Does The Bible Say There Are Unicorns?

He hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. (Numbers 23:22 KJV)

The King James Bible mentions unicorns in six verses. It doesn't give much detail about the creature except to say that it noted for having great strength. To the western mind, unicorns are mythical creatures that now only exist in fantasy novels and Dungeons & Dragons but the Bible talks about them as though they are real creatures. Many people pounce on this fact as an opportunity to label the Bible as a work of fiction. Even liberal Christians use the mention of unicorns as an excuse to say the Bible shouldn't be taken literally.

In response to such criticisms, we must first acknowledge them for what they are – straw man criticisms that don't accurately represent what the Bible says. Many critics aren't intentionally making a straw man. Instead, they are committing the exegetical fallacy of reverse etymology. That is, they are forcing the modern meaning of a word onto its original meaning. When the Bible was written in Hebrew, the Medieval concepts of unicorns did not even exist. The writers of the Bible certainly did not have the western image of unicorns in mind when the original text was penned.

My understanding of Hebrew is next to nothing but, according to Brown-Driver-Brigg's Hebrew Definitions the word translated as “unicorn” in Numbers 23:22 above is the Hebrew word “rêm” (ראם). BDB defines it as “wild bulls which are now extinct.” There's nothing about that definition that suggests the Hebrew writers specifically understood this beast to have a single horn. It could be a description of an animal using terminology similar to our name for the modern breed of cattle, the “long horn.”

Since I'm more comfortable reading Greek, I looked up the verse in the Septuagint where I found it is rendered as monokerōtos (μονοκέρωτος) which literally means “only horn” or “one horn.” So, even long before the KJV translation, it seems the idea of a one-horned animal was already understood. What we have then, is the Bible mentions a one-horned animal renowned for having great strength. Do such animals exist? Of course they do!

Even today there exists a species of rhinoceros with one horn. Interestingly, the Latin name for the animal is Rhinoceros unicornis. Did you see that, “unicornis”? It's the word unicorn! So even according to modern taxonomy, there are true unicorns alive today. Rhinos also possess great strength so a one-horned rhino would definitely fit the bill of the biblical unicorn.

Now, there are many other horned animals that have lived throughout history. For example, there is a group of horned animals called, ceratopsians. The most famous critter belonging to this group is the triceratops. The triceratops, of course, has three horns but another member of this club is monoclonius. Would you care to guess how many horns the monoclonius had? I don't know exactly how strong the monoclonius was but given the fact it about the size of a car, I would suspect it was likely impressive.

I'm sure there are still other candidates that would fit the description of the biblical unicorns. It's not my objective to prove exactly what species of creature it was. My objective is demonstrate what it was not – it was not the horned horse of European folklore.

Further reading

How to Answer “The Bible says that Bats are Birds” and Similar Criticisms

How Are Myths Born?

Genesis 38: What Happens in Timnah Stays in Timnah

You've probably seen the commercials: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” It's a simple concept, really. The idea they're selling is that you can come to a wild town where you don't know anyone, indulge yourself in whatever you desire, and then return home like nothing happened. No one will know what you've done. At least, that's what they want you to think.

I imagine that's exactly how Judah felt in Genesis 38 when he visited Timnah. He was going there to have his sheep sheared. He might have been thinking the same things the Las Vegas commercials are promoting. He's alone in a strange town and probably thinks he can indulge himself with anonymity.

On the road leading to Timnah, Judah encounters a veiled woman. The Bible doesn't say why, but for some reason Judah believes she's a prostitute. The Bible does says she was veiled. Perhaps that was a practice among prostitutes so that they can engage in their trade while remaining anonymous. If so, isn't it curious that Judah would be aware of such a practice? I wonder if he's done this before. Anyway, Judah propositions the woman and agrees to give her a kid (a baby goat) in exchange for sex. The woman agrees but Judah wasn't traveling with a goat. Instead, he leaves some personal items with her as a sort of deposit until he can send the kid later.

