David
captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty
thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses. 1 Chronicles 18:4
We live in a
different world where we’ve elevated animals to almost a worship status. While God does speak about kindness to
animals, the way we love animals is far different then the way they treated
animals.
Hamstringing
horses, cutting their tendons in the thigh, keeps them from charging and riding
into battle. It doesn’t kill them but
for an army that rides horses into battle, it cripples the army.
So yes it’s
cruel, but that’s the way people did battle back then. For them, they saw it as saving human lives
by cutting down their artillery.