Yoke: 1. Fitted on the neck of oxen for the purpose of binding to them
the traces by which they might draw the plough, etc.
(Numbers 19:2)(Deuteronomy 21:3) It was a curved piece of wood called 'ol.
2. In
(Jeremiah 27:2; 28:10,12) the word in the Authorized Version
rendered "yoke" is motah, which properly means a "staff," or
as in the Revised Version, "bar." These words in the Hebrew are
both used figuratively of severe bondage, or affliction, or
subjection
(Leviticus 26:13; 1 Kings 12:4; Isaiah 47:6; Lamentations 1:14; 3:27) In the New
Testament the word "yoke" is also used to denote servitude
(Matthew 11:29,30; Acts 15:10; Galatians 5:1)
3. In
(1 Samuel 11:7; 1 Kings 19:21; Job 1:3) the word thus translated is
tzemed, which signifies a pair, two oxen yoked or coupled
together, and hence in
(1 Samuel 14:14) it represents as much land as
a yoke of oxen could plough in a day, like the Latin jugum. In
(Isaiah 5:10) this word in the plural is translated "acres."
