Reference: Horse
Easton
always referred to in the Bible in connection with warlike operations, except Isa 28:28. The war-horse is described Job 39:19-25. For a long period after their settlement in Canaan the Israelites made no use of horses, according to the prohibition, De 17:16. David was the first to form a force of cavalry (2Sa 8:4). But Solomon, from his connection with Egypt, greatly multiplied their number (1Ki 4:26; 10:26,29). After this, horses were freely used in Israel (1Ki 22:4; 2Ki 3:7; 9:21,33; 11:16). The furniture of the horse consisted simply of a bridle (Isa 30:28) and a curb (Ps 32:9).
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Except, he may {not make numerous} for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to [to go] to Egypt {in order to increase horses}, for Yahweh has said to you that {you may never return}.
David captured from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand {foot soldiers}. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but {from them} he spared a hundred chariot horses.
Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.
Solomon gathered chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses. He stationed them in the cities of the chariots and with the king in Jerusalem.
A chariot went up and went out from Egypt at six hundred silver [shekels] and a horse at a hundred and fifty. So it was for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram; by their hand they were exported.
Then he said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to the battle for Ramoth-Gilead?" Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "{I am like you}; {my people are like your people}; {my horses are like your horses}."
"Do you give power to the horse? Do you clothe its neck [with] a mane? Do you make it leap like the locust? [The] majesty of its snorting [is] terrifying. read more. They paw in the valley, and it exults with strength; it goes out to meet [the] battle. It laughs at danger and is not dismayed, and it does not turn back from {before} [the] sword. Upon it [the] quiver rattles [along with] [the] flash of [the] spear and [the] short sword. With roar and rage {it races over the ground}, and it cannot stand still at [the] sound of [the] horn. {Whenever} a horn [sounds], it says, 'Aha!' And it smells [the] battle from a distance-- [the] thunder of [the] commanders and [the] war cry.
Do not be like a horse [or] like a mule, without understanding; [that needs] his tackle--bridle and rein--for restraint [or he would not] come near you.
Grain is crushed fine, but certainly one does not thresh it forever; and one drives the wheel of his cart, but his horses do not crush it.
And his breath [is] like an overflowing river; it reaches up to [the] neck to shake [the] nations with [the] sieve of worthlessness; and a bridle that leads astray [is] on [the] jawbones of [the] peoples.
Fausets
In Scripture used for war-like purposes, not agriculture (except in treading out grain for threshing, Isa 28:28, where for "horsemen" translated "horses".) Job's magnificent description refers to the war horse (Isa 39:8), "hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?" i.e. with the power of inspiring terror. Rather "with majesty" (Umbreit), "with quivering mane" (Maurer). The Greek connection between mane (fobee) and terror (fobos) favors A.V. which is more poetic. "Canst thou make him afraid (rather 'make him spring') as a grasshopper?" So in Joe 2:4 war horses are compared to locusts. Their heads are so like that the Italian for "locust" is cavaletta, "little horse." "The glory of his nostrils is terrible: he paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in strength, he goeth on," etc.; "he swalloweth the ground with fierceness," i.e. draws it in fierce impatience toward him with his hoof, as if he would "swallow" it.
Neither believeth he (for joy) that it is the sound of the trumpet, rather "he will not stand still at the sound." "He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha!" his mettlesome neighing expressing his eagerness for battle, which "he smelleth," snuffeth, i.e. discerneth, "the thunder (i.e. thundering voice) of the captains." (See CHARIOT.) The donkey is the emblem of peace. The bride is compared to "a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots" (Song 1:9), namely, in ardor and beauty (Song 1:4, "run"; Song 1:5, "comely"), and in forming "a company" militant, orderly, and numerous (Re 19:7,14). The qualities which seemed preeminent in the enemy Pharaoh's hosts at the Red Sea really belonged to Israel. Maurer translated "I compare thee to my mare in chariots of (i.e. received from) Pharaoh," but the plural "chariots" requires the collective sense "a company of horses."
