8:4 Seven hundred - Or, seven hundred companies of horsemen, that is, in all seven thousand; as it is 1Chron 18:4, there being ten in each company, and each ten having a ruler or captain. Houghed - - That is, cut the sinews of their legs, that they might be useless for war.
8:1-8. David subdued the Philistines. They had long been troublesome to Israel. And after the long and frequent struggles the saints have with the powers of darkness, like Israel with the Philistines, the Son of David shall tread them all under foot, and make the saints more than conquerors. He smote the Moabites, and made them tributaries to Israel. Two parts he destroyed, the third part he spared. The line that was to keep alive, though it was but one, is ordered to be a full line. Let the line of mercy be stretched to the utmost. He smote the Syrians. In all these wars David was protected, for this in his psalms he often gives glory to God.
