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 14:19NUM Luke 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:32SA Deuteronomy 24:22; 1 Kings 19:21

Now, therefore, prepare one new cart with two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.

So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.

God's yoke

Jeremiah 2:20 See also Jeremiah 5:5Matthew 11:29–30

“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The yoke as a symbol of partnership

Partnership in Jesus Christ's service

Philippians 4:3

Yes, and I ask you, my true yokefellow, to help these women who have contended at my side for the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

Unsuitable partnerships

2 Corinthians 6:14–16 Genesis 24:3–4; 1 Kings 11:4; 1 Corinthians 7:39; Numbers 25:2–3; Psalm 106:28; 1 Corinthians 10:18–21; 1 Corinthians 5:9–10 too close association with the immoral

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”

The yoke as a symbol of subjection

The yoke of the law

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

Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

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, Jeremiah 27:11–13JER Jeremiah 28:2–4, Jeremiah 28:10–14 Lamentations 1:14, Lamentations 3:27; Hosea 10:11

Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance, you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

This is what the LORD said to me: “Make for yourself a yoke out of leather straps and put it on your neck.

The yoke of other masters

Genesis 27:40 Esau will throw off the yoke of Jacob.; 1 Kings 12:4 parallel 2 Chronicles 10:4; 1 Kings 12:9–11 parallel 2 Chronicles 10:9–11; 1 Kings 12:14 parallel 2 Chronicles 10:14; Isaiah 58:6, Isaiah 58:9; 1 Timothy 6:1 Slaves are to respect their masters.

God breaks the yoke of oppression

Ezekiel 34:27; Hosea 11:4 Exodus 6:6–7; Leviticus 26:13; Ezekiel 30:18; Isaiah 9:4, Isaiah 10:27, Isaiah 14:25; Nahum 1:13; Jeremiah 30:8 Babylon's yoke broken

The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and delivered them from the hands that enslaved them.

I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.