He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
Ver. 25. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha] Or, Euge. A note of rejoicing, which he seemeth to utter in his language: these are poetic terms.
He smelleth out the battle afar off] He knows that the onset is about to be given. Pliny writeth, That horses will perceive beforehand the very time of the fight, if it be but
By the thunder of the captains, and the shouting] The captains' adhortations and the soldiers' acclamations, &c. The Hebrew word signifieth the noise either of joy or sorrow: both are commonly heard in battles. "For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood," Isaiah 9:5. The glory of all this that is said of the horse the Lord assumeth to himself; and yet the horse is not so courageous, but that he is as much afraid of and troubled at the sight of the stone Taraxippe (which therehence also hath its name) as the elephant is at the sight of a hog, and a lion of a cock, wherewith they have a natural antipathy, as naturalists tell us (Bodin. Theat. Nat. p. 407).