There is an excellent description of a war horse in the book of Job, a book thought by some to be the oldest in the world. It’s in the thirty-ninth chapter. Have you given strength to the horse? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? Have you frightened him like a grasshopper? The glory of his nose is terrible. He whistles in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; he goes to meet the armed men. He scoffs with fear, and does not flinch, nor does he turn away from the sword. The quiver clangs against him, the gleaming spear and shield. He swallows the earth with fury and fury, and does not believe that it is Sound of trumpet. He says between the trumpets: Ha, ha! And he smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains and the cries.”
In the fifth chapter of Judges you will find this verse. “Then the hooves of the horses were broken by the jumps, the jumps of their mighty men.” And it seems probable from this, that it was not customary to shoe horses in those days, so that their hooves were more easily broken.
They had horses in Egypt in very ancient times, as you will see if you read the first part of the book of Exodus. There you will see how the children of Israel escaped from Egypt, after being kept in harsh servitude for many years; and how when they had traveled a short distance, the wicked King Pharaoh went after them to try to get them back. There was a large company of Israelites, men, women, and children; they had nothing to ride on, and they had their flocks and herds with them, so they couldn’t go very fast. They took the course that God indicated to them and it took them to the Red Sea, where there were no boats or bridges to cross.
At that moment they heard Pharaoh and his army coming after them. Some came in chariots, and of these six hundred were drawn by horses; and many more came on horseback. Now what could these people do? If they continued, they would drown; and if they returned or stayed where they were, they would fall into the hands of the Egyptians. God told them not to be afraid, because he would take care of them; So he divided the waters of the sea and made a dry path for them to pass through, while the water stood like a wall on each side of them. So the Egyptians went on, and God let the waters rush over them, and they all drowned. Think of the spectacle it must have had when the chariots, the horses, and the men were all surrounded by that great mighty water, and then sank one after another, so that they could not be seen any more. The children of Israel sang a psalm of praise after God had saved them in this wonderful way, and these words are part of it: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has thrown his horse and his rider into the sea.” In one of the last chapters of the Old Testament you will find these words: “In that day he shall be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.” This speaks of a time that has not yet come, but that Christians look forward to, when this world will not be as bad as it is now; but when everything, even the bells of the horses, is consecrated to the Lord.