YOKE:
yok:

(1) The usual word is `ol (Genesis 27:40, etc.), less commonly the (apparently later) form moTah (Isaiah 58:6, etc.; in Nab 1:13 moT), which the Revised Version (British and American) in Jeremiah 27; 28 translates "bar" (a most needless and obscuring change). The Greek in Apocrypha (Sirach 28:19, etc.) and in the New Testament (Matthew 11:29 f, etc.) is invariably zugos. Egyptian monuments show a yoke that consisted of a straight bar fastened to the foreheads of the cattle at the root of the horns, and such yokes were no doubt used in Palestine also; but the more usual form was one that rested on the neck (Genesis 27:40, etc.). It was provided with straight "bars" (moToth in Leviticus 26:13; Ezekiel 34:27) projecting downward, against which the shoulders of the oxen pressed, and it was held in position by thongs or "bonds" (moceroth in Jeremiah 2:20; 5:5; 27:2; 30:8; 'aghuddoth in Isaiah 58:6, "bands"), fastened under the animals' throats. Such yokes could of course be of any weight (2Kings 12:4 ), depending on the nature of the work to be done, but the use of "iron yokes" (Deuteronomy 28:48; Jeremiah 28:13 f) must have been very rare, if, indeed, the phrase is anything more than a figure of speech.

What is meant by "the yoke on their jaws" in Hosea 11:4 is quite obscure. Possibly a horse's bit is meant; possibly the phrase is a condensed form for "the yoke that prevents their feeding"; possibly the text is corrupt.

See JAW.

The figurative use of "yoke" in the sense of "servitude" is intensely obvious (compare especially Jeremiah 27, 28). Attention needs to be called only to Lamentations 3:27, where "disciplining sorrow" is meant, and to Jeremiah 5:5, where the phrase is a figure for "the law of God." This last use became popular with the Jews at a later period and it is found, e.g. in Apocrypha Baruch 41:3; Psalter of Solomon 7:9; 17:32; Ab. iii.7,. and in this sense the phrase is employed. by Christ in Matthew 11:29 f. "My yoke" here means "the service of God as I teach it" (the common interpretation, "the sorrows that I bear," is utterly irrelevant) and the emphasis is on "my." The contrast is not between "yoke" and "no yoke," but between "my teaching" (light yoke) and "the current scribal teaching'; (heavy yoke).

(2) "Yoke" in the sense of "a pair of oxen" is tsemedh (1Samuel 11:7, etc.), or zeugos (Luke 14:19).

See also UNEQUAL; YOKE-FELLOW.

Burton Scott Easton

YOKE:

A symbol of subjection and servitude, 2Kings 12:4; an iron yoke, of severe oppression, Deuteronomy 28:48. The ceremonial law was a yoke, a burden-some restriction, Acts 15:10 Galatians 5:1. The withdrawing or breaking of a yoke denoted a temporary or an unlimited emancipation form bondage, Isaiah 58:6 Jeremiah 2:20, and sometimes the disowning of rightful authority, Jeremiah 5:5. The iron yoke imposed by our sins, none but God can remove, Lamentations 1:14; but the yoke of Christ’s service is easy and light, Matthew 11:29,30.

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; 1Kings 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 1Samuel 11:7, 1Kings 19:21, Job 1:3 the word thus translated is _tzemed_, which signifies a pair, two oxen yoked or coupled together, and hence in 1Samuel 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."

YOKE:

-FIGURATIVE
    Leviticus 26:13; Isaiah 9:4; 10:27; Jeremiah 2:20; 5:5; 28:2,4,10; 30:8; Lamentations 1:14; 3:27; Matthew 11:29,30; Acts 15:10

YOKE:
A well-known implement of husbandry, frequently used metaphorically for subjection , e.g. (1Kings 12:4,9-11; Isaiah 9:4; Jeremiah 5:5) hence an "iron yoke" represents an unusually galling bondage. (Deuteronomy 28:48; Jeremiah 28:13) A pair of oxen, so termed as being yoked together. (1Samuel 11:7; 1Kings 19:19,21) The Hebrew term is also applied to asses, (Judges 19:10) and mules, (2Kings 5:17) and even to a couple of riders. (Isaiah 21:7) The term is also applied to a certain amount of land, (1Samuel 14:14) equivalent to that which a couple of oxen could plough in a day, (Isaiah 5:10) (Authorized Version "acre"), corresponding to the Latin jugum .