ראם, Num. xxiii, 22; xxiv, 8; Deut. xxxiii, 17; Job xxxix, 9,
10; Psalm xxii, 21; xxix, 6; xcii, 10; Isa. xxxiv, 7. In each of these
places it is rendered in the Septuagint μονόκερως, except in Isaiah,
where it is ἁδροὶ, _the great or mighty ones_. Barrow, in his “Travels
in Southern Africa,” has given a drawing of the head of the unicorn, “a
beast with a single horn projecting from the forehead;” accompanied with
such details as, he thinks, offer strong arguments for the existence of
such animals in the country of the Bosjesmans. He observes that this
creature is represented as a “solid-ungulous animal resembling a horse,
with an elegantly shaped body, marked from the shoulders to the flanks
with longitudinal stripes or bands.” Still he acknowledges that the
animal to which the writer of the book of Job, who was no mean natural
historian, makes a poetical allusion, has been supposed, with great
plausibility, to be the one-horned rhinoceros; and that Moses also very
probably meant the rhinoceros, when he mentions the unicorn as having
the strength of God.
“There are two animals,” says Bruce, “named frequently in Scripture,
without naturalists being agreed what they are. The one is the
_behemoth_, the other the _reem_; both mentioned as types of strength,
courage, and independence on man; and, as such, exempted from the
ordinary lot of beasts, to be subdued by him, or reduced under his
dominion. The behemoth, then, I take to be the elephant; his history is
well known, and my only business is with the reem, which I suppose to be
the rhinoceros. The derivation of this word, both in the Hebrew and
Ethiopic, seems to be from erectness, or standing straight. This is
certainly no particular quality in the animal itself, which is not more,
nor even so much erect as many other quadrupeds, for its knees are
rather crooked; but it is from the circumstance and manner in which his
horn is placed. The horns of all other animals are inclined to some
degree of parallelism with the nose, or _os frontis_, [front bone.] The
horn of the rhinoceros alone is erect and perpendicular to this bone, on
which it stands at right angles; thereby possessing a greater purchase
or power, as a lever, than any horn could possibly have in any other
position. This situation of the horn is very happily alluded to in the
sacred writings: ‘My horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a reem,’
Psalm xcii, 10. And the horn here alluded to is not wholly figurative,
but was really an ornament worn by great men in the days of victory,
preferment, or rejoicing, when they were anointed with new, sweet, or
fresh oil; a circumstance which David joins with that of erecting the
horn. Balaam, a priest of Midian, and so in the neighbourhood of the
haunts of the rhinoceros, and intimately connected with Ethiopia, for
they themselves were shepherds of that country, in a transport, from
contemplating the strength of Israel, whom he was brought to curse,
says, that they had as it were the strength of the reem, Num. xxiii, 22.
Job, xxxix, 9, 10, makes frequent allusion to his great strength,
ferocity, and indocility. Isaiah, xxxiv, 7, who of all the prophets
seems to have known Egypt and Ethiopia the best, when prophesying about
the destruction of Idumea, says, that the reem shall come down with the
fat cattle: a proof that he knew his habitation was in the
neighbourhood. In the same manner as when foretelling the desolation of
Egypt, he mentions, as one manner of effecting it, the bringing down the
fly from Ethiopia, Isa. vii, 18, 19, to meet the cattle in the desert
and among the bushes, and destroy them there, where that insect did not
ordinarily come but on command, Exodus viii, 22, and where the cattle
fled every year, to save themselves from that insect.
“The rhinoceros in Geez is called _arwé harish_, and in the Amharic
_auraris_, both which names signify the large wild beast with the horn.
This would seem as if applied to the species that had but one horn. The
Ethiopic text renders the word reem, _arwe harish_, and this the
Septuagint translates μονόκερως, or unicorn. If the Abyssinian
rhinoceros had invariably two horns, it seems to me improbable the
Septuagint would call him μονόκερως, especially as they must have seen
an animal of this kind exposed at Alexandria in their time, when first
mentioned in history, at an exhibition given to Ptolemy Philadelphus, at
his accession to the crown, before the death of his father. The
principal reason for translating the word _reem_ unicorn, and not
rhinoceros, is from a prejudice that he must have but one horn. But this
is by no means so well founded, as to be admitted as the only argument
for establishing the existence of an animal, which never has appeared
after the search of so many ages. Scripture speaks of the horns of the
unicorn, Deut. xxxiii, 17; Psalm xxii, 21; so that even from this
circumstance the reem may be the rhinoceros as the rhinoceros may be the
unicorn.”
