1 Chronicles 18:4
“David took from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen; and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but reserved of them enough for one hundred chariots.”
What does 1 Chronicles 18:4 mean?
When David defeated the Arameans in battle, he captured their military resources but then did something strategic: he destroyed most of their horses by hamstringing them (cutting the tendons in their hind legs). This prevented those horses from ever being useful in future warfare. He kept enough horses for just a hundred chariots, which suggests David's trust was in God rather than in accumulating weapons of war. The passage shows both David's military victory and his deliberate choice not to rely on the world's typical sources of power, which was countercultural for an ancient king.