The "cutting off of the horse from Jerusalem" prophetically symbolizes the cessation of war (Zec 9:10). Not the horse's speed or utility but his "strength" is his characteristic in Scripture (Ps 33:17). Two names are used in Hebrew, both Persian in origin: sus from Susa, and parash from Pares. The sus was of stronger make, used for the war chariot; the parash more for riding. Perhaps in Ex 14:9 "horsemen" mean "chariot riders." Certainly no Egyptian monument represents horsemen. Translated in 1Ki 4:26, "forty (rather 'four,' a copyist's error, as 2Ch 9:25 proves. Also 1400 chariots suit 4000 horses, two horses for each chariot and a reserve horse: 2Ch 1:14; 1Ki 10:26) thousand chariot horses and twelve thousand riding (i.e. cavalry) horses"; Eze 27:14, "with (chariot) horses and riding horses" (KJV "horsemen".)
Isa 21:7, "a chariot with a couple of horsemen"; rather "a cavalcade of horsemen riding in pairs." In 1Ki 4:28; Es 8:14; Mic 1:13, rekesh "dromedary"; rather "a courser," a "racehorse," for such purposes as the royal post. In 1Ki 10:28-29, the sense seems that the Egyptians regularly brought horses to a mart in S. Palestine (Septuagint and Vulgate name the mart in their translation), of the Hebrew Koa. In A. V. Mi-Kveh is translated "linen yarn") and handed them to the king's dealers at a fixed price, 150 shekels for one horse, 600 for a chariot, including its two draught horses and one reserve horse. In Ge 12:15 horses are not mentioned among the possessions which Abram acquired during his sojourn in Egypt. But in Ge 47:17 they stand foremost among the Egyptians' possessions. In later times, the greater contact of Egypt with Canaanite and Arab nomads' accounts for the introduction of horses.
The camel, one of Abram's possessions in Egypt, is not mentioned in Joseph's time nor on the Egyptian monuments. Their early possession of the desert of Sinai makes it certain they knew and must have used the camel there, "the ship of the desert," but they avoid mentioning it as being unclean. Saddles were not used until a late period. Horses' hoofs hard "as flint" were a good point in days when shoeing was unknown (Isa 5:28). White horses were emblematic of victory (Re 6:2; 19:11,14). Horses were consecrated to the sun, since that luminary was supposed to drive a fiery chariot through the sky (2Ki 23:11). They were driven in procession to meet the rising sun.
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And the officials of Pharaoh saw her, and they praised her [beauty] to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to the house of Pharaoh.
So they brought their herds to Joseph, and Joseph gave food to them in exchange for horses, their flocks, and their cattle and donkeys. And he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
And [the] Egyptians chased after them, and they overtook them encamped at the sea--all the horses of the chariots of Pharaoh and his charioteers and his army--at Pi-hahiroth before Baal Zephon.
Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.
The barley and the straw for the horses and for packhorses they brought to the place where they were, each according to his share.
The import of the horses which were Solomon's [was] from Egypt and from Kue; the traders of the king received [horses] from Kue at a price. A chariot went up and went out from Egypt at six hundred silver [shekels] and a horse at a hundred and fifty. So it was for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram; by their hand they were exported.
He kept the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from coming to the temple of Yawheh at the side room of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, which [was] in the court; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.
And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. And he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. And he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
The mounted couriers on the royal horses went out without delay, urged by the king's word. The law was given in the citadel of Susa.
The horse [is] a false hope for victory, nor can it save by the greatness of its power.
Draw me after you, let us run! May the king bring me into his chambers! Let us be joyful and let us rejoice in you; let us extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you! I [am] black but beautiful, {O maidens of Jerusalem}, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
Whose arrows are sharp, and all of his bows are bent. The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint, and his wheels like the storm wind.
When he sees riders, a pair of horsemen, riders of donkeys, riders of camels, {then} he must listen attentively, paying attention, paying {special} attention."
Grain is crushed fine, but certainly one does not thresh it forever; and one drives the wheel of his cart, but his horses do not crush it.
And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh that you have spoken [is] good," for he {thought}, "Surely there will be peace and security in my days."
From Beth Togarmah they exchanged horses and war horses and mules for your wares.
