Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Chronicles 19:7

So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people; who came and pitched before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.

7. thirty and two thousand chariots ] Cp. 2Sa 10:6, which reckons the army (including Maacah) at 33,000, of whom 20,000 are expressly described as footmen. The word “chariots” has probably slipped in from 1Ch 19:6 instead of “men.”

Medeba ] In the territory of Reuben; Jos 13:16. The country round is a table-land suited for the manuvres of chariots. The place of the rendezvous of the allies is not mentioned in 2 Samuel 10, some words having probably fallen out of the text.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

They hired thirty and two thousand chariots – The reading is corrupt. Such a number as 32,000 chariots alone was never brought into battle on any occasion. Compare the numbers in Exo 14:7; 1Ki 10:26; 2Ch 12:3. The largest force which an Assyrian king ever speaks of encountering is 3,940. The words and horsemen have probably fallen out of the text after the word chariots (compare 1Ch 19:6). The 32,000 would be the number of the warriors serving on horseback or in chariots; and this number would agree closely with 2Sa 10:6, as the following table shows:

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 7. Thirty and two thousand] The whole number mentioned in Samuel is, Syrians, of Beth-rehob, and of Zoba, twenty thousand; of King Maacah, one thousand; of Ish-tob, twelve thousand; in all thirty-three thousand. Of chariots or cavalry there is no mention. These could not have been the whole army.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Thirty and two thousand chariots, i. e. thirty-two thousand men fighting from or with chariots, as that word is elsewhere used; of which see my notes on 1Sa 13:5. And this interpretation seems the more probable by comparing this place with 2Sa 10:6, where this army is said to consist of twenty thousand footmen, and twelve thousand men of Ish-tob; which make up these thirty-two thousand men, who fought partly from chariots, and partly on foot with chariots, or attending upon the chariots, as the ancient manner of fighting was. And here, 1Ch 19:6, this army is made up of chariots and horsemen; where, except the chariots be understood of footmen, there were no footmen in the army, which is unusual and incredible.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7. So they hired thirty and twothousand chariotsHebrew, “riders,” or”cavalry,” accustomed to fight either on horseback or inchariots, and occasionally on foot. Accepting this as the truerendering, the number of hired auxiliaries mentioned in this passageagrees exactly with the statement in 2Sa10:6: twenty thousand (from Syria), twelve thousand (from Tob),equal to thirty-two thousand, and one thousand with the king ofMaachah.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

See Gill “1Ch 19:1”.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(7) So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people.The account which the chronicler has followed here did not state the relative strength of the contingents, yet its estimate of the total number of the allied forces is in substantial accord with that of Samuel. The chronicler puts the total at 32,000 + the Maachathite contingent; Samuel at 32,000 + 1,000 Maachathites. The expression 32,000 chariotry (rkeb) is not to be pressed. The writer wished to lay proper stress on the chariots and cavalry as the chief arm of the Araman states, and at the same time to be as concise as possible. That he was not thinking of 32,000 chariots in the literal sense is clear, (1) because he must have known that an army would not consist of chariots only; (2) in 1Ch. 18:4 he had already assigned to the army of Zobah its natural proportions of chariots, cavalry, and infantry. (Comp. 1Ch. 19:18, below.) The present text of Samuel can hardly be right, as it makes the whole army consist of infantry. (Comp. 2Sa. 8:4.) The great plains of Aram were a natural training-ground for horsemen and charioteers.

Who came and pitched (their camp) before Medeba.Another detail peculiar to the Chronicles. Medeba, the meeting-place of the Araman forces, lay south-east of Heshbon, on a site now known as Madibiya.

And the children of Ammon gathered themselves . . .The muster of the Ammonites is not mentioned in Samuel.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

chariots = cavalry. Used of men as well as horses, see 1Ch 19:18. Compare 2Sa 10:6.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

hired: 1Ch 18:4, Exo 14:9, Jdg 4:3, 1Sa 13:5, 2Ch 14:9, Psa 20:7-9

thirty: Thirty-two thousand soldiers, exclusive of the thousand sent by the king of Maachah, are mentioned in the parallel passage – 2Sa 10:6, but of chariots or cavalry there is no mention; and the number of chariots stated here is prodigious, and beyond all credibility. But as the word raichev denotes not only a chariot, but a rider (see Isa 21:7), it ought most probably to be rendered here, in a collective sense, cavalry; and then the number of troops will exactly agree with the passage in Samuel. It is probable that they were a kind of auxiliary troops who were usually mounted on horses, or in chariots, but who occasionally served as foot-soldiers.

the king of Maachah: This variation exists only in the translation, the original being the same in both places, melech maachah, “the king of Maachah.” 2Sa 10:6, king Maachah

Medeba: Num 21:30, Jos 13:9, Isa 15:2

Reciprocal: 2Sa 10:8 – at the entering

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

19:7 So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people; who came and pitched before {f} Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.

(f) Which was a city of the tribe of Reuben beyond Jordan.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes