Houghing

Houghing — rendered "hocking" in UPDV — is the wartime practice of severing the hamstrings of captured horses so that they could no longer be used in battle. The four passages where it occurs all involve Israelite armies disabling enemy chariotry.

Joshua's command and obedience

The first instance comes by direct command at the battle of Merom: "And Yahweh said to Joshua, Don't be afraid because of them; for tomorrow at this time I will deliver them up all slain before Israel: you will hock their horses, and burn their chariots with fire" (Josh 11:6). Joshua's compliance is reported in matching language: "And Joshua did to them as Yahweh bade him: he hocked their horses, and burned their chariots with fire" (Josh 11:9).

David and the chariot horses of Hadadezer

The same practice reappears in David's wars, applied to a large captured chariot force. The Samuel account: "And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots" (2 Sam 8:4). The Chronicles parallel gives slightly different numbers but the same disabling action: "And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen; and David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots" (1 Chr 18:4).

In each case the act is military and deliberate — chariot horses neutralized, with only a small reserve kept usable.