VEHICLES, HEBREW: War-chariots (see WAR) were known by the Hebrews long before they used them, these vehicles being employed by the Egyp tians (Ex. xiv. 6 sqq.) and the Canaanites (Josh. xi. 4; Judges i. 19); they were constructed in whole or part of iron (Josh. xi. 9). After the time of Saul, trade in horses and vehicles sprang up between Israel and the Hittites and Syrians, though the most of the trade seems to have been with Egypt (I Kings x. 28; II Chron. i. 16), a horse costing 150 shekels and a chariot 600. The import of these things was opposed by the prophets (Ira. xxx. 2, 16; Ezek. xvii. 15) as evidence of greater trust in man than in God (Hos. i. 7), so that in Messianic times they were not to be used (Zech. ix. 10). In post-exilic times the war-chariot was used by Syria (Dan. xi. 40). During peace the use of war-chariots was a prerogative of the great (Gen. xli. 43; II Sam. xv. i; I Kings i. 5). Probably the horses of the sun (II Kings xxiii. 11) belonged to chariots. Vehicles for riding and transport of goods differed greatly from chariots of war. In spite of the fact that in very early times routes for commerce trav ersed Palestine, the region was not suited for ve hicles, though clumsy carts or wagons with two or four wheels were probably in use from an early time, with wheels either solid or with six or eight spokes, and drawn by oxen (Num. vii. 3; I Sam. vi. 7, 10) by a yoke attached to the pole. Prob ably the wagons of Num. vii. 3 were vehicles with removable body (cf. the description of the bases of brass in the Temple, I Kings vii. 27-37). The threshing-wagon of Amos ii. 13, cf. Ira. xxviii. 27, may have been an instrument with rollers un derneath (cf. the illustration in Benzinger, Archäologie, p. 142). The carriage for personal use had either two or four wheels, and sometimes contained seats.

R. Zehnpfund.

Bibliography: A. Jeremias, Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients, p. 206, Leipsic, 1900, Eng. transl., The Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient East, 2 vols., London and New York, 1911; F. Sengstake, in Globus, lx., no. 5; DB, i. 357, 372; EB, i. 724-731; JE, iii. 666-867.