Problem: The Philistines had an implausibly large chariot force
Verses: 1 Samuel 13:5; Status: Weak

This is 1 Samuel 13:5:

And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. (ESV)

The number of chariots is implausibly high for an ancient army. However, this is almost certainly a scribal error, and the original number should be 3,000 instead of 30,000. This is all the more plausible since it would then mean two horsemen per chariot, which is reasonable.

Updated: Summer 2008

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