460 THE HORSE. 



the cultivation of an instrument of war which other nations 

 valued so highly. He counsels the people, when they go to 

 battle, to have no fear of the horses and chariots of their 

 enemies ; but to put their trust in the God of Israel, who 

 had brought them from the land of Egypt. He directs the 

 future ruler of the country not to multiply horses in the 

 land, and so literally was the order obeyed, that it became 

 the practice to hough the horses which were made prize of 

 in the field. King David, on one occasion, in which he took 

 700 horses and 1000 chariots, hamstrung them all except 

 100 of the chariot horses which he reserved. He speaks 

 with a proud disdain of horses as an instrument of war, and 

 represents them as employed only by the enemies of his 

 country. But the restraints of custom and the laws were 

 soon broken through, and Solomon formed a numerous body 

 of cavalry and chariots. He even established a regular trade 

 in horses with Africa, and supplied the neighbouring country 

 with those of Egypt. Further, it is remarkable, that when 

 the Jews entered Palestine from the south, they encountered 

 no horses ; for no mention is made of cavalry during the first 

 campaign of Joshua. The Philistines alone possessed horses 

 in the south of Syria, and they seem to have been an Egyp- 

 tian colony. Nay, it appears that Arabia, and all the coun- 

 tries stretching from Palestine to the Persian Gulf, were at 

 that time destitute of horses. When the Midianites, an 

 Arabian nation, were subdued, the spoil consisted of sheep, 

 oxen, and human captives, but no horses are mentioned. 

 When, in the reign of Saul, a war was carried on with cer- 

 tain Arabian nations on the Persian Gulf, the spoil consisted 

 of slaves, of camels, of sheep, and asses ; and in an attack 

 on Judea by the Midianites, in a subsequent age, they came, 

 we are told, " with their cattle and their tents ; and they 

 came as locusts for multitude ;" and no mention is made of 

 horses. And in the remarkable account of the trade of Tyre 

 given by the Prophet Ezekiel, we learn that the trade in 

 horses and mules was with them " of the house of Togar- 



