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!

Youtube: Answers in Genesis

 So, you may know that I do not claim to be a Bible scholar or a theologian in any sense of the word. The insight I have learned have come from many years of Sunday School and church and my own personal studies in the Bible and in later years, comparing different teachings online and using the Christian websites that help me in understanding them as well. 

You know that saying, "Curious minds want to know." Well, I have a curious mind when it comes to God's Word. And when I find something there that I did not know existed, I want to know more about it. 

And so it was. A few days ago, learning that the unicorn-a mythical creature showed up in the Bible when my son asked me that day if I knew that they are mentioned there.

However, they evidentially weren't so mythical as I thought. They were a creature that actually did exist. But what were they really? Let's find out.

Actually, my son had found out about them on YouTube 'Answers in Genesis' if you would like to go there for yourself. And here is what some of what is said on there.

Unicorns in the Bible?

by Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell on August 18, 2008; last featured February 6, 2015

Featured in The New Answers Book 3

To think of the biblical unicorn as a fantasy animal is to demean God’s Word, which is true in every detail.

Some people claim the Bible is a book of fairy tales because it mentions unicorns. However, the unicorns in the bible were real animals, not imaginary creatures. The Bible refers to the unicorn in the context of familiar animals, such as peacocks, lambs, lions, bullocks, goats, donkeys, horses, dogs, eagles, and calves (Job 39:9–12).1 In Job 38–41, God reminded Job of the characteristics of a variety of impressive animals He had created, showing Job that God was far above man in power and strength.

Job had to be familiar with the animals on God’s list for the illustration to be effective. God points out in Job 39:9–12 that the unicorn, “whose strength is great,” is useless for agricultural work, refusing to serve man or “harrow (plow) the valley.” This visual aid gave Job a glimpse of God’s greatness. An imaginary fantasy animal would have defeated the purpose of God’s illustration.

Modern readers have trouble with the unicorns in the Bible because we forget that a single-horned feature is not uncommon on God’s menu for animal design. (Consider the rhinoceros and narwhal.) The Bible describes unicorns skipping like calves (Psalm 29:6), traveling like bullocks, and bleeding when they die (Isaiah 34:7). The presence of a very strong horn on this powerful, independent-minded creature is intended to make readers think of strength.

The absence of a unicorn in the modern world should not cause us to doubt its past existence. (Think of the dodo bird. It does not exist today, but we do not doubt that it existed in the past.) Eighteenth century reports from southern Africa described rock drawings and eyewitness accounts of fierce, single-horned, equine-like animals. One such report describes “a single horn, directly in front, about as long as one’s arm, and at the base about as thick. . . . [It] had a sharp point; it was not attached to the bone of the forehead, but fixed only in the skin.”3

The elasmotherium, an extinct giant rhinoceros, provides another possibility for the unicorn’s identity. The elasmotherium’s 33-inch-long skull has a huge bony protuberance on the frontal bone consistent with the support structure for a massive horn.4 In fact, archaeologist Austen Henry Layard, in his 1849 book Nineveh and Its Remains, sketched a single-horned creature from an obelisk in company with two-horned bovine animals; he identified the single-horned animal as an Indian rhinoceros.5 The unicorns in the Bible could have been the elasmotherium.6

Assyrian archaeology provides one other possible solution to the unicorn identity crisis. The biblical unicorn could have been an aurochs (a kind of wild ox known to the Assyrians as rimu).7 The aurochs’s horns were symmetrical and often appeared as one in profile, as can be seen on Ashurnasirpal II’s palace relief and Esarhaddon’s stone prism.8 Fighting rimu was a popular sport for Assyrian kings. On a broken obelisk, for instance, Tiglath-Pileser I boasted of slaying them in the Lebanese mountains.9

Extinct since about 1627, aurochs, Bos primigenius, were huge bovine creatures.10 Julius Caesar described them in his Gallic Wars as,

. . . a little below the elephant in size, and of the appearance, color, and shape of a bull. Their strength and speed are extraordinary; they spare neither man nor wild beast which they have espied. . . . Not even when taken very young can they be rendered familiar to men and tamed. The size, shape, and appearance of their horns differ much from the horns of our oxen. These they anxiously seek after, and bind at the tips with silver, and use as cups at their most sumptuous entertainments.11

The aurochs’s highly prized horns would have been a symbol of great strength to the ancient Bible reader.

One scholarly urge to identify the unicorns in the Bible with the Assyrian aurochs springs from a similarity between the Assyrian word rimu and the Hebrew word re’em. We must be very careful when dealing with anglicized transliterated words from languages that do not share the English alphabet and phonetic structure.12 However, similar words in Ugaritic and Akkadian (other languages of the ancient Middle East) as well as Aramaic mean “wild bull” or “buffalo,” and an Arabic cognate means “white antelope.”

