Cavalry

Cavalry in the UPDV is mounted soldiery, almost always horsemen yoked to chariots or riding alongside them, with a single notice of camel-mounted raiders. The texts move between literal counts of riders, theological warnings against trusting in mounted strength, prophetic threats of foreign horsemen, and a final apocalyptic host of two hundred million riders.

Mounted Forces in Battle

Pharaoh's pursuit of Israel into the sea includes "all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen" (Ex 14:23), and the chosen Egyptian force at the Red Sea is "six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them" (Ex 14:7). The Canaanite coalition Joshua faces musters "with horses and chariots very many" (Jos 11:4), and the lowland Canaanites hold their ground against Judah because they have "chariots of iron" (Jg 1:19; Jos 17:16). Sisera fields "nine hundred chariots of iron" against Israel (Jg 4:13). The Philistines assemble "thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude" at Michmash (1Sa 13:5). Against David, Hadadezer's Syrian coalition loses "seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand horsemen" with their captain Shobach struck down (2Sa 10:18). David's own conquest of the Syrian forces takes "a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen," after which he "hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots" (2Sa 8:4).

Cavalry is also a vehicle of rank and flight. Joseph rides in Pharaoh's "second chariot" with criers going before him (Gen 41:43), and he later makes ready his chariot to meet Israel his father in Goshen (Gen 46:29). Rehoboam, when Adoram is stoned, "made speed to get up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem" (1Ki 12:18). Jehu rides his chariot to Jezreel to confront Joram (2Ki 9:16).

The Royal Cavalry of Solomon

Solomon's standing cavalry is given in round numbers. He had "forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen" (1Ki 4:26), with parallel notice of "four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem" (2Ch 9:25). The supporting infrastructure — "all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen" — is built across his territory in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout his dominion (2Ch 8:6). When Shishak comes up against Rehoboam, the invading force is "twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen" with foot of the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians beyond number (2Ch 12:3).

Cavalry and Misplaced Trust

The texts repeatedly set cavalry over against trust in Yahweh. "Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses; But we will make mention of the name of Yahweh our God" (Ps 20:7). Isaiah names the descent into Egypt as the same error: "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but don't rely on the [Speech] of the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Yahweh!" (Isa 31:1). To the same generation Yahweh answers their boast — "we will flee on horses... we will ride on the swift" — with the verdict that the pursuers will be swifter still (Isa 30:16). Nahum's oracle against Nineveh closes by promising to burn that city's mounted "crowd in the smoke" (Nah 2:13).

Cavalry as Instrument of Judgment

When judgment falls, foreign horsemen are the dread. Jeremiah's Judah empties out: "Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they come into holes, hide in thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells in them" (Jer 4:29). Conversely, when Yahweh fights for his people, hostile cavalry is undone — "the riders on horses will be confounded" (Zec 10:5). The Hellenistic war narratives in 1 Maccabees keep the same vocabulary: Antiochus enters Egypt "with chariots and elephants, and horsemen, and a great number of ships" (1Ma 1:17); Gorgias picks "five thousand men, and a thousand of the best horsemen" for a night march against Judas (1Ma 4:1); Lysias deploys "five hundred horsemen set in order... for every beast" of his elephant corps (1Ma 6:35); and Judas's own son chooses out "twenty thousand fighting men and horsemen" against Cendebaeus (1Ma 16:4).

The apocalyptic vision in Revelation reaches the largest mounted host in scripture: "And the number of the armies of the horsemen was 200 million: I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them, having breastplates [as] of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone: and the heads of the horses are as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceeds fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three plagues was the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths" (Rev 9:16-18).

Camel-Mounted Raiders

Beyond horse and chariot, one notice marks camel-mounted soldiery. When David overtakes the Amalekites who had sacked Ziklag, he strikes them from twilight to the next evening, "and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled" (1Sa 30:17). The camel troop is the only group quick enough to break free from David's slaughter.

Yahweh's Chariots

The same vocabulary describes Yahweh's own forces. "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands on thousands; The Lord is among them, [as in] Sinai, in the sanctuary" (Ps 68:17). The clouds themselves are his chariot: he "lays the beams of his chambers in the waters; Who makes the clouds his chariot; Who walks on the wings of the wind" (Ps 104:3). Habakkuk's theophany asks whether Yahweh's wrath was against the rivers, "That you rode on your horses, On your chariots of salvation?" (Hab 3:8). When Yahweh comes in judgment, "his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire" (Isa 66:15). Sirach gathers two old visions into the same idiom: Elijah was taken upward "in the whirlwind... With fiery troops to the heavens" (Sir 48:9), and Ezekiel "saw a vision, And declared the different beings of the chariot" (Sir 49:8).