Satyrs, Dragons, and Unicorns

[ScottEmerson]

Originally posted by timothy 1769:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by ScottEmerson:
One cannot prove the negative, so the burden of proof is squarely on timothy1769 here, according to the rules of debate.

OK, God says there is such a creature, so there is. </font>[/QUOTE]God said there was a re'em, not a unicorn. That is a translation, not God's inspired Word. So, we're still waiting for proof in a unicorn.

That said, I tend to agree with skanwmatos.

 

[BrianT]

Yes, people in 1611 believed in unicorns - and yes, the magic horse kind. Check out the magnificient "Unicorn Tapestries", circa 1500.

Check out this picture of what was believe to be a unicorn horn until recent DNA examination proved it to be the tusk of a narwhal, on display at the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside (in Liverpool, England):

Such horns were rare, but not too uncommon, and King James and previous monarchs even had them listed in their personal inventories. Once, when James' son was sick, some of one horn was ground into powder for him to drink, because they believed it had magical healing properties.

 

[robycop3]

Skan, when one thinks of a unicorn, one thinks of a large horse-like animal with a long horn between its eyes.

Also, the hebrew word here is "re'em", whose best definition, according to a Jewish acquaintance, is "wild ox", or auroch. This is reinforced by Deut.33:17, which in the KJV refers to the horns of a unicorn.

As for the auroch, it was a kind of bovine related to modern cattle, only it could often reach over a ton in weight. It was a favorite prey of ancient hunters, and was hunted in Europe into the 17th century, the last known specimens being found in Poland in 1627, putting it very much into the range of knowledge of the AV writers.

Another candidate for re'em is the gaur, a large, wild, untamable ox of SE Asia & eastern India.

And I don't entirely disagree with the validity of your candidate, the Indian rhino.

And another possibility-some ancient warriors placed a protective mask about their horses' faces with a long, sharp spike between the eyes for a fierce appearance, and sometimes for actual use by a well-trained horse.(I can't remember the name for that spike!)

And the constellation 'monoceros' represents the horse-like unicorn.

But at any rate, the rendering "wild ox" in the MVs is certainly not wrong, especially in the light of what we perceive a unicorn to look like if it ever existed.