Rider
Rider (רוֹכֵב, rokeb). It is uncertain at what time, or in what place, horses were first used for riding, but there is every reason to believe that it was not until a period long after their having been employed for draught. Instead of cavalry, the Egyptians and Babylonians, and the Greeks of the Homeric age, used war chariots, the drivers of which are in the earlier books of the Old Test. called "riders," as in Miriam's song of triumph for the overthrow of the Egyptian host (Exodus 15). The book of Job, however, clearly intimates a "rider," in our acceptation of the word, in the description of the chase of the ostrich: "She scorneth the horse and his rider" (Job 39:18). White asses were used as steeds by the nobles in the land under the Judges, and instead of these we find that mules were used in the age of the Kings, horses being almost exclusively reserved for chariots. The Persians appear to have been the first Oriental nation that discovered the superiority of a flexible body of cavalry over a cumbrous and unwieldy corps of chariots. Many of their early victories may fairly be ascribed to their skill in horsemanship. On the other hand, the Jewish armies were always deficient in cavalry, and their alliances with foreign states were generally designed to obtain a supply of auxiliary horse. It is not one of the least proofs of Solomon's political wisdom that he exerted himself to supply this national deficiency. SEE HORSE.
