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Easton's Bible Dictionary
described as an animal of great ferocity and strength
( Numbers
23:22 , RSV, "wild ox," marg., "ox-antelope;" Numbers
24:8 ; Isaiah
34:7 , RSV, "wild oxen"), and untamable ( Job
39:9 ). It was in reality a two-horned animal; but the exact reference of
the word so rendered (reem) is doubtful. Some have supposed it to be the buffalo;
others, the white antelope, called by the Arabs rim. Most probably, however, the
word denotes the Bos primigenius ("primitive ox"), which is now extinct all over
the world. This was the auerochs of the Germans, and the urus described by Caesar
(Gal. Bel., vi.28) as inhabiting the Hercynian forest. The word thus rendered
has been found in an Assyrian inscription written over the wild ox or bison, which
some also suppose to be the animal intended (Compare Deuteronomy
33:17 ; Psalms
22:21 ; 29:6
; 92:10
).
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
The rendering of the Authorized Version of the Hebrew
reem, a word which occurs seven times in the Old Testament as the name of some
large wild animal. The reem of the Hebrew Bible, however, has nothing at all to
do with the one-horned animal of the Greek and Roman writers, as is evident from
( Deuteronomy
33:17 ) where in the blessing of Joseph it is said; "his glory is like the
firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of a unicorn;" not,
as the text of the Authorized Version renders it, "the horns of unicorns." The
two horns of the ram are "the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh."
This text puts a one-horned animal entirely out of the question. Considering that
the reem is spoken of as a two-horned animal of great strength and ferocity, that
it was evidently well known and often seen by the Jews, that it is mentioned as
an animal fit for sacrificial purposes, and that it is frequently associated with
bulls and oxen we think there can be no doubt that, some species of wild ox is
intended. The allusion in ( Psalms
92:10 ) "But thou shalt lift up, as a reeym, my horn," seems to point to the
mode in which the Bovidae use their horns, lowering the head and then tossing
it up. But it is impossible to determine what particular species of wild ox is
signified probably some gigantic urus is intended. (It is probable that it was
the gigantic Bos primigeniua, or aurochs, now extinct, but of which Caesar says,
"These uri are scarcely less than elephants in size, but in their nature, color
and form are bulls. Great is their strength and great their speed; they spare
neither man nor beast when once; they have caught sight of them" --Bell. Gall.
vi. 20.-ED.)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
u'-ni-korn (re'em (Numbers
23:22 ; 24:8
; Deuteronomy
33:17 ; Job
39:9 , 10
; Psalms
22:21 ; 29:6
; 92:10
; Isaiah
34:7)):
"Unicorn" occurs in the King James Version in the passages cited, where the Revised
Version (British and American) has "wild-ox" (which see).
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, ox, reem, reeym, two horned animal, unicorn
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