2 Samuel 8:4: The KJV correct, most other versions wrong
Jan 11, 2014 7:57:28 GMT
Post by Colossians on Jan 11, 2014 7:57:28 GMT
This material is for the teaching of the Body of Christ, however the author reserves copyright over it.
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2 SAMUEL 8:4: THE KJV CORRECT, MOST OTHER VERSIONS WRONG
Many feel there to be an apparent contradiction between 2 Sam 8:4 and 1 Chr 18:4.
All bible versions have Chronicles saying 7000 horsemen (horsemen were the crew of a chariot).
However for the book of Samuel the situation is rather different: some bible versions have Samuel saying 700 horsemen (KJV, NKJV), some 1700 (NET, ESV, NASB) and some 7000 (NIV, The Message). This list is of course not exhaustive.
The KJV (and NKJV) is correct, and the others wrong. Below we show why. The quotes are of course from the KJV.
“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 Sam 8:4
“And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots.” 1 Chr 18:4
The reason the KJV is correct is that both accounts are true at the same time.
For what most miss is that although 1000 chariots and 7000 horsemen were captured, if you’d gone searching for them the next morning to bring them their Cornflakes and orange juice, you’d have had to carry most of the breakfasts back to the kitchen, for you would have only found 100 chariots and 700 horsemen in the barracks!
That is, the answer to the puzzle is staring everyone right in the face:
“David houghed all the chariot horses [(debilitated the horses with regard to any further military use by damaging the hamstrings or tendons at the back of their legs)], but reserved of them for an hundred chariots.”
Yes that’s right ... David discarded all but 1/10th of the chariot take.
We see then that the account in Samuel simply ‘cuts to the chase’ and declares the effect of David’s capture with regard to his military configurations, prospectively: because 9/10ths of the chariot-forces captured were discarded, 7000 horsemen for 1000 chariots is necessarily reduced to 700 horsemen for the 100 chariots retained.
Contrasting, Chronicles here is clinical: it is simply interested in the historical event without military ramification: 7000 horsemen and their 1000 chariots were captured.
So the account in 2 Samuel is concerned with the increase in David’s military force resulting from his victory: 20,700 conscripts consisting of 700 horsemen (relating to the 100 chariots David retained) + 20,000 infantry: it is concerned with the end benefit to Israel taking into account David’s particular strategic requirements.
The account in 1 Chronicles, by contrast, simply provides the raw data of the victory without ramification toward the on-going Israelite army.
Amen.
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2 SAMUEL 8:4: THE KJV CORRECT, MOST OTHER VERSIONS WRONG
Many feel there to be an apparent contradiction between 2 Sam 8:4 and 1 Chr 18:4.
All bible versions have Chronicles saying 7000 horsemen (horsemen were the crew of a chariot).
However for the book of Samuel the situation is rather different: some bible versions have Samuel saying 700 horsemen (KJV, NKJV), some 1700 (NET, ESV, NASB) and some 7000 (NIV, The Message). This list is of course not exhaustive.
The KJV (and NKJV) is correct, and the others wrong. Below we show why. The quotes are of course from the KJV.
“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 Sam 8:4
“And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots.” 1 Chr 18:4
The reason the KJV is correct is that both accounts are true at the same time.
For what most miss is that although 1000 chariots and 7000 horsemen were captured, if you’d gone searching for them the next morning to bring them their Cornflakes and orange juice, you’d have had to carry most of the breakfasts back to the kitchen, for you would have only found 100 chariots and 700 horsemen in the barracks!
That is, the answer to the puzzle is staring everyone right in the face:
“David houghed all the chariot horses [(debilitated the horses with regard to any further military use by damaging the hamstrings or tendons at the back of their legs)], but reserved of them for an hundred chariots.”
Yes that’s right ... David discarded all but 1/10th of the chariot take.
We see then that the account in Samuel simply ‘cuts to the chase’ and declares the effect of David’s capture with regard to his military configurations, prospectively: because 9/10ths of the chariot-forces captured were discarded, 7000 horsemen for 1000 chariots is necessarily reduced to 700 horsemen for the 100 chariots retained.
Contrasting, Chronicles here is clinical: it is simply interested in the historical event without military ramification: 7000 horsemen and their 1000 chariots were captured.
So the account in 2 Samuel is concerned with the increase in David’s military force resulting from his victory: 20,700 conscripts consisting of 700 horsemen (relating to the 100 chariots David retained) + 20,000 infantry: it is concerned with the end benefit to Israel taking into account David’s particular strategic requirements.
The account in 1 Chronicles, by contrast, simply provides the raw data of the victory without ramification toward the on-going Israelite army.
Amen.