DEUT895 The King of Israel shall not possess a multitude of horses. The King of Israel shall not possess even one more horse than is necessary for his royal chariot or for the chariots of his horsemen. That is, when he travels, not one horse shall prance freely before him to honor him, as is done for the kings of other nations. Key concepts: So that the king will not send even part of our nation back to Egypt to settle there and raise horses for him. Also, the mitzvah serves to guard against the king becoming haughty, which is likely to happen if he has many horses and accumulates large amounts of silver and gold.