To think of the biblical unicorn as a fantasy animal is to demean God’s Word, which is true in every detail.

However, the linguistics of the text cannot conclusively prove how many horns the biblical unicorn had. While modern translations typically translate re’em as “wild ox,” the King James Version (1611), Luther’s German Bible (1534), the Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate translated this Hebrew word with words meaning “one-horned animal.”13

The importance of the unicorns in the Bible is not so much their specific identity—much as we would like to know—but their reality. The Bible is clearly describing a real animal. The unicorn mentioned in the Bible was a powerful animal possessing one or two strong horns—not the fantasy animal that has been popularized in movies and books. Whatever it was, it is now likely extinct like many other animals. To think of the biblical unicorn as a fantasy animal is to demean God’s Word, which is true in every detail.

Editor’s note: Originally published in Answers in Depth 2 (2007), https://answersingenesis.org/answers/in-depth/v2/.

And so there you have it, friends. A so-called mythical creature showing up in a not mythical and instead a natural world. 

Fascinating that our God is so imaginative to create the kind of world that He did.

I thought for the next post or two I would look up other sites that speak on this subject. And so my next post will be on Feb.18th if you are interested. 

Thanks for stopping by. God bless!

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UNICORNS: Fact or Fiction?

Unicorns

        Fact?

Or

             

Fiction?  

I have to start off by saying that I do not believe in the mystical unicorns that are often portrayed in cartoons and toys.

But I recently did learn that they do exist and are even mentioned in the Bible. Let me give you a few examples from the King James Version of the Bible.

 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. Numbers 23:22

 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Daniel 8:5

But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil Psalm 92:10

And there are more if you want to look them up for yourself. They are found in Job 39:9, Job 39:10, Psalm 22:21, Deuteronomy 33:17, Numbers 24:8, Psalm 29:6, and Isaiah 34:7.

Now friends I have to admit. I am 71 years old and have read lots of the bible over my lifetime. How is it that I never knew that this animal was listed in the Old Testament?

And how did I just recently come to find this out?

Well, I can't really answer that first question. But I can tell you the second one.

A few days ago, I was talking to my son on the phone. He lives in Ohio and as is during many of our conversations, different subjects come up between us about the Bible and what we are reading and learning. 

That day he asked me point blank. "Mom, do you believe in unicorns?" and then "Did you know unicorns are mentioned in the Bible?" 

To which I said, "No" and "Huh?" As he was talking, I actually put unicorns in my search engine with the word Bible and up came these verses about them. 

Interesting. But what were they really? I had wondered. 

I am not going to answer that question today but come back on 2/15 and I will have some information about them for you. 

Better yet, by all means do your own research if you would like. 

It seems when God created the animals for us, the unicorn was more than just a fictional one. But what was he? One that might kill or one that was tame?

 It amazes me at the things in the Bible that He uses to stump us at times. 

And that even at 71 years of age, I am still learning things that I did not know. And you know what that does? It sure keeps me humble. 

Thanks for coming by! God bless you!

And also, Happy Valentines Day!

Which Way is Best?

 What do you do when you have raised your children the very best you can and have been a family in the church trying to live like a Christian. And one or more of your children left the church when they grew up and left their family going out on the own?

What do you do? Preach at them? Quote Bible scripture to them every time they come in your door? 

Or do you think it is better to live your life before them, expecting that yes, they are going to sin. And just pray for them instead of hounding them with what they really don't want to hear.

Not that we condone what they may be doing. But understand what the Bible says in Isaiah 53:6:

All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, each of us, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

I mean, who doesn't sin? We all do. Even as we truly love and try to live our lives according to God's Word. We still sin.

My dad loved the Lord with all his heart. But he wanted his sons to know Jesus. And so, as they grew up, they wondered away from God and got into drugs and alcohol. My oldest brother died when he was in his early 50s. I am not sure if he ever did go back to the Lord. He lived in another state at that time, and I didn't really have a relationship with him. 

My other brother is about 68 now and the last time I saw him, several years ago, he had pretty much become a drunk. I do not have a relationship with him either and assume he probably is still a drunk. He left us as a family and for years before dad passed, we didn't see him. Now that dad has been gone for quite a few years, we again have not seen him.

And I wonder if my dad could have just not hounded them with his own love for Jesus, perhaps his own judgement of their lifestyles, would they have turned out different?

My parents did the best they could. I have no doubt about that. They saw that we were in Sunday School and Church. And they loved us. And they sure can't be held responsible for how my brothers have turned out. 

I just pray that as I watch my own family members that don't know Jesus, as they continue in life that I can be a witness to them by my daily living and not badger them with a holier than thou attitude. I want them to see Jesus in me and want what I have because they can see Him working in my life. 

