Author Topic: Biblical unicorns (Read 1807 times)

cassini · « **on:** May 06, 2014, 01:31:17 PM »

On Holy Thursday last, in Psalm 21, I read:

'Save me from the lyon's mouth, ; and mine affliction from the horns of the unicorns.

For a second I thought it was 'horns from the unicorn' and was delighted it said 'unicorns.'

Given there are so many other animals named according to their kind, surely the unicorn would not have been named if they did not exist in those days.

Oh, and if anyone wasnt to see a similar kind of creature just go look at the narwal.

I wonder if they ever found a unicorn fossil? What do you think?

Stubborn · « **Reply #1 on:** May 06, 2014, 04:34:44 PM »

I have no idea if it's true or not - but I lean to believing it............... In a sermon once, the priest said the unicorn was real and that they are no longer in existence because they never made it on the ark.

He said there was a reason God did not want them on the ark, but I cannot remember exactly what he said the reason was.

Either way, I have always figured it was a good enough reason to believe that at one time, they existed and now I find out it seems scripture agrees.

Thanks for posting that, I never knew unicorns were mentioned in the bible!

TKGS · « **Reply #2 on:** May 06, 2014, 06:20:11 PM »

Quote from: Stubborn

I have no idea if it's true or not - but I lean to believing it............... In a sermon once, the priest said the unicorn was real and that they are no longer in existence because they never made it on the ark.

This is the reason the unicorns didn't make it on the ark:

A long time ago when the earth was green,
and there was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen,
They'd run around free while the earth was being born,
But the loveliest of them all was the Unicorn.

Chorus
There were green alligators and long necked geese,
Some humpty-back camels and some chimpanzees,
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born,
The loveliest of all was the Unicorn.

Now God seen some sinning and it gave Him pain,
And He says "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain."
He says "Hey brother Noah, I'll tell you what to do,
Build me a floating zoo. And take some of them...

Chorus 2
Green alligators and long necked geese,
Some humpty-back camels and some chimpanzees,
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born,
Don't you forget My Unicorn."

Old Noah was there to answer the call,
He finished up making the ark just as the rain started fallin.
He marched in the animals two by two,
And he called out as they went through, "Hey Lord, I got your..."

Chorus 3
Green alligators and long necked geese,
Some humpy-back camels and some chimpanzees,
Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord I'm so forlorn,
I just can't see no Unicorn."

Then Noah looked out through the driving rain,
Them Unicorns were hiding, playing silly games.
Kicking and splashing while the rain was pouring,
Oh them silly Unicorns.

Chorus 4
There were green alligators and long necked geese,
Some humpy-back camels and some chimpanzees,
Noah cried "Close the door, cause the rain is pouring,
And we just can't wait for no Unicorn."

The ark started movin, it drifted with the tide.
Them Unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried,
And the waters came down and sort of floated them away,
And that's why you'll never seen a Unicorn... to this very day.

Chorus 5
You'll see green alligators and long necked geese,
Some humpy-back camels and some chimpanzees,
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born,
You're never gonna see no Unicorn.

Luker · « **Reply #3 on:** May 06, 2014, 06:28:59 PM »

Quote from: Stubborn

He said there was a reason God did not want them on the ark, but I cannot remember exactly what he said the reason was.

Safety hazard? After all in the tight confines of the ark, a unicorn waving around that pointy horn on their nose isn't going to inspire a lot of confidence in the other animals.

Stubborn · « **Reply #4 on:** May 06, 2014, 08:35:10 PM »

Ha! I was wondering if someone was going to mention that song lol

But no, though it was probably about the time that song came out because it was in the late 60s that he said something along the lines that the unicorn had some special significance as relates to suffering or persecution.

At the time, the fad going on was pictures of a unicorn almost everywhere, sort of like the "smiley face", and his point, I think, was that there was something wrong, perhaps hurtful or evil about them - which was the reason God chose to not allow them on the ark.

Elizabeth · « **Reply #5 on:** May 06, 2014, 10:20:59 PM »

FWIW Anne Catherine Emmerich said they exist. Also, there is a unicorn horn on display at the Cloisters Museum in NYC.

So, I'm all good with the idea of unicorns. Also dragons.