Like [the] appearance of horses is their appearance, and like horsemen they run;
Harness the chariot to the team of horses, O inhabitants of Lachish; it [is] the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
And I will cut off [the] chariot from Ephraim, and [the] horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow will be cut down, and he will announce peace to the nations. His dominion [will be] from sea to sea, and from [the] River to [the] ends of [the] earth.
And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and the one seated on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and in order that he might conquer.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him the glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and the one seated on it was called "Faithful" and "True," and with justice he judges and makes war.
And the armies [that are] in heaven, dressed in clean, white fine linen, were following him on white horses.
And the armies [that are] in heaven, dressed in clean, white fine linen, were following him on white horses.
Hastings
The Israelites must have been acquainted with horses in Egypt (Ge 47:17), and it is evident, too, from the Tell el-Amarna correspondence that horses were familiar animals in Palestine at an early period; but it would appear that the children of Israel were slow in adopting them. Throughout the OT up to the Exile they appear only as war-horses; the ass, the mule, and the camel were the beasts for riding and burden-bearing. Even for warlike purposes horses were only slowly adopted, the mountainous regions held by the Israelites being unsuitable for chariot warfare. David commenced acquiring chariots (2Sa 8:4), and Solomon greatly added to their numbers, obtaining horses for them from Musri [not Mizraim, 'Egypt'] in N. Syria and Kue, in Cilicia (1Ki 10:28; 2Ch 1:16 [amending the text]). Horses were obtained also from Egypt (31/1/type/leb'>Isa 31:1,3; Eze 17:15). Some of the references may be to hired horsemen. The kings of Israel were warned against multiplying horses (De 17:16). Trust in horses is put in antithesis to trust in the Lord (Isa 30:16; Ps 20:7; 33:17). Before the reforms of Josiah, horses sacred to the sun were kept in the Temple (2Ki 23:11; cf. 2Ki 11:16). The appearance of the war-horse seems to have made a deep impression (Job 39:19-25; Jer 47:3; Na 3:2 etc.). After the Exile horses were much more common: the returning Jews brought 736 horses with them (Ne 7:68). Horses were fed on barley and tibn (chopped straw) in Solomon's time as in Palestine to-day (1Ki 4:28). Although the breeding of horses has become so intimately associated with our ideas of the Arabs, it would seem that during the whole OT period horses were unknown, or at least scarce, in Arabia. The equipment of horses is mentioned in the Bible
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So they brought their herds to Joseph, and Joseph gave food to them in exchange for horses, their flocks, and their cattle and donkeys. And he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
Except, he may {not make numerous} for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to [to go] to Egypt {in order to increase horses}, for Yahweh has said to you that {you may never return}.
David captured from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand {foot soldiers}. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but {from them} he spared a hundred chariot horses.
The barley and the straw for the horses and for packhorses they brought to the place where they were, each according to his share.
The import of the horses which were Solomon's [was] from Egypt and from Kue; the traders of the king received [horses] from Kue at a price.
So {they grabbed her} as she went [by] the entranceway of the horses to the palace of the king, and she was killed there.
He kept the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from coming to the temple of Yawheh at the side room of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, which [was] in the court; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.
"Do you give power to the horse? Do you clothe its neck [with] a mane? Do you make it leap like the locust? [The] majesty of its snorting [is] terrifying. read more. They paw in the valley, and it exults with strength; it goes out to meet [the] battle. It laughs at danger and is not dismayed, and it does not turn back from {before} [the] sword. Upon it [the] quiver rattles [along with] [the] flash of [the] spear and [the] short sword. With roar and rage {it races over the ground}, and it cannot stand still at [the] sound of [the] horn. {Whenever} a horn [sounds], it says, 'Aha!' And it smells [the] battle from a distance-- [the] thunder of [the] commanders and [the] war cry.
{Some boast in chariots and others in horses}, but we boast in the name of Yahweh, our God.
Do not be like a horse [or] like a mule, without understanding; [that needs] his tackle--bridle and rein--for restraint [or he would not] come near you.
The horse [is] a false hope for victory, nor can it save by the greatness of its power.
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.
