though the Law deny not your King the use of horses, both for civil and military affairs, yet it limits him that he shall not multiply them, lest, having many of them, he should look upon them, as more than they are, or can be, his help, and so put confidence in them. Hence also is that reproof (Isa. 31.1.) Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many, and in horse-men, because they are very strong. We see how the spirit of man runs out to the horse which God hath made strong, even forgetting God who hath made him strong. That people thought themselves strong enough with horses without the strong God, and therefore the Lord told them at the third verse, The Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit; that is, they are weak and not strong: not that they were weak in themselves, but weak to save and deliver them, or to give them victory in battle; they are but flesh, and not spirit: flesh notes weakness, and spirit notes strength; so that, though a horse hath a mighty strength, yet if you trust to him, he is but flesh, that is, he is weak. And some conceive this was the reason why the Lord commanded Joshua, in his war with the Canaanites, to hough their horses; as the rule is given (Josh. 11.6.) Thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire; that is, cut their nerves, or as we say, their ham-strings. Why ⟨p. 428⟩did the Lord command him to hough their horses? why might he not preserve them for service in his wars? Doubtless it was, lest he should think that horses could do the work. And therefore according to this command of God, when David took a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horse-men from the Moabites, he houghed all the chariot-horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots (2 Sam. 8.4.) He would not multiply horses to himself out of the spoils of the enemy, lest he should seem to trust their strength and numbers.
though the Law deny not your King the use of horses, both for civil and military affairs, yet it limits him that he shall not multiply them, lest, having many of them, he should look upon them, as more than they are, or can be, his help, and so put confidence in them. Hence also is that reproof (Isa. 31.1.) Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many, and in horse-men, because they are very strong. We see how the spirit of man runs out to the horse which God hath made strong, even forgetting God who hath made him strong. That people thought themselves strong enough with horses without the strong God, and therefore the Lord told them at the third verse, The Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit; that is, they are weak and not strong: not that they were weak in themselves, but weak to save and deliver them, or to give them victory in battel; they are but flesh, and not spirit: flesh notes weakness, and spirit notes strength; so that, though a horse hath a mighty strength, yet if you trust to him, he is but flesh, that is, he is weak. And some conceive this was the reason why the Lord commanded Joshua, in his war with the Canaanites, to hough their horses; as the rule is given (Josh. 11.6.) Thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire; that is, cut their nerves, or as we say, their ham-strings. Why ⟨p. 428⟩did the Lord command him to hough their horses? why might he not preserve them for service in his wars? Doubtless it was, lest he should think that horses could do the work. And therefore according to this command of God, when David took a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horse-men from the Moabites, he houghed all the chariot-horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots (2 Sam. 8.4.) He would not multiply horses to himself out of the spoyls of the enemy, lest he should seem to trust their strength and numbers.