Neil Obstat · « **Reply #6 on:** May 07, 2014, 12:06:44 AM »

Quote from: cassini

On Holy Thursday last, in Psalm 21, I read:

'Save me from the lyon's mouth, ; and mine affliction from the horns of the unicorns.

For a second I thought it was 'horns from the unicorn' and was delighted it said 'unicorns.'

Given there are so many other animals named according to their kind, surely the unicorn would not have been named if they did not exist in those days.

The Psalms of David were written some thousand years after the Great Flood. There was no Book of Genesis on the Ark. So if there were not any unicorns to be found after the Flood, then Psalm 21 would have been speaking from the memory of an animal that no longer existed. Maybe it was a prayer to God to save me from things of which I am afraid, or, save me from my fears, even if they're regarding irrational things -- save me from the unknown dangers in my future? The word "affliction" leans strongly in that direction. One may certainly be afflicted by certain thoughts of the unknown or even of the imagination.

And beyond that, how many people show that it's a human tendency to block out thoughts of that kind? How many people on the Titanic did not want to believe that the ship could ever founder? How many people in Honolulu in 1941 did not want to believe that Pearl Harbor could be attacked? Go back to September 10th, 2001 and try to find anyone willing to admit that it would be possible for the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center to come crashing down -- or even today, 13 years later, that if it did, it could have possibly been caused by planned demolition using explosive thermite that melted three-inch-thick steel columns. I find it's quite common for people to not want to listen to warnings, because they go to work to pay the bills and keep a roof over their head, and they don't want to think about God's chastisement of our land, even if it IS a matter of infallible divine prophesy.

How many people today think that we can have all 4 sins crying to God for vengeance perpetrated by public policy and unjust "law" without any FEAR of the wrath of God? Or, at least, without any abiding concern that we're fools to shun this fear as if it were that the fear is somehow the evil thing, instead of the four sins that cry to heaven for vengeance?

For it is unquestionably a popular trend today to ignore thinking about this objectively reasonable fear. Even here on CI, the posts dry up when you touch on it. It's human nature.

Does Psalm 21 mean a little bit more in that context???

Quote

Oh, and if anyone wasn't to see a similar kind of creature just go look at the narwal.

I wonder if they ever found a unicorn fossil? What do you think?

Okay, Liberal Logic Time!

No unicorn fossils, eh? Well that just goes to show that there must not have been any great Flood! (How's that for liberal logic?)

You might have narwals in the ocean, but until you can show me a narwal fossil, I don't have to believe that there WERE narwals. (More liberal logic.)

.

Neil Obstat · « **Reply #7 on:** May 07, 2014, 12:13:07 AM »

Quote from: Elizabeth

FWIW Anne Catherine Emmerich said they exist. Also, there is a unicorn horn on display at the Cloisters Museum in NYC.

So, I'm all good with the idea of unicorns. Also dragons.

Museums are quite renown for putting fake labels on exhibits. Just because it's cast in solid bronze doesn't mean the letters and message thereon are the truth. Modern man takes great pride in denying God's divine revelation.

For example, how do you know the "unicorn horn" on display isn't a narwal horn? Did you know that ivory is an excellent material for carving?

Think of it this way: you won't be in trouble at your particular judgment for doubting some exhibit you saw in a museum because it conflicts with what the Church teaches and/or what's in the Bible. But you WILL get in trouble for believing the museum display and thereby willfully denying God's divine revelation!

.

cassini · « **Reply #8 on:** May 07, 2014, 05:44:24 AM »

unicorn (n.)
early 13c., from O.Fr. unicorne, from L.L. unicornus (Vulgate), from noun use of L. unicornis (adj.) "having one horn," from uni- "one" (see uni-) + cornus "horn" (see horn). The Late Latin word translates Gk. monoceros, itself rendering Heb. re'em, which was probably a kind of wild ox.

Now this is interesting: I googled in 'unicorns in the Bible.' Many sites are quoting the 'King James version' - written by Sir Francis Bacon (Shakespeare) anti-Catholic so one doesn't know which Bible says what. I go by my Douay Challoner version, a Catholic bible.

Here is what I found:

Numbers 23:22 “God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.”

My Bible read: 'whose strength is like unto the rhinocerous.'

This is repeated for Num 24:8.