In the book of Job, xxxix, 9, 10, the reem is represented as an
unmanageable animal, which, although possessed of sufficient strength to
labour, sternly and pertinaciously refused to bend his neck to the yoke.
Will the reem submit to serve thee?
Will he, indeed, abide at thy crib?
Canst thou make his harness bind the reem to the furrow?
Will he, forsooth, plough up the valleys for thee?
Wilt thou rely on him for his great strength,
And commit thy labour unto him?
Wilt thou trust him that he may bring home thy grain,
And gather in thy harvest?
The rhinoceros, in size, is only exceeded by the elephant; and in
strength and power is inferior to no other creature. He is at least
twelve feet in length, from the extremity of the snout to the insertion
of the tail; six or seven feet in height, and the circumference of the
body is nearly equal to its length. He is particularly distinguished
from the elephant and all other animals by the remarkable and offensive
weapon he carries upon his nose. This is a very hard horn, solid
throughout, directed forward, and has been seen four feet in length. Mr.
Browne, in his Travels, says, that the Arabians call the rhinoceros
_abu-kurn_, “father of the one horn.” The rhinoceros is very hurtful, by
the prodigious devastation which he makes in the fields. This
circumstance peculiarly illustrates the passage from Job. Instead of
trusting him to bring home the grain, the husbandman will endeavour to
prevent his entry into the fields, and hinder his destructive ravages.
In a note upon this passage, Mr. Good says, “The original reem, by all
the older translators rendered rhinoceros, or unicorn, is by some modern
writers supposed to be the bubalus, bison, or wild ox. There can be no
doubt that rhinoceros is the proper term; for this animal is universally
known in Arabia, by the name of reem, to the present day.” The
rhinoceros, though next in size, yet in docility and ingenuity greatly
inferior, to the elephant, has never yet been tamed, so as to assist the
labours of mankind, or to appear in the ranks of war. The rhinoceros is
perfectly indocile and untractable, though neither ferocious nor
carnivorous. He is among large animals what the hog is among smaller
ones, brutal and insensible; fond of wallowing in the mire, and
delighting in moist and marshy situations near the banks of rivers. He
is, however, of a pacific disposition; and, as he feeds on vegetables,
has few occasions for conflict. He neither disturbs the less, nor fears
the greater, beasts of the forest, but lives amicably with all. He
subsists principally on large succulent plants, prickly shrubs, and the
branches of trees; and lives to the age of seventy or eighty years.
10; Psalm xxii, 21; xxix, 6; xcii, 10; Isa. xxxiv, 7. In each of these
places it is rendered in the Septuagint μονόκερως, except in Isaiah,
where it is ἁδροὶ, _the great or mighty ones_. Barrow, in his “Travels
in Southern Africa,” has given a drawing of the head of the unicorn, “a
beast with a single horn projecting from the forehead;” accompanied with
such details as, he thinks, offer strong arguments for the existence of
such animals in the country of the Bosjesmans. He observes that this
creature is represented as a “solid-ungulous animal resembling a horse,
with an elegantly shaped body, marked from the shoulders to the flanks
with longitudinal stripes or bands.” Still he acknowledges that the
animal to which the writer of the book of Job, who was no mean natural
historian, makes a poetical allusion, has been supposed, with great
plausibility, to be the one-horned rhinoceros; and that Moses also very
probably meant the rhinoceros, when he mentions the unicorn as having
the strength of God.
“There are two animals,” says Bruce, “named frequently in Scripture,
without naturalists being agreed what they are. The one is the
_behemoth_, the other the _reem_; both mentioned as types of strength,
courage, and independence on man; and, as such, exempted from the
ordinary lot of beasts, to be subdued by him, or reduced under his
dominion. The behemoth, then, I take to be the elephant; his history is
well known, and my only business is with the reem, which I suppose to be
the rhinoceros. The derivation of this word, both in the Hebrew and
Ethiopic, seems to be from erectness, or standing straight. This is
certainly no particular quality in the animal itself, which is not more,
nor even so much erect as many other quadrupeds, for its knees are
rather crooked; but it is from the circumstance and manner in which his
horn is placed. The horns of all other animals are inclined to some
degree of parallelism with the nose, or _os frontis_, [front bone.] The
horn of the rhinoceros alone is erect and perpendicular to this bone, on
which it stands at right angles; thereby possessing a greater purchase
or power, as a lever, than any horn could possibly have in any other
position. This situation of the horn is very happily alluded to in the
sacred writings: ‘My horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a reem,’
Psalm xcii, 10. And the horn here alluded to is not wholly figurative,
but was really an ornament worn by great men in the days of victory,
preferment, or rejoicing, when they were anointed with new, sweet, or
fresh oil; a circumstance which David joins with that of erecting the
horn. Balaam, a priest of Midian, and so in the neighbourhood of the
haunts of the rhinoceros, and intimately connected with Ethiopia, for
they themselves were shepherds of that country, in a transport, from
contemplating the strength of Israel, whom he was brought to curse,
says, that they had as it were the strength of the reem, Num. xxiii, 22.
