O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift
beast
Horses, camels, dromedaries, or mules. Some F21 render the word swift horse or horses, post horses; others dromedaries F23; and some mules F24 the two latter seem more especially to be meant, either dromedaries, as the word is translated in ( 1 Kings 4:28 ) ; which is a very swift creature: Isidore says F25 the dromedary is one sort of camels, of a lesser stature, yet swifter, from whence it has its name, and is used to go more than a hundred miles a day; this is thought to be what the Jews F26 call a flying camel; which the gloss says is a sort of camels that are as swift in running as a bird that flies; they are lighter made than a camel, and go at a much greater rate; whereas a camel goes at the rate of thirty miles a day, the dromedary will perform a journey of one hundred and twenty miles in a day; they make use of them in the Indies for going post, and expresses frequently perform a journey of eight hundred miles upon them in the space of a week F1: this may serve the better to illustrate ( Jeremiah 2:23 ) ; and improve the note there: but whether these were used in chariots I do not find; only Bochart F2 takes notice of a kind of camel, that has, like the dromedary, two humps on its back, which the Arabians call "bochet", and put to chariots: or else mules are meant, for by comparing the above text in ( 1 Kings 4:28 ) with ( 2 Chronicles 9:24 ) , it looks as if "mules" were there intended; and so the word here used is rendered in ( Esther 8:10 Esther 8:14 ) ; and by their being there said to be used for posts to ride on expresses, it up pears to be a swift creature. Aelianus F3 makes mention of mules in India of a red colour, very famous for running; and mules were used in the Olympic games, and many riders of them got the victory; and that these were used in chariots, there is no doubt to be made of it: Homer
``for the transgressors of Israel were found in thee.''