And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.
Thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen. Either this number must include chariots of every kind, or the word "chariots" must mean the men fighting in them (2 Samuel 10:18; 1 Kings 20:21; 1 Chronicles 19:18). х shªloshiym (H7970), thirty, is omitted in one manuscript. Instead of "thirty," the Syriac and Arabic versions have shaalosh (H7969), three. It has been suggested that lª- of Yisraa'eel (H3478), having been twice written by mistake, was then interpreted as "thirty", and that the present reading originated in this way. Or the true number may be l-' (lamed-'aleph), i:e., (31), where the 'aleph (') was afterward taken for 'elep (H505) (1,000) (Davidson's 'Revision of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament').] The gathering of the chariots and horsemen must be understood to be on the Philistine plain, before they ascended the western passes, and pitched in the heart of the Benjamin hills, in "Michmash" (now Mukhmas), a 'steep, precipitous valley' (Robinson) eastward from Beth-aven (Beth-el).