause though they might come into the field of battle on horseback, yet might dismount and fight on foot; and so one historian calls them horsemen, and the other footmen; or the whole number of the slain, horse and foot mixed together, were forty thousand; Kimchi makes use of another way of removing this difficulty, and which perhaps is the best, that here only the horsemen are numbered that were slain, and there the footmen only, and both true; an equal number of each being slain, in all eighty thousand, besides the seven thousand in the chariots:

and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there; of his wounds upon the spot.

(c) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3.)

Geneva Study Bible

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

(g) Who were the chief and most principal: for in all he destroyed 7000, as in 1Ch 19:18, or the soldiers who were in 700 chariots.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - David slew, etc. (see note on 2 Samuel 8:4). We have seen there that the word translated "chariots" means any vehicle or animal for riding. The numbers here are seven hundred chariots with their charioteers, and forty thousand horsemen; in 2 Samuel 8:4 we have seventeen hundred horsemen and twenty thousand footmen; finally, in 1 Chronicles 19:18 we find seven thousand chariots and charioteers, and forty thousand footmen. It is impossible to reconcile these conflicting numbers, but as David had no cavalry, the numbers in 2 Samuel 8:4 are the more probable, namely, seventeen hundred cavalry and chariots, and twenty thousand infantry. The Syriac Version gives us here very reasonable numbers, namely, "seven hundred chariots, four thousand cavalry, and much people." 2 Samuel 10:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

David went with all Israel (all the Israelitish forces) against the foe, and smote the Aramaeans at Helam, where they had placed themselves in battle array, slaying seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand horsemen, and so smiting (or wounding) the general Shobach that he died there, i.e., that he did not survive the battle (Thenius). With regard to the different account given in the corresponding text of the Chronicles as to the number of the slain, see the remarks on 2 Samuel 10:6. It is a fact worthy of notice, that the number of men who fell in the battle (seven hundred receb and forty thousand parashim, according to the text before us; seven thousand receb and forty thousand ragli, according to the Chronicles) agrees quite as well with the number of Aramaeans reported to be taken prisoners or slain, according to 2 Samuel 8:4 and 1 Chronicles 18:4-5 (viz., seventeen hundred parashim or a thousand receb, and seven thousand parashim and twenty thousand ragli of Aram-Zoba, and twenty-two thousand of Aram-Damascus), as could possibly be expected considering the notorious corruption in the numbers as we possess them; so that there is scarcely any doubt that the number of Aramaeans who fell was the same in both accounts (2 Samuel 8 and 10), and that in the chapter before us we have simply a more circumstantial account of the very same war of which the result is given in 2 Samuel 8 and 1 Chronicles 13:1-14.