Whose arrows are sharp, and all of his bows are bent. The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint, and his wheels like the storm wind.
and you said, "No! For we will flee on horses!" Therefore you shall flee! And, "We will ride on swift horses!" Therefore your pursuers shall be swift!
Ah! Those who go down [to] Egypt for help! They rely on horses and trust in chariots because [they are] many, and in horsemen because they are very numerous, and they do not look to the holy one of Israel, and they do not consult Yahweh.
And the Egyptians [are] human and not God, and their horses [are] flesh and not spirit. And Yahweh stretches out his hand, and [the] helper will stumble, and [the] one being helped will fall, and together all of them will come to an end.
from the sound of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, from the clattering of his chariots, the noise of their wheels. Fathers do not turn to [their] children because of [the] slackness of [their] hands.
But he rebelled against him by sending his messengers [to] Egypt to give to him horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he escape doing these [things], and can he break [the] covenant and escape?
Dedan [was] trading [with] you, with garments of woven material for riding.
The crack of the whip! The rumbling of the [chariot] wheel! The galloping of the horse! The racing of the chariot!
On that day there will be [inscribed] on the bells of the horses, "Holy to Yahweh." And the cooking pots in the house of Yahweh will be [holy] like the sacrificial basins before the altar.
Morish
The horse was used among the Israelites only for war, either in chariots or for what is now called cavalry; but its use betokened failure in confidence on the Lord: see Ho 14:3. They had been forbidden to multiply horses, De 17:16; and at first they hamstrung the horses, and burnt the chariots of the Canaanites. Jos 11:6,9. David, however, after the defeat of Hadadezer, reserved 100 horses for chariots. 2Sa 8:4. (See a description of the war-horse in Job 39:19-25.) Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots and 12,000 horsemen. 1Ki 4:26.
Symbolically the horse represents careering imperial power, in general providentially controlled. In the early part of Zechariah the prophet had visions of horses of different colours, they are called spirits of the heavens, and as such they acted in the four great Gentile empires described by Daniel. When these are further spoken of, the red horses are not named, for the Chaldean empire had passed away when Zechariah saw the vision. Zec 1:8; 6:1-7.
In the Revelation also there are horses and riders thereon, representing the powers engaged in the providential course of God's dealings. Re 6:1-8; cf. 9/7/type/leb'>Re 9:7,9,17. In Rev. 19 the Lord Jesus, the Faithful and True, comes forth on a white horse, to make war in righteousness. Re 19:11-21. See REVELATION.
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Except, he may {not make numerous} for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to [to go] to Egypt {in order to increase horses}, for Yahweh has said to you that {you may never return}.
And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid because of their presence, for tomorrow at this time I [will] hand them over slain to Israel; you will hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire."
And Joshua did to them as Yahweh commanded him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
David captured from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand {foot soldiers}. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but {from them} he spared a hundred chariot horses.
Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.
"Do you give power to the horse? Do you clothe its neck [with] a mane? Do you make it leap like the locust? [The] majesty of its snorting [is] terrifying. read more. They paw in the valley, and it exults with strength; it goes out to meet [the] battle. It laughs at danger and is not dismayed, and it does not turn back from {before} [the] sword. Upon it [the] quiver rattles [along with] [the] flash of [the] spear and [the] short sword. With roar and rage {it races over the ground}, and it cannot stand still at [the] sound of [the] horn. {Whenever} a horn [sounds], it says, 'Aha!' And it smells [the] battle from a distance-- [the] thunder of [the] commanders and [the] war cry.
Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses, and we will say no more, "Our God," to the work of our hands because in you [the] fatherless child finds mercy.
{I had a vision in the night}, and look, a man riding on a red horse. And he [was] standing between the myrtle shrubs that [were] in the ravine, and behind him [were] red, reddish-brown, and white horses.
