Cant retrieve user by ID in Laravel 5.5

I dont know what I am doing wrong but I assume its something right under my nose.

I am trying to retrieve multiple rows from a database by their ID, by subtracting a number from the original query like so:

    $week4 = DB::table('weekly_territory_data')->where([['area_id', '=', $area_id], ['start_date', '=', $startDate]])->first();

    Log::info(print_r($week4, true));


    $selectedWeekId = $week4->id;
    $selectedWeekIdSub2 = $selectedWeekId - 236;


    $selectedWeekIdSub3 = $selectedWeekId - 472;
    $selectedWeekIdSub4 = $selectedWeekId - 708;

    Log::info($selectedWeekIdSub4);

    $week1 = DB::table('weekly_territory_data')->where('id', '=', $selectedWeekIdSub4)->first();


    Log::info(print_r($week1,true));

I know I am getting the right ID numbers, but I can't retrieve the rows using the code I have. What is going on here? Is there some sort of exact case issue?

via Chebli Mohamed