Hamstrung Horses and (in?)Humane Conquests
[3] David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to restore his power at the river Euphrates. [4] And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots. [5] And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. [6] Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. [7] And David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. [8] And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took very much bronze. 2 Samuel 8:3–8 ESV
This is one of those sections in the Bible that would be a montage in a movie with music playing and a bunch of scenes cut together. It describes the rapid victories and growth of Israel under King David. While there were a lot of cities wiped out and people killed, it wasn’t the same as under Joshua. Part of the reason was that David was expanding the borders of Israel, not taking over an entirely new land. Another part was that Israel was now a super power, and could rule over other nations. Since they could rule over them and not be afraid of them, they could let the other nations stand at peace while they paid taxes.
One weird little part in here is the hamstrung horses. Instead of killing the horses of their enemies, they would cut a tendon on the back of one back leg. It sounds kind of cruel, and I’m not going to say it wasn’t. Horses at this time were not used for farming. They weren’t strong like oxen or donkeys and they were bred to be fast. They were more like the F–16 of their day than the John Deere tractor. They could be used for quick transportation, but since they couldn’t be used on the farm as much as other animals, to an individual they would be more like a 2-seat sports car than a sedan.
Horses are also an unclean meat. The Jewish people could go in and slaughter a bunch of Amalekite cows and have steak for 5 years, but horse meat was off the menu. If David went in and killed off all of the horses, there would be a lot of dead carcasses to deal with. Hamstringing let the conquered people still use them for transportation, but no longer for battle.
When we read the Bible, we are reading history from thousands of years ago, in a culture thousands of cultures removed. Humane armies don’t hamstring horses anymore, they create treaties to not build more nuclear weapons. The concepts are similar, but the activities are not. Always look for the concepts and the intentions before passing judgment on somebody from 3,000 years ago. God did what He could with what He had at the time, just like He does today.