{I looked up again}, and I saw, and look!--four chariots coming out from between two mountains, and the mountains [were] mountains of bronze. With the first chariot [there were] red horses, and with the second chariot [there were] black horses. read more. And with the third chariot [there were] white horses, and with the fourth chariot [there were] strong dappled horses. And I answered and said to the angel [that was] talking to me, "What [are] these, my lord?" And the angel answered and said to me, "These [are] the four winds of the heavens going out after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. {The one with} the black horses [is] going out to [the] north country, and the white [horses] go after them, while the dappled [ones] go to the south country." When the strong [horses] went out, they were anxious to go to patrol the earth. And he said, "Go, patrol the earth." And they patrolled the earth.
And I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying like the sound of thunder, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and the one seated on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and in order that he might conquer. read more. And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come!" And another horse came out, fiery red, and it was granted to the one seated on it to take peace from the earth, and that they would slaughter one another, and a large sword was given to him. And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one seated on it had a balance scale in his hand. And I heard [something] like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the olive oil and the wine!" And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard a voice from the fourth living creature saying, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a pale green horse, and the one seated on it {was named} Death, and Hades followed after him. And authority was granted to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword and by famine and by pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.
And the appearance of the locusts [was] like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads [were something] like crowns similar in appearance to gold, and their faces [were] like men's faces,
and they had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings [was] like the sound of many {horse-drawn chariots} running into battle.
And in this way I saw the horses in the vision, and those seated on them, who had fiery [red] and hyacinth-colored and sulphurous [yellow] breastplates, and the heads of the horses [were] like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire and smoke and sulphur.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and the one seated on it was called "Faithful" and "True," and with justice he judges and makes war. Now his eyes [were] a flame of fire, and on his head [were] many royal headbands having a name written that no one except he himself knows. read more. And [he was] dressed in an outer garment dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies [that are] in heaven, dressed in clean, white fine linen, were following him on white horses. And out of his mouth came a sharp sword, so that with it he could strike the nations. And he will shepherd them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the wine of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. And he has a name written on his outer garment and on his thigh: "King of kings and Lord of lords." And I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly {directly overhead}, "Come! Assemble for the great banquet of God, in order that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of military tribunes, and the flesh of the powerful, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all [people], both free and slave, and small and great!" And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war with the one who is seated on the horse and with his army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs before him, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. And the rest were killed by the sword of the one who is seated on the horse--the [sword] that comes out of his mouth--and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
Smith
Horse.
The most striking feature in the biblical notices of the horse is the exclusive application of it to warlike operations; in no instance is that useful animal employed for the purposes of ordinary locomotion or agriculture, if we except
The animated description of the horse in
applies solely to the war-horse. The Hebrews in the patriarchal age, as a pastoral race, did not stand in need of the services Of the horse, and for a long period after their settlement in Canaan they dispensed with it, partly in consequence of the hilly nature of the country, which only admitted of the use of chariots in certain localities,
and partly in consequence to the prohibition in
De 17:16
which would be held to apply at all periods. David first established a force of cavalry and chariots,
but the great supply of horses was subsequently effected by Solomon through his connection with Egypt.
Solomon also established a very active trade in horses, which were brought by dealers out of Egypt and resold, at a profit, to the Hittites. With regard to the trappings and management of the horse we have little information. The bridle was placed over the horse's nose,
and a bit or curb is also mentioned.
2Ki 19:28; Ps 32:9; Pr 26:3; Isa 37:29
In the Authorized Version it is incorrectly given "bridle," with the exception of
... Saddles were not used until a late period. The horses were not shod, and therefore hoofs are hard "as flint,"
were regarded as a great merit. The chariot-horses were covered with embroidered trappings
Horses and chariots were used also in idolatrous processions, as noticed in regard to the sun.
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Except, he may {not make numerous} for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to [to go] to Egypt {in order to increase horses}, for Yahweh has said to you that {you may never return}.
And Yahweh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they [had] chariots of iron.
David captured from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand {foot soldiers}. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but {from them} he spared a hundred chariot horses.
Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.
Because you are raging against me, and your arrogance has come up in my ears, I will put my nose ring in your nose and my bridle in your mouth. And I will turn you back on the way that you have come.
He kept the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from coming to the temple of Yawheh at the side room of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, which [was] in the court; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.