Here's where it gets interesting. What Judah did not realize is that the veiled woman was his own daughter-in-law, Tamar, the widow of his late son, Er. Tamar had been waiting on the road leading to Timnah so that she could confront Judah about marrying his youngest son, Shelah. The Bible doesn't say why she agreed to Judah's advances; perhaps it was so that she could later blackmail him into letting her marry his youngest son but Tamar became pregnant as a result of her time with Judah.

Judah went on his merry way believing the elicit encounter was over and done. After all, what happens in Timnar, stays in Timnar, right? Well, some time after returning home, he found out that Tamar was pregnant. He became furious because he knew she was betrothed to his son and demanded that she be punished. Realization set it, though, when she produced the personal items that he had given her as a pledge. In modern vernacular, we might say he was “busted.” Tamar went on to deliver twins – Pharez and Zarah.

It's not hard to imagine the horror Judah felt when he learned that his supposedly discreet fling would have such public and lasting consequences. But I think not even Judah was fully aware just how enduring his shame would be. Not only are we reading about his exploits centuries later, but he and the product of his affair are immortalized in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:3. How sad it must be to be mentioned in the Bible not because of your devout faith, but for your complete lack of morals. What might have been a badge of honor is diminished to a source of embarrassment.

I wonder sometimes if we might act differently if we knew our dirty secrets would all be revealed. The idea that whenever you're in strange a place anything you do will be kept secret is a lie. Perhaps our misdeeds will not be published in the Bible but we should never suppose that they will never be known. We are warned in Numbers 32:23, “and be sure your sin will find you out.”

Are Babies Saved? A Scriptural Analysis of the “Age of Accountability”

Having grown up in a Baptist church, I had always been told that children who die before reaching the “age of accountability” will go to heaven. Sometimes, we hear things about the Bible repeated so often that we simply assume it's really in the Bible. It's like the oft repeated claim that Adam ate an “apple.” The Bible doesn't say it was an apple but only says Adam ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. What exactly the fruit was is of little consequence really. However, a subject like the age of accountability is considerably more significant. I've heard people argue that, because of who God is, He would necessarily show mercy on infants. Certainly God is loving but we need to be careful before saying how we think God should act. His ways are not our ways. As always, we must look to Scripture to support any belief we claim is doctrine.

The Bible talks a lot about salvation but says surprisingly little about the disposition of children who die before coming to a saving faith in Jesus. I would start by noting that the idea of infants who die being with the Lord is not a new idea. When the infant son of David and Bathsheba died, David said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:22-23).

It seems that David believed the child was gone to be with the Lord and that someday he would be with him again. David, of course, being one of the authors of the Bible, had a relationship with God that very few people have had. Though David did not have the full canon of Scripture that we have, something led him to believe his child would be with the Lord. Because we know that David received revelation from the Lord, we should not quickly dismiss his confidence as though it was simply the vain imaginations of a grieving parent. David may have had a type of “inside knowledge” about the matter.

Moving forward to the New Testament, I also have noticed something very interesting about Jesus' ministry on earth. Jesus often spoke openly about the spiritual condition of the people around Him. He told the woman who touched the hem of His robe that her faith had saved her (Matthew 9:20-22). He told the Pharisees that they were the sons of their father, the Devil (John 8:44). Jesus often judged the spiritual condition of those around Him but we can see it is only among adults. Concerning children, Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come to me and forbid them not” (Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:14, Luke 18:16). Nowhere have I ever seen Jesus discern the spiritual attitude of children the same way He did among adults.

There is still another passage of Scripture that I believe bears greatly on this subject. In Numbers 14, God judges the nation of Israel and tells them that, because of their disobedience, they will not inherit the land which He promised them. Numbers 14:31, though, says, “But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.” Admittedly, God chose the age of 20 as the dividing line but even so, we can still see that the wrath of God's judgment falls on the older generation while the younger generation is spared.

Though the Bible speaks very little about the subject directly, I believe it has much to say about it indirectly. From these passages and others, I believe we can have confidence in knowing that children who die before they are able to understand the need of a savior receive God mercy nonetheless.