Dictionary of Bible Themes  »  4000 Creation  »  4600 Living beings  »  4696 yoke

The wooden collar which joins two animals, usually oxen, to enable them to pull together. Used metaphorically the term may denote the partnership of those who share a yoke or, more usually, the subjection of those under a yoke. As his covenant partners God's people are yoked to him and he will break the oppressive yoke of their enemies.

Literal references to yokes

1 Samuel 6:7; 1 Kings 19:19 See also Job 1:3; Job 42:12; Luke 14:19

Cows that have never been yoked are offered as sacrifices:

Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3

Ox yokes are used to burn slaughtered animals:

2 Samuel 24:22; 1 Kings 19:21

God's yoke

Jeremiah 2:20 See also Jeremiah 5:5

Matthew 11:29-30

The yoke as a symbol of partnership

Partnership in Jesus Christ's service

Philippians 4:3

Unsuitable partnerships

2 Corinthians 6:14-16

Marriage to unbelievers:

Genesis 24:3-4; 1 Kings 11:4; 1 Corinthians 7:39

Involvement with pagan gods:

Numbers 25:2-3; Psalm 106:28; 1 Corinthians 10:18-21 1 Corinthians 5:9-10 too close association with the immoral

The yoke as a symbol of subjection

The yoke of the law

Acts 15:10 See also Matthew 23:4; Galatians 5:1

Israel under the yoke of enemies

Deuteronomy 28:47-48; Jeremiah 27:2 Jeremiah symbolically portrays the coming Babylonian exile. See also Isaiah 47:6; Jeremiah 27:8,11-13

Hananiah's prophecy of an early end to Babylonian oppression will be proved false:

Jeremiah 28:2-4,10-14 Lamentations 1:14; Lamentations 3:27; Hosea 10:11

The yoke of other masters

Genesis 27:40 Esau will throw off the yoke of Jacob.

The people's complaint about harsh servitude under Solomon is ignored by Rehoboam:

1 Kings 12:4 pp 2 Chronicles 10:4; 1 Kings 12:9-11 pp 2 Chronicles 10:9-11; 1 Kings 12:14 pp 2 Chronicles 10:14

God's people are urged to lift the yoke of injustice and oppression from their fellows:

Isaiah 58:6,9 1 Timothy 6:1 Slaves are to respect their masters.

God breaks the yoke of oppression

Ezekiel 34:27; Hosea 11:4

Egypt's yoke broken:

Exodus 6:6-7; Leviticus 26:13; Ezekiel 30:18

Assyria's yoke broken:

Isaiah 9:4; Isaiah 10:27; Isaiah 14:25; Nahum 1:13 Jeremiah 30:8 Babylon's yoke broken

See also

4406  agriculture
4498  ploughing
4603  animals
4624  cow
5205  alliance
5246  captivity
5347  injustice
6634  deliverance
6658  freedom
7140  people of God
7446  slavery
8790  oppression