Vehicles of various types with two wheels (commonly of four, six, or eight spokes), normally drawn by two horses. As military equipment the chariot was used by the Canaanites against the Israelites (Josh 17:16; Judg 1:19), where “chariots of iron” probably refers to metal [bronze?] plates that were used to reinforce the wood chariot bodies; (Judg 4:3, Judg 4:13; Josh 11:4-9). Similarly, the Philistines employed chariots against the Israelites in the time of Samuel and Saul (1Sam 13:5). They were not used by the Israelites until the time of David, in his successful campaigns against the Philistines (2Sam 8:4; 1Chr 18:4); thereafter they were greatly used under Solomon (1Kgs 4:26; 1Kgs 9:19; 1Kgs 10:26; 1Kgs 10:29). In addition to their use in warfare, chariots were a symbol of power as the vehicle of kings and their court (Gen 41:43; 2Sam 15:1; 1Kgs 1:5). The chariot of the Ethiopian whom Philip addressed (Acts 8:26-38) was a sign of his rank as the queen’s minister.
