Jeremiah 46:4 - "Harness the horses; mount, O horsemen! Take your stations with your helmets, polish your spears, put on your coats of mail!"

Today the harness maker doesn’t have to worry about making his harnesses sturdy enough to take a rider into battle. (Although I confess complete ignorance as to the making of harnesses for the remaining cavalry units in our army!) But, in the far larger scene today, the harness maker is primarily involved in making his products for the farms and riding stables. Granted that most of our farmers are totally mechanized, still horses are to be found on their lands, and certainly there is a large field for skilled harness makers in supplying the myriads of riding academies and dude ranches and such that dot our landscapes.

But today’s harness makers have mechanical helps to enable them to work with the tough leather. Not so the harness maker of biblical times. All he had available were knives, awls, needles, and thread. And, if you’ve ever tried to work with leather, you can imagine how difficult it would be without some power-driven equipment.

To make harnesses, the worker had to cut and shape the leather and fit and stitch the various parts of the harness together. In many cases, this was done by cutting the leather into strips and sewing them together by hand, and then starting the shaping process.

Nor was this the extent of his duties. He was also called on to repair harnesses, particularly after a battle. And, perhaps the most disagreeable of his jobs, he had to clean and dress the harnesses.

However, in spite of its advantages, it was a manly and honorable profession, and, in New Testament times, we find that Rome had a street of the harness makers. And that always seems to put a seal of approval on any occupation.