earth [by fieetness] ; Nor can he stand still wheu the sound of the trumpet [is heard] : As oft [as the] trumpet [sounds], he will say, "Aha !" For from alar he can scent [the battle], The thuuder of the captains and shouting. So, again, the bride advances with her charms to an im- mediate conquest " as a comjiauy of horses in Pharaoh's chariots" (Cant, i, 9) ; and when the prophet Zechariah wishes to convey the idea of perfect peace, he represents the horse, no more mixing in the fray as before (ix, 10), but bearing on his bell (which was'intended to strike terror into the foe) the peaceable inscription, " Holiness unto the Lord" (xiv, 20). Lastly, the characteristic of the horse is not so much his speed or his utility, but his strength (Psa. xxxiii, 17 ; cxlvii, 10), as shown in the special application of the term abbir ("I'^SX), i. c. strong, as an equivalent for a horse (Jer. viii, 16 ; xlvii, 3 ; 1, 1 1). Hence the horse becomes the symbol of war, or of a campaign (Zech. x, 3 ; comp. Psa. xiv, 5 ; Deut. xxxii, 13 ; Psa. Ixvi, 12 ; Isa. Iviii, 14, where horsemanship is made tj^iical of conquest), especially of speedy conquest (Jer. iv, 13), or rapid execution of any purpose (Rev. vi). 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 coimtry, which only admitted of the use of chariots in certain localities (Judg. i, 19), and partly in consequence of the prohibition in Deut. xvii, 16, which woidd be held to apply at aU periods. Ac- cordingly they hamstrung the horses of the Canaanites (Josh, xi, 6, 9). David first established a force of cav- alry and chariots after the defeat of Hadadezer (2 Sam. viii, 4), when he reserved a hundred chariots, and, .is we may infer, all the horses ; for the rendering " houghed all the c\is.r\ot-horses" is manifestly incorrect. Shortly after this Absalom was possessed of some (2 Sam. xv, 1). But the great supply of horses was subsequently effected by Solomon through his connection with Egj^Dt ; he is reported to have had "40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 cavalrj'-horses" (1 Kings iv, 26), and it is worthy of notice that these forces are mention- ed parenthetically to account for the great secm-ity of life and property noticed in the preceding verse. There is probably an error in the former of these numbers; for the number of chariots is given in 1 Kings x, 26 ; 2 Chron. i, 14, as 1400, and consequently, if we allow three horses for each chariot, two in use and one as a reserve, as was usual in some countries (Xenoph. Cyrop. vi, 1, § 27), the number required would be 4200, or, in round numbers, 4000, which is probably the correct reading. 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, who lived between Palestine and the Euphrates. The passage in which this com- merce is described (1 Kings x, 28, 29) is unfortunately obscure ; the tenor of verse 28 seems to be that there was a regularly established traffic, the Egyptians bring- ing the horses to a mart in the south of Palestine, and handing them over to the Hebrew dealers at a fixed tariff. The price of a horse was fixed at 150 shekels of silver, and that of a chariot at 600; in the latter we must include the horses (for an Egyptian war-chariot was of no great value), and conceive, as before, that three horses accompanied each chariot, leaving the value of the chariot itself at 150 shekels. In addition to this source of supply, Solomon received horses by way of tribute (1 Kings x, 25). He bought chariciG and teams of horses in Egypt (1 Kings x, 28), and probably in Ar- menia, "iu all lands," and had them brought into his
HORSE
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HORSE
dominions in strings, in the same manner as liorses are still conducted to and from fairs : for this interjiretation, as offered l\v professor Paxton, appears to convey tlie natural and true meaning of the text ; and not '• strings of linen yarn," which here seem to be out of place (2 Chron. i, 10, 17; ix, 25, 28). The cavalry force was maintained by the succeetling kings, and frequent no- tices occur both of riding-horses and chariots (2 Kings ix, 21, 33; xi, 16), and particidarly of war-chariots (1 Kings xxii, 4; 2 Kings iii, 7; Isa. ii, 7). The force seems to have failed in the time of Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii, 23) in Judah, as it had previously in Israel under Jehoahaz (2 Kings xiii, 7). Josiah took away the horses wliich the kings of Judah, his predecessors, had consecrated to the sun (2 Kings xxiii, 11). See Sux. The number of horses belonging to the .Jews on their return from Babylon is stated at 73G (Neh. vii, 68).
In the countries adjacent to Palestine the use of the horse was much more frequent. It was introduced into Eg%1it probably by the Hyksos, as it is not represented on the monuments before the 18th djniasty (Wilkinson, i, 386, abridgm.). Yet these animals are not mentioned among the presents which Abraham received from Pha- raoh (Gen. xii, 16), and occur tirst in Scripture among the valuables paid bj- the Egyptians to Joseph in ex- change for grain (Gen. xlvii, 17). They were still suf- ficiently important to be expressly mentioned in the funeral procession which accompanied the body of Ja- cob to his sepulchre in Canaan (Gen. i, 9). At the period of the Exodus horses Avere abundant in Egypt (Exod. ix, 3; xiv, 9, 23; Deut. xvii, 17), and subse- quently, as we have already seen, they, were able to supply the nations of Western Asia. The TjTians pur- chased these animals from Solomon, and in the time of