Horse in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
hors:
1. Names:
The common names are (1) cuc, and (2) hippos. (3) The word
parash, "horseman," occurs often, and in several cases is
translated "horse" or "warhorse" (Isa 28:28; Ezek 27:14;
Joel 2:4 the Revised Version, margin); also in 2 Sam 16,
where the "horsemen" of English Versions of the Bible is
ba`ale ha-parashim, "owners of horses"; compare Arabic
faris, "horseman," and faras, "horse". (4) The feminine form
cucah, occurs in Song 1:9, and is rendered as follows:
Septuagint he hippos; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405
A.D.) equitatum; the King James Version "company of horses,"
the Revised Version (British and American) "steed." It is
not clear why English Versions of the Bible does not have
"mare." (5) The word 'abbirim, "strong ones," is used for
horses in Jdg 5:22; Jer 8:16; 47:3; 50:11 (the King James
Version "bulls"). In Ps 22:12 the same word is translated
"strong bulls" (of Bashan). (6) For [~rekhesh (compare
Arabic rakad, "to run"), in 1 Ki 4:28; Est 8:10,14; Mic
1:13, the Revised Version (British and American) has "swift
steeds," while the King James Version gives "dromedaries" in
1 Ki and "mules" in Est. (7) For kirkaroth (Isa 66:20), the
King James Version and the English Revised Version have
"swift beasts"; the English Revised Version margin and the
American Standard Revised Version "dromedaries"; Septuagint
skiddia, perhaps "covered carriages." In Est 8:10,14 we find
the doubtful words (8) 'achashteranim, and (9) bene ha-
rammakim, which have been variously translated. the King
James Version has respectively "camels" and "young
dromedaries," the Revised Version (British and American)
"used in the king's service" and "bred of the stud," the
Revised Version margin "mules" and "young dromedaries."
See CAMEL.
2. Origin:
The Hebrew and Egyptian names for the horse are alike akin
to the Assyrian. The Jews may have obtained horses from
Egypt (Dt 17:16), but the Canaanites before them had horses
(Josh 17:16), and in looking toward the Northeast for the
origin of the horse, philologists are in agreement with
zoologists who consider that the plains of Central Asia, and
also of Europe, were the original home of the horse. At
least one species of wild horse is still found in Central
Asia.
3. Uses:
The horses of the Bible are almost exclusively war-horses,
or at least the property of kings and not of the common
people. A doubtful reference to the use of horses in
threshing grain is found in Isa 28:28. Horses are among the
property which the Egyptians gave to Joseph in exchange for
grain (Gen 47:17). In Dt 17:16 it is enjoined that the king
"shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people
to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses."
This and other injunctions failed to prevent the Jews from
borrowing from the neighboring civilizations their customs,
idolatries, and vices. Solomon's horses are enumerated...
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