"Do you give power to the horse? Do you clothe its neck [with] a mane? Do you make it leap like the locust? [The] majesty of its snorting [is] terrifying. read more. They paw in the valley, and it exults with strength; it goes out to meet [the] battle. It laughs at danger and is not dismayed, and it does not turn back from {before} [the] sword. Upon it [the] quiver rattles [along with] [the] flash of [the] spear and [the] short sword. With roar and rage {it races over the ground}, and it cannot stand still at [the] sound of [the] horn. {Whenever} a horn [sounds], it says, 'Aha!' And it smells [the] battle from a distance-- [the] thunder of [the] commanders and [the] war cry.
Do not be like a horse [or] like a mule, without understanding; [that needs] his tackle--bridle and rein--for restraint [or he would not] come near you.
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.
Whose arrows are sharp, and all of his bows are bent. The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint, and his wheels like the storm wind.
Grain is crushed fine, but certainly one does not thresh it forever; and one drives the wheel of his cart, but his horses do not crush it.
And his breath [is] like an overflowing river; it reaches up to [the] neck to shake [the] nations with [the] sieve of worthlessness; and a bridle that leads astray [is] on [the] jawbones of [the] peoples.
Because you were enraged {against} me, and your noise has come up to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle on your lips, and I will turn you back on the way [by] which you came.
Dedan [was] trading [with] you, with garments of woven material for riding.
Watsons
HORSE, ???. Horses were very rare among the Hebrews in the early ages. The patriarchs had none; and after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, God expressly forbade their ruler to procure them: "He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way," De 17:16. As horses appear to have been generally furnished by Egypt, God prohibits these,
1. Lest there should be such commerce with Egypt as might lead to idolatry.
2. Lest the people might depend on a well appointed cavalry, as a means of security, and so cease from trusting in the promised aid and protection of Jehovah.
3. That they might not be tempted to extend their dominion by means of cavalry, and so get scattered among the surrounding idolatrous nations, and thus cease in process of time, to be that distinct and separate people which God intended they should be, and without which the prophecies relative to the Messiah could not be known to have their due and full accomplishment. In the time of the Judges we find horses and war chariots among the Canaanites, but still the Israelites had none; and hence they were generally too timid to venture down into the plains, confining their conquests to the mountainous parts of the country. In the reign of Saul, it would appear, that horse breeding had not yet been introduced into Arabia; for, in a war with some of the Arabian nations, the Israelites got plunder in camels, sheep, and asses, but no horses. David's enemies brought against him a strong force of cavalry into the field; and in the book of Psalms the horse commonly appears only on the side of the enemies of the people of God; and so entirely unaccustomed to the management of this animal had the Israelites still continued, that, after a battle, in which they took a considerable body of cavalry prisoners, 2Sa 8:4, David caused most of the horses to be cut down, because he did not know what use to make of them. Solomon was the first who established a cavalry force. Under these circumstances, it is not wonderful that the Mosaic law should take no notice of an animal which we hold in such high estimation. To Moses, educated as he was in Egypt, and, with his people, at last chased out by Pharaoh's cavalry, the use of the horse for war and for travelling was well known; but as it was his object to establish a nation of husbandmen, and not of soldiers for the conquest of foreign lands, and as Palestine, from its situation, required not the defence of cavalry, he might very well decline introducing among his people the yet unusual art of horse breeding. Solomon, having married a daughter of Pharaoh, procured a breed of horses from Egypt; and so greatly did he multiply them, that he had four hundred stables, forty thousand stalls, and twelve thousand horsemen, 1Ki 4:26; 2Ch 9:25. It seems that the Egyptian horses were in high repute, and were much used in war. When the Israelites were disposed to place too implicit confidence in the assistance of cavalry, the prophet remonstrated in these terms: "The Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses are flesh, not spirit," Isa 31:3.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Except, he may {not make numerous} for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to [to go] to Egypt {in order to increase horses}, for Yahweh has said to you that {you may never return}.
David captured from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand {foot soldiers}. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but {from them} he spared a hundred chariot horses.
Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.
And the Egyptians [are] human and not God, and their horses [are] flesh and not spirit. And Yahweh stretches out his hand, and [the] helper will stumble, and [the] one being helped will fall, and together all of them will come to an end.