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 Exodus 14:7; 1 Kings 10:26; 2 Chronicles 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 1 Chronicles 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 2 Samuel 10:6, as the following table shows:



2 Samuel 10:6

Men

Syrians of Beth-rehob and Zobah

20,000

Syrians of Ish-tob

12,000

Syrians of Maachah

1,000

Total

33,000

1 Chronicles 19:7

Men

Syrians of Zobah, etc.

32,000

Syrians of Machah ( number not given)

1,000

Total

33,000

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