WHEEL גַּלְגַּל֒, H1649, wheel, אﯴפַן, H236, wheel of chariot, אֹבֶן, potter’s wheel, τρόχος wheel). The invention of the wheel was one of the great technological advances of man. Clay models of wheeled vehicles, and some fragments of a potter’s wheel, indicate that both devices were known in Middle Eastern countries as early as the fourth millennium b.c. The first wheels, here and elsewhere, were prob. suggested to some inventive mind by a rolling log, and were simply slabs cut from a log. The spoked wheel seems to have come with the replacement of the ass by the horse as a draught animal in the middle of the second millennium b.c. Pharaoh’s chariot wheels, bogged in the mire of the Red Sea, were prob. of this light and efficient variety (Exod 14:25). Both Moffatt and RSV render correctly the phrase, “clogging their chariot-wheels.” In the description of Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 7), it stands for the lavers shaped in bronze after the fashion of chariot wheels and are described complete with axles, rims, and spokes. Probably the model was the heavy Assyrian chariot wheel, rather than the lighter Egyp. model. The northern war chariots were heavily wheeled, and rolled noisily (Jer 47:3; Nah 3:2). Both Daniel (7:9) and Ezekiel (1:18f.) had apocalyptic visions in which wheels were an image of strength, and rapid movement from place to place. “Wheels” are used as a synecdoche for the whole war chariot (Ezek 23:10, 24) which depended upon its speed and sturdiness. Such devices, say the prophets, seeking a strong and violent figure, are as nothing before the power of God (Isa 17:13 RSV; Ps 83:13). The potter’s wheel is discussed under the relevant heading. There is one reference to the wheeled device for drawing well water (Eccl 12:6).