UNICORN
UNICORN
re'eem. In Deut 33:17, "his (Joseph's) horns are like the horns of an unicorn" (so margin rightly, not "unicorns"); "the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh," two tribes sprung from the one Joseph, are the two horns from one head. Therefore the unicorn was not as is represented a one-horned animal, but some species of urns or wild ox. The rhinoceros does not "skip" as the young unicorn is represented to do (Ps 29:6). The unicorn's characteristics are: (1) great strength, Num 23:22; Job 39:11; (2) two horns, Deut 33:17; (3) fierceness, Ps 22:21; (4) untameableness, Job 39:9-11, where the unicorn, probably the wild bison, buffalo, ox, or urus (now only found in Lithuania, but then spread over northern temperate climes, Bashan, etc., and in the Hercynian forest, described by Caesar as almost the size of an elephant, fierce, sparing neither man nor beast) stands in contrast to the tame ox used in plowing, ver. 11,12; (5) playfulness of its young, Ps 29:6; (6) association with "bullocks and bulls" for sacrifice, Isa 34:6-7; (7) lifting up the horn, Ps 92:10, as bovine animals lower the head and toss up the horn.
(from Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1998 by Biblesoft)