KJV Says Unicorn

Questions, I just love questions ...

"The King James Versions says Unicorns exist(ed) in Job 39:9-10, Psalm 22:21 and Isaiah 34:7.  Did they exist?  How come they are not in the fossil record?"

I know from my readings in old Biblical Commentaries, dating back to the 16th century, which I studied from for many years, the idea was always that the unicorn was the rhinocerous!  Horse like, sort of, but with usually only one horn.  Made sense to me.

But, then one of my friends came up with the idea that no one today believes this, it was just some unknown animal being identified.

So, unknown animal, untranslatable from Hebrew.  Therefore it seems likely that this animal no longer exists.  It had to have lived or at least been known in the Middle East.

Job 39:9-10; an illusion is being made to making it work like an oxen and plowing fields, idea being NO WAY!

Psalm 22:21; it has a horn or horns

Isaiah 34:7; whatever these animals are they will die in the sacrifice of God's cleansing of the land

Hmmmmmmmmmm

And then I remembered the once widespread, now extinct - Auroch.

Beginning in World War II, Herman Goering, an avid hunter, was given the task of hunting a hunting preserve roughly the size of half of today's Poland.  He had a breeding program to recreate the native wild horse population, he set about having the auroch recreated by breeding from existing primitive cattle stocks from around the world, and to have some fun while this going on - he imported raccoons from the US Pacific Northwest.

The German breeding program was quite successful, the horses still roam the northern forests of eastern Germany and Poland.

The raccoons, like rats have over run most of Europe.

As for the Auroch, yes they did breed something huge, fearsome and very much auroch like!  And the local villagers were not amused.  There was a reason these animals were hunted to extinction in the 17th century.

So, two horns, can not harnessed to pull a plow, yeah, I think we have just found the KJV Unicorn reference ...

Aren't you glad you asked?
:)