{"id":4469,"date":"2025-03-12T22:58:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T22:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/de\/?p=4469"},"modified":"2026-04-30T18:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T17:53:30","slug":"horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/horse","title":{"rendered":"Horses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Horses stand for military power and personal grandeur. Their elaborate and costly breeding, training, and keeping made them a luxury good. Despite their enormous strength, in biblical times they were scarcely used for agricultural work or transport tasks but were intended almost exclusively for \u00abhigher service\u00bb in representation and battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The relationships of descent among the equids (Equidae<\/em>) are complicated. This also applies to the domestic horse (Equus caballus<\/em>): in archaeology it already confronts us in the earliest find horizons, and it can no longer be reconstructed with certainty which wild forms may have preceded the domesticated animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For a long time, the evolutionary history of the equids was considered a showpiece example of gradual evolution. By selecting certain representatives from the intricate network of their \u00abfamily bush\u00bb and assembling them into the \u00abhorse series\u00bb, the illusion of a regular change arose (e.g. ever greater stature and ever fewer toes). Today, however, the picture has become far more complex, and it can be seen that equids are simply a very plastic basic type. Despite the wide range of variation, all its extinct and living representatives remain horses, and there is no unambiguous link that connects them with any other basic type.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Hebrew word sus<\/em> (129x) denotes the horse in general and the stallion in particular. The feminine form susa<\/em> (Song 1:9), which denotes the mare, occurs only in this verse. In addition, the word rekesch<\/em> (4x) is used to designate particularly fast and enduring \u00abrunners\u00bb such as were employed in the Persian express courier service (Est 8:10, 14). At set intervals, relay stations were established, where the mail was handed over to another rider on a rested horse, who then galloped on. Only with the help of this relay system, regarded as a forerunner of the modern postal service, could the vast Persian empire be administered efficiently. In poetic language, horses are described as kal<\/em> (swift ones, runners; Isa 30:16) and abbir<\/em> (strong ones, mighty ones; Judg 5:22; Jer 8:16; 47:3; 50:11). The word parasch<\/em> (54x) usually denotes the rider, but in some cases also the horse (Isa 28:28; Jer 46:4; Ezek 27:14; Joel 2:4). The occasional use of \u00absteed\u00bb instead of \u00abhorse\u00bb in some translations is merely stylistic (\u00absteed\u00bb sounds a bit more elevated)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name Susi (Num 13:11) or Susim (Gen 14:5) means \u00abmy horse\u00bb, Sismai (1Chr 2:40) \u00abstrong horse\u00bb, and Rekab (13x) or Rechabites (rekabi<\/em>; Jer 35:2, 3, 5, 18) \u00abrider\u00bb. The two forms chazar-susa (Jos 19:5) and chazar-susim (1Chr 4:31) designate the same place and mean \u00abcourtyard of the mares\u00bb (thus the Hebrew form of \u00abStuttgart\u00bb). In addition, there is also the \u00abHorse Gate\u00bb (Hebrew: sha\u2019ar ha-susim<\/em>) in the city wall of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Greek, hippos<\/em> (16x) denotes the horse, hippeus<\/em> (Acts 23:23, 32) the rider, and hippikon<\/em> (Rev 9:16) the corresponding adjective (mounted). The Greek Philippos<\/em> means \u00abfriend of horses\u00bb and occurs as a personal name (Philip; 35x), place name (Philippi; Acts 16:12; 20:6; Phil 1:1; 1 Thess 2:2), and as a designation for the inhabitants (Philippians; Phil 4:15). The name Agrippas (11x) means \u00abwild horse\u00bb or \u00abhunter of horses\u00bb, and the name Archippus (Archippos; Col 4:17; Phlm 1:2) can mean \u00abmaster of the horses\u00bb, \u00abstable master\u00bb, or \u00ableader of the horses\u00bb (in a military sense).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Przewalski\u2019s horses are considered a very old species (or breed) and probably bear great similarity to the animals used in antiquity by the horse-riding peoples of Asia. The standing mane indicates their close relationship to wild horses.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Israel, horses were dispensable in everyday life. They were normally not used for agricultural work, and as animals without \u00absplit hooves\u00bb they were unclean according to Lev 11:3 and were not permitted to be eaten. By contrast, the way of life of the nomadic peoples of the eastern steppes, far into Central Asia, depends entirely on their use, so that they are even called \u00abhorse peoples\u00bb. The great empires of the Hittites, Hurrians, and Assyrians likewise founded their military power essentially on the use of chariots and mounted warriors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its early period, Egypt experienced an invasion by foreign peoples from Southwest Asia, the so-called \u00abHyksos\u00bb, who were far inferior to them in numbers but quickly gained the upper hand thanks to their chariots and subjugated the entire land. The Egyptians were indeed able to free themselves from foreign rule after a century, but this experience shaped their military doctrine, and from then on, the pharaohs likewise relied on an excellently trained chariot corps as the backbone of their army. This in turn left its mark on the people of Israel, who gained a strong impression of the effectiveness of these elite units. In Israel\u2019s history, we encounter the horse for the first time when Joseph rules in Egypt (Gen 47:17), but another historical description is probably to be dated much earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The neck of horses is covered by the flowing mane (Job 39:19). The biblical symbolism, in which the head stands for leadership\/authority, the neck\/nape for self-will, and the covering by long hair for submission, fits well with the behavior of (domesticated) horses, which submit to the will of their rider and are bound to it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the book of Job, God gives us a description (Job 39:19-25) that is at the same time the most instructive Bible text about the horse, and therefore it is worked through here verse by verse:<\/p>\n\n\n\n