Horse

Horses belong to an animal family that includes donkeys and zebras. They were first domesticated in the central Asian and Mongolian grasslands, the original home of the eastern wild horse, sometime before 2000 B.C. (The European wild horse was domesticated considerably later.) By 1700 B.C. horses had been imported into Canaan and Egypt. The fact that horses were imported made them very expensive, and for centuries horses were only owned by kings and wealthy local chiefs. Their military potential was soon recognized, and armies that were equipped with war chariots and had soldiers on horseback had an enormous advantage over those that did not. Horses gave armies a mobility they had never had before, and completely changed battle tactics.

In more recent times, horses have been carried abroad by European colonists and introduced to virtually every country on earth. The so-called “wild horses” of Spain, France, the Americas, and Australia are actually domesticated horses that have returned to their wild state.

Joseph, in Genesis 47:17 (the first mention of horses in the Bible), used the widespread famine and Egypt’s store of grain as an opportunity to obtain horses for the Pharaoh. He thus weakened the neighboring tribes, while giving Pharaoh’s army better military capability. It is ironic that these horses were later used against Israelites under Moses.

The Canaanites also had horses and chariots, but in Deuteronomy 17:16 the people of Israel were prohibited from acquiring horses, as this was seen as weakening their reliance on God. Militarily they were thus at a considerable disadvantage in their wars against the Canaanite tribes. They counteracted this disadvantage by concentrating on fighting in the hill country, or occasionally in swampy land (Judges 4:7 Judges 5:19 Judges 5:20 Judges 5:21), where chariots were useless. They cut the hamstring tendon at the back of the hind legs on captured horses, rendering them useless to both Canaanites and themselves (Joshua 11:9). Even so, Judges 1:19 states that “Judah drove out the inhabitants of the mountains, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valleys because they had iron chariots” (NIV; compare also TEV and REB).

Joshua, Saul, and David seem to have heeded the warning not to acquire horses. However, David finally gave in to the temptation, and in 2 Samuel 8:4 we read that although he hamstrung most of the captured horses, he kept a hundred for himself. The advantage that he gained was later turned against him when two of his sons, Absalom (2 Samuel 15:1) and Adonijah (1 Kings 1:5), equipped themselves with horses from David’s stables in preparation for their revolts against him.

However, it was Solomon who made horses and chariots a major component of the Israelite army. He imported horses from Egypt and Cilicia at a cost of 150 shekels each, and he received horses as part of the annual tax paid to him by smaller states. He eventually collected 12,000 horses, which were stabled in a number of towns (1 Kings 10:26 ff.).