דברי הימים א, פרק י״ט, פסוק ז׳

As a major military campaign approaches, the Ammonites and their hired mercenaries assemble a massive army, preparing for an intense confrontation. The hired force includes an enormous display of military power, featuring thirty-two thousand chariots [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. A parallel historical account in the Book of Samuel records this exact number not as chariots, but as foot soldiers. This apparent difference reveals that the military draft actually occurred in stages. Initially, the hired forces consisted of infantrymen. Later, however, the Ammonites spent a thousand talents of silver to hire an identical number of chariot riders to add to their ranks [מלבי״ם].

These mercenary troops, which also include the king of Maacah and his people, traveled to the battlefront and established their camp just outside Medeba, a city located within Ammonite territory. While the foreign troops settled into their positions, the Ammonites initiated a general draft among their own population. Men from across all their cities mobilized, gathered together, and arrived at the chosen battlefield, preparing for the upcoming conflict in accordance with the standard military customs of that era [ביאור שטיינזלץ].