1 Samuel 13:5

Contextual Overview

¹ Saul was ... years old when he began to reign; And he reigned two years over Israel. ¹ Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty-two years. ¹ Saul was [thirty] years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years over Israel. ¹ Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he was king over Israel forty-two years. ¹ Saul was [thirty] years old when he began to reign; he ruled over Israel for [forty] years. ¹ Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, ¹ Saul was [forty] years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, ¹Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty-two years over Israel. ¹ Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel, ¹ Saul was a child of o yeer whanne he bigan to regne; forsothe he regnede on Israel twei yeer.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thirty thousand chariots: The Philistines had no doubt collected troops in this emergency, from all the surrounding nation; but the number of chariots is immensely large beyond any example, and wholly disproportioned to the number of their cavalry. It is probable, therefore, that for sheloshim aileph, "thirty thousand," we should read shelosh aileph, "three thousand," with the Syriac and Arabic.

as the sand: Genesis 22:17, Joshua 11:4, Judges 7:12, 2 Chronicles 1:9, Isaiah 48:19, Jeremiah 15:8, Romans 9:27

Bethaven: 1 Samuel 14:23, Joshua 7:2, Joshua 18:12, Hosea 4:15, Hosea 5:8, Hosea 10:5

Reciprocal: Genesis 41:49 - General Deuteronomy 28:29 - thou shalt be Judges 3:3 - five lords 1 Samuel 13:2 - Michmash 1 Samuel 13:11 - Michmash 1 Samuel 13:23 - passage 1 Samuel 17:1 - gathered 1 Samuel 28:1 - that the 1 Kings 20:1 - and horses 1 Kings 20:27 - like two 1 Chronicles 17:10 - And since 1 Chronicles 19:7 - hired 2 Chronicles 12:3 - twelve hundred Ezra 2:27 - Michmas Nehemiah 7:31 - Michmas Psalms 20:7 - Some trust Isaiah 10:28 - Michmash Revelation 20:8 - the number

Cross-References

Genesis 4:20
Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

Genesis 4:20
And Adah bore Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and [have] cattle.

Genesis 4:20
Adah gave birth to Jabal, who became the first person to live in tents and raise cattle.

Genesis 4:20
Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the first of those who live in tents and keep livestock.

Genesis 4:20
And Adah bore Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and [of such as have] cattle.

Genesis 4:20
Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle.

Genesis 4:20
Adah gave birth to Jabal; he became the father of those [nomadic herdsmen] who live in tents and have cattle and raise livestock.

Genesis 4:20
And Ada gendride Jabel, that was the fadir of dwellers in tentis and of shepherdis;

Genesis 4:20
And Adah beareth Jabal, he hath been father of those inhabiting tents and purchased possessions;

Genesis 4:20
And Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and raise livestock.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel,.... To prevent their further encroachments on them, and designs against them; for they perceived they intended to cast off their yoke, and free themselves entirely from them:

thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen; it may seem incredible that so small a people as the Philistines were, who only were possessed of five cities, or lordships, with the villages belonging to them, except what they had taken from Israel; and even if assisted by the Tyrians, the author of Sirach in the Apocrypha says:

"And he destroyed the rulers of the Tyrians, and all the princes of the Philistines.'' (Sirach 46:18)

though he seems to have respect not to this time, but when Samuel discomfited them, 1 Samuel 7:10. I say it may seem incredible that they should bring such a number of chariots into the field; wherefore this must either be understood of 30,000 men that fought in chariots, as Lyra interprets it, and in which sense it is plain and certain the word chariots is sometimes used, as in 2 Samuel 10:18, or else of some sort of carriages, not chariots of war, at least not all of them; but what were brought to carry the baggage of their infantry, which was very large, and to carry away the goods and substance of the Israelites; some have thought that there is a mistake of the copier, who instead of שלש, "three", read שלשים, "thirty": so Capellus; and the rather because in the Arabic and Syriac versions it is only "three thousand"; but even this is too great a number, understood of chariots of war; for never any people in the world was known to have so many chariots of war; Pharaoh in his large host had but six hundred, Exodus 14:7 Jabin king of Canaan had indeed nine hundred, Judges 4:3 and David took from the king of Zobah one thousand chariots; but whether they were all chariots of war is not certain, 2 Samuel 8:4. Solomon indeed had one thousand and four hundred chariots, but they do not appear to be chariots of war, but some for use, and some for state and grandeur. Wherefore, if a mistake in the copy is admitted of, and this can be confirmed by some MSS, yet we must recur to one or other of the above senses; some of them must be understood of other sort of carriages, or of men that fought in these chariots; and allowing ten men to a chariot, which seems to be the usual number by comparing 2 Samuel 10:18 with 1 Chronicles 19:18 then 3000 men would fill three hundred chariots, which are as many as it can well be thought the Philistines had Zerah the Ethiopian, who brought into the field an army of million men, had no more than three hundred chariots, 2 Chronicles 14:9, and no more had Antiochus Eupator in his army,

"And with him Lysias his protector, and ruler of his affairs, having either of them a Grecian power of footmen, an hundred and ten thousand, and horsemen five thousand and three hundred, and elephants two and twenty, and three hundred chariots armed with hooks.'' (2 Maccabees 13:2)

Darius in his vast army had but two hundred a, and in the very large one which Mithridates brought against the Romans there was but one hundred; and now 3000 men in three hundred chariots were but a proportion to 6000 horsemen, which in those times and countries was a large cavalry:

and the people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude; the infantry was so large as not to be numbered; however, the phrase denotes a great multitude of them; Josephus says b there were 300,000 footmen:

and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven; where Saul, before he went to Gilgal, had his quarters, 1 Samuel 13:2. Bethaven was a place near Bethel, on the east of it, Joshua 7:2 though Bethel itself was afterwards so called when Jeroboam had set up the worship of the calves there, Hosea 4:15 it signifying the house of vanity or iniquity.

a Curtius, l. 4. c. 9. b Antiqu, l. 6. c. 6. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thirty thousand chariots - Probably a copyist’s mistake for 300. (Compare, for a similar numerical variation, 1 Chronicles 18:4 with 2 Samuel 8:4.)

Eastward from Bethaven - Or more simply “to the east of Bethaven,” which Joshua 7:2 lay “on the east side of Bethel.” Bethaven (thought to be the same as Deir Diwan) lay between Bethel and Michmash, which had been evacuated by Saul.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 13:5. Thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen — There is no proportion here between the chariots and the cavalry. The largest armies ever brought into the field, even by mighty emperors, never were furnished with thirty thousand chariots.

I think שלשים sheloshim, THIRTY, is a false reading for שלש shalosh, THREE. The Syriac has [Syriac] telotho alpin, and the Arabic [Arabic] thalathato alf, both signifying THREE thousand; and this was a fair proportion to the horsemen. This is most likely to be the true reading.