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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Bridle
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(prop øֶñֶï , re'sen, a halter, Isa_30:28; hence generally a rein, Psa_32:9; Job_30:11; specially the jaws, Job_41:5 [13]; also , îֶֹúֶâ , me'theg, 2Ki_19:28; Pro_26:3; Isaiah 27:29; strictly the bit, as rendered in Psa_32:9; so ÷áëéíüò , Rev_14:20; 1Es_3:6; 2Ma_10:29; "bit," Jam_3:3; likewise ÷áëéíáãùãÝù , to curb, Jam_1:26; Jam_3:2; once îִçְñåֹí , machsom', a muzzle, Psa_29:2), the headstall and reins by which a rider governs his horse (Psa_32:9). In connection with Isa_37:29, it is remarkable to find from Theodoret that it was customary to fix a sort of bridle or muzzle of leather on refractory slaves. Even freemen were thus treated when they became prisoners of war. SEE ZEDEKIAH. Thus, when Cambyses conquered Egypt, the son of the Egyptian monarch, with ten thousand other youths of the highest rank, were condemned to death, and were conducted to execution in procession with ropes around their necks and bridles in their mouths (Herodotus, 3:14). Compare the act of Benhadad's " princes" in putting halters about their heads in token of submission to Ahab (1Ki_20:32). According to Layard (ii, 275), the Assyrians ornamented their bridles in a high degree; but in their trappings and harness the Kouyunjik horses differ completely from those represented in the bas-reliefs of Nimroud: their heads were generally surmounted by an arched crest, and bells or tassels were hung around their necks; or, as at Khorsabad, high plumes, generally three in number, rose between their ears. SEE HORSE.
The restraints of God's providence are metaphorically called his "bridle" and "hook" (2Ki_19:28). The "bridle in the jaws of the people causing them to err" (Isa_30:28) is God's permitting the Assyrians to be directed by foolish counsels, that they might never finish their intended purpose against Jerusalem (Isa_37:29). The restraints of law and humanity are called a bridle, and to let it loose is to act without regard to these principles (Job_30:11).