HAMSTRING THE HORSES

            Prior to the final battle to secure the promised land, The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.’ (Josh.11:6). 

Some people become almost apoplectic at the thought of God’s “cruel” instruction to the Israelites to engage in crippling the horses of the Canaanites.  The process of “hamstringing” involved the cutting of a large sinew in the back of the hock of a quadruped.  The purpose of this act was to restrict a horse so as to make it unsuitable for battle.  Some argue that this act of hamstringing did not render the horse unfit for domestic chores.  The cutting of the hamstring made quick maneuverings impossible.  While some today have a romanticized view of horses, in ancient times equines played a prominent role as instruments of war.  It wasn’t that God dis-liked horses.  When God Almighty thundered to Job, one of the things He revealed was that HE created the horse (Job 39:19-25).  

            Some might wonder, why didn’t the Israelites confiscate the horses for their own usage in battle?  In foreseeing that Israel  would one day clamor for a king, God forewarned:  (your king) shall not multiply horses for himself (Deut.17:16).  Horses and chariots were a source of power.  Some boasts in chariots, and some in horses; but WE WILL BOAST IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, OUR GOD

(Ps.20:7).  God’s directive to hamstring the horses not only kept the horses from being reused by the enemy, it also kept Israel from relying upon such resources.  When confronting Goliath, a young David rightly declared, The battle belongs to the Lord (1Sam.17:47).  An older King David struggled to fully cling to this truth - - David captured…1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers; and David ham-strung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for 100 chariots (2Sam.8:4).  Seen with both foresight and hindsight, this per-plexing order from God is really not all that confounding.  Its aim was to benefit God’s children by keeping their reliance upon HIM.

                                                                Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