Job, xxxix, 9, 10, makes frequent allusion to his great strength,
ferocity, and indocility. Isaiah, xxxiv, 7, who of all the prophets
seems to have known Egypt and Ethiopia the best, when prophesying about
the destruction of Idumea, says, that the reem shall come down with the
fat cattle: a proof that he knew his habitation was in the
neighbourhood. In the same manner as when foretelling the desolation of
Egypt, he mentions, as one manner of effecting it, the bringing down the
fly from Ethiopia, Isa. vii, 18, 19, to meet the cattle in the desert
and among the bushes, and destroy them there, where that insect did not
ordinarily come but on command, Exodus viii, 22, and where the cattle
fled every year, to save themselves from that insect.
“The rhinoceros in Geez is called _arwé harish_, and in the Amharic
_auraris_, both which names signify the large wild beast with the horn.
This would seem as if applied to the species that had but one horn. The
Ethiopic text renders the word reem, _arwe harish_, and this the
Septuagint translates μονόκερως, or unicorn. If the Abyssinian
rhinoceros had invariably two horns, it seems to me improbable the
Septuagint would call him μονόκερως, especially as they must have seen
an animal of this kind exposed at Alexandria in their time, when first
mentioned in history, at an exhibition given to Ptolemy Philadelphus, at
his accession to the crown, before the death of his father. The
principal reason for translating the word _reem_ unicorn, and not
rhinoceros, is from a prejudice that he must have but one horn. But this
is by no means so well founded, as to be admitted as the only argument
for establishing the existence of an animal, which never has appeared
after the search of so many ages. Scripture speaks of the horns of the
unicorn, Deut. xxxiii, 17; Psalm xxii, 21; so that even from this
circumstance the reem may be the rhinoceros as the rhinoceros may be the
unicorn.”
In the book of Job, xxxix, 9, 10, the reem is represented as an
unmanageable animal, which, although possessed of sufficient strength to
labour, sternly and pertinaciously refused to bend his neck to the yoke.
Will the reem submit to serve thee?
Will he, indeed, abide at thy crib?
Canst thou make his harness bind the reem to the furrow?
Will he, forsooth, plough up the valleys for thee?
Wilt thou rely on him for his great strength,
And commit thy labour unto him?
Wilt thou trust him that he may bring home thy grain,
And gather in thy harvest?
The rhinoceros, in size, is only exceeded by the elephant; and in
strength and power is inferior to no other creature. He is at least
twelve feet in length, from the extremity of the snout to the insertion
of the tail; six or seven feet in height, and the circumference of the
body is nearly equal to its length. He is particularly distinguished
from the elephant and all other animals by the remarkable and offensive
weapon he carries upon his nose. This is a very hard horn, solid
throughout, directed forward, and has been seen four feet in length. Mr.
Browne, in his Travels, says, that the Arabians call the rhinoceros
_abu-kurn_, “father of the one horn.” The rhinoceros is very hurtful, by
the prodigious devastation which he makes in the fields. This
circumstance peculiarly illustrates the passage from Job. Instead of
trusting him to bring home the grain, the husbandman will endeavour to
prevent his entry into the fields, and hinder his destructive ravages.
In a note upon this passage, Mr. Good says, “The original reem, by all
the older translators rendered rhinoceros, or unicorn, is by some modern
writers supposed to be the bubalus, bison, or wild ox. There can be no
doubt that rhinoceros is the proper term; for this animal is universally
known in Arabia, by the name of reem, to the present day.” The
rhinoceros, though next in size, yet in docility and ingenuity greatly
inferior, to the elephant, has never yet been tamed, so as to assist the
labours of mankind, or to appear in the ranks of war. The rhinoceros is
perfectly indocile and untractable, though neither ferocious nor
carnivorous. He is among large animals what the hog is among smaller
ones, brutal and insensible; fond of wallowing in the mire, and
delighting in moist and marshy situations near the banks of rivers. He
is, however, of a pacific disposition; and, as he feeds on vegetables,
has few occasions for conflict. He neither disturbs the less, nor fears
the greater, beasts of the forest, but lives amicably with all. He
subsists principally on large succulent plants, prickly shrubs, and the
branches of trees; and lives to the age of seventy or eighty years.