And in the meantime, praying for their salvation. That doesn't mean that I don't hide what I believe when they are around. Sometimes I can get a word in giving God glory for what he has done in my life. And after my husband passed, I was talking to my son that lives in another state and I said to him, "Thats why we need to be ready to meet Jesus because we never know when our time will come." 

End of that particular conversation. And he did not respond. But I pray that it gave him something to think about.

And so, we can either try to shove God's word down their throats every time we see them, or we can gently step where we go and let God work on their hearts. Because, the thing is, if they are not ready to receive what we have to say, it could do the opposite of what we are hoping it will do. I think it's better to let God do the work of the heart. He is the one that calls each of us. Even though as parents it can sometimes weigh heavy on our own hearts to watch our kids go their own way. 

But that is my own opinion. Maybe I am right. But then maybe I am wrong. All I know is that God is faithful all things, in no matter what my life brings to me. 

We all make mistakes. We do the best we can, and we pray a lot.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Have a blessed day. Next post date will be 2/14 and the subject that day will be on:

Unicorns!

What? Please come back to find out about these creatures.

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Apologies to my Friends

Please forgive me as I have decided to end my studies of these men. I plan to be back tomorrow on 2/12 with a different subject. If you would like to continue read up on this series yourself, I suggest gotquestions.org as a place to start.  This series is just hard for me at this time for me to continue. As I have stated before, I am not a bible scholar. Thank you for your patience. Have a blessed day.

The Twelve Tribes of Israel: Simeon

Got Questions.org tells us who Siemon was in the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Who was Simeon in the Bible?

Simeon in the Old Testament is the second-born son of Jacob, born to Jacob’s wife Leah. Jacob was the patriarch, or father, of the twelve tribes of Israel and had received the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 28:14–15).

Simeon was a man of anger and violence. His sister Dinah was taken and defiled by a Hivite named Shechem, a son of the ruler of that area (Genesis 34:2). When Jacob and his sons learned of this, “they were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done” (Genesis 34:7). All the brothers conspired to initiate a plan to establish a false treaty with Hamor’s family (Genesis 34:13). The treaty involved all the men of the city being circumcised (verse 15). But, instead of the family of Jacob and the family of Hamor living peacefully together as Hamor was led to believe (Genesis 34:21), the sons of Jacob, including Simeon, sought to avenge their sister. After the men of the city had been circumcised, while they were still in pain, Simeon and Levi “took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left” (Genesis 34:25–26). Jacob rebuked Simeon and Levi for their bloody act: “You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land” (Genesis 34:30).

Later, as Jacob was nearing death, he gave his sons a patriarchal blessing. At that time, he remembered the sins of Simeon and Levi, saying, “Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel” (Genesis 49:5–7). Jacob’s words came to pass as, centuries later, after the conquest of the Promised Land, the tribe of Simeon was small and was forced to share territory with Judah, a larger and more powerful tribe (Joshua 19:1–9). The curse on Simeon reminds us that vengeance belongs only to God (Genesis 4:15; Psalm 38:20; 1 Peter 3:9).

The Bible also shows that Simeon was a man of envy and hatred. He and his brothers were jealous of their father’s love for Joseph and angered by Joseph’s dreams that the brothers construed as arrogance, so they sold Joseph into slavery (Genesis 37). Simeon was then complicit in leading their father to believe that Joseph had been killed by a fierce animal. Later, Joseph, as vizier of Egypt, tested his brothers and imprisoned Simeon until his brothers returned from Canaan (Genesis 42:18–19, 24).

Despite Simeon’s wrongdoing, we see God’s love and grace. Simeon was justly rebuked and cursed by his father, but he was also honored by Jacob as recorded in two special moments. The first occurs when Jacob, still grieving the supposed death of Joseph, is presented with the possibility that he might lose Simeon as well and equates Simeon with his two favorite children, Joseph and Benjamin: “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me” (Genesis 42:36). We also see Jacob’s grace when he recognizes Joseph’s sons as being equal to Reuben and Simeon, his first and second born. In this blessing of his grandchildren, Jacob, despite Simeon’s prior violence, murder, and lies, recognizes Simeon’s rightful place in the family.

In Revelation 7:7 the tribe of Simeon is listed in a place of honor, among the twelve tribes of Israel who are sealed by God’s protection in the tribulation. Simeon, son of Jacob, is referenced throughout the Pentateuch and seven times in the book of Joshua. Simeon and/or the tribe that bears his name is also mentioned in the historical records of 1 and 2 Chronicles and in the book of Ezekiel.

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God's love never ceases to amaze me although it should. Such a man as Simeon who was angry and violent still was found in the grace of God. It doesn't matter who we are. It doesn't matter what we have done. God's love can never be taken from us. 

How amazing is that, friends?

Thanks for coming today, God bless you!

Amen!!!!!