Unicorns of the Bible

The following is just a bit more about the unicorns that are found in the Bible.

The word unicorn simply means "one-horned." Creatures that naturally resemble unicorns are not unheard of in nature. The rhinoceros, narwhal, and unicornfish all boast a single-horn. It's interesting to note, rhinoceros unicornis is the scientific name for the Indian rhinoceros, also called the greater one-horned rhinoceros, native to northern India and southern Nepal.

Sometime in the middle ages, the English term unicorn came to signify a mythical animal resembling the head and body of a horse, with the hind legs of a stag, the tail of a lion, and a single horn protruding from the center of its forehead. It's highly implausible that the writers and transcribers of the Bible ever had this fantasy creature in mind.

Interpretations and Analysis

The original Hebrew term for unicorn was reʾēm, translated monókerōs in the Greek Septuagint and unicornis in the Latin Vulgate. It is from this Latin translation that the King James Version took the term unicorn, most likely with no other meaning attached to it than "a one-horned beast."

Many scholars believe reʾēm refers to the wild bovine creature known to ancient Europeans and Asians as aurochs. This magnificent animal grew to heights over six feet tall and had a dark brown to black coat and long curved horns.

Aurochs, the ancestors of modern domesticated cattle, were widely distributed in Europe, central Asia, and North Africa. By the 1600s, they faded into extinction. Allusions to these animals in Scripture may have come from folklore associated with wild oxen in Egypt, where the aurochs were hunted up until the 12th century B.C.

Some scholars suggest monókerōs refers to the rhinoceros. When Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate, he used both unicornis and rhinoceros. Others suppose the debated creature to be a buffalo or white antelope. Most probable, however, is that the unicorn refers to the primitive ox, or aurochs, which is now extinct throughout the world.

(source: Are There Unicorns in the Bible?     www.learnreligions.com/unicorns-in-the-bible-4846568)

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That wraps up this study on unicorns for me. I encourage you to continue your own study of them if you wish. My next post will be on 2/21.

Thanks for coming by

and may God bless You!