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How many
Horsemen did David Capture,
1700 or 7000?
2 Samuel 8:4 and 1 Chronicles
18:4
- 1,700 Horsemen (2 Samuel 8:4) - "And
David captured from him 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers; and
David hamstrung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for
100 chariots
-
7,000 Horsemen (1 Chronicles 18:4) -
"And David took from him 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen and
20,000 foot soldiers, and David hamstrung all the chariot horses,
but reserved enough of them for 100 chariots."
This is most
probably a copyist error or a copy of a manuscript where the number was
altered through decay. 1 Chron. 18:4 is probably the correct
number since it is a better preserved manuscript.
"Probably on earlier copyist inadvertently omitted the
word "chariot" that we find supplied in some translations.
This in turn created a problem for a later copyist who would have
recognized that it was not proper Hebrew structure to write "one
thousand seven thousand" horsemen," so he would have reduced the
second "thousand" to "hundred" resulting in the reading we now have
in second Samuel 8:4."1
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1. When Critics Ask. p. 171-172.
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Bible Difficulties - Joshua to
Esther
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