Psalms 29:6 “He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.”

my Bible says: He makes Lebanon leap like a calf and Sarion like a young bull.' A young unicorn bull???

Psalms 92:11 “But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.”

My Bible says: '..like the wild Bull's'
A young unicorn Bull?

Job 39:10
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

My Bible says ; Rhino.

Deuteronomy 33:17 “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

My Bible says: ' like horns of a rhino'

Psalms 22:21 “Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.”

My Bible says From the horns of the wild Bull's.' My St Andrews Daily Missal says 'from the horns of the unicorn.
Isaiah 34:7 “And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.”

My Bible says: 'And the unicorns shall go down with them:
At last - a unicorn.

Ok, it seems to me that the unicorn was a name for one-horned animals and a few of that kind existed and still do. For me then, the unicorn of mythology is one of peace, an OPPOSITE of a fierce rhino. Like the God we find in the OT who could be very angry, and God in the NT who is gentle loving Jesus.
that for me will do, for as Jesus existed so too did the unicorn exist in Him.
Anyone else willing to settle for that?

cassini · « **Reply #9 on:** May 07, 2014, 06:09:24 AM »

For those who wish to keep the 'traditional' unicorn consider this. In my long ended profession as a mink-farmer, I used to visit the Hutson Bay Auctions in London in the 1960s.
My first visit there astonished me. There were sheds the size of barns there literally filled with WILD furs of every kind. thousands of furs from every fur bearing animal you could think of. We know now that many of these species are almost extinct. Yes, it seems man is very capable of eliminating any land creature if it has a price on its head. In the oceans it is different because there man cannot get them all.

I entered another barn in the Hutson Bay storerooms only to see rows and rows of 'billard cues', all mounted upright along the wall. What are they I asked. 'narwal horns' they told me, a kind of turning ivory design. They were from 6 foot long to about 8 or 9 foot. I could not believe it, never knew they existed. i read recently each horn is now worth thousands of whatever, euros or dollars.

Now think about these little unicorns running about with these sought after decorations. how easily it would be to eliminate them by man. If a fossil exists it must be a skull with the one long horn coming from its forhead to be certain. A single horn could come from another animal.
I once recall reading a creationist book that told the story of a monkey-man's skull-cap on show in a museum as a typical evolving human. An expert came into the place and when he saw the skull-cap started to laugh. 'What are you laughing at' said his friend. he pointed to the skull and said, 'that is an elephant's knee-cap, not a skull.'
Nuff said.

TKGS · « **Reply #10 on:** May 07, 2014, 06:59:06 AM »

Quote from: Luker

Quote from: Stubborn
He said there was a reason God did not want them on the ark, but I cannot remember exactly what he said the reason was.

Safety hazard? After all in the tight confines of the ark, a unicorn waving around that pointy horn on their nose isn't going to inspire a lot of confidence in the other animals.

And one thing Noe would not have wanted would be for OSHA* to come down on him for violating federal safety regulations!!

*Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

MyrnaM · « **Reply #11 on:** May 07, 2014, 09:09:46 AM »

Quote from: Neil Obstat

On Holy Thursday last, in Psalm 21, I read:

The Psalms of David were written some thousand years after the Great Flood. There was no Book of Genesis on the Ark. So if there were not any unicorns to be found after the Flood, then Psalm 21 would have been speaking from the memory of an animal that no longer existed. Maybe it was a prayer to God to save me from things of which I am afraid, or, save me from my fears, even if they're regarding irrational things -- save me from the unknown dangers in my future? The word "affliction" leans strongly in that direction. One may certainly be afflicted by certain thoughts of the unknown or even of the imagination.

And beyond that, how many people show that it's a human tendency to block out thoughts of that kind? How many people on the Titanic did not want to believe that the ship could ever founder? How many people in Honolulu in 1941 did not want to believe that Pearl Harbor could be attacked? Go back to September 10th, 2001 and try to find anyone willing to admit that it would be possible for the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center to come crashing down -- or even today, 13 years later, that if it did, it could have possibly been caused by planned demolition using explosive thermite that melted three-inch-thick steel columns. I find it's quite common for people to not want to listen to warnings, because they go to work to pay the bills and keep a roof over their head, and they don't want to think about God's chastisement of our land, even if it IS a matter of infallible divine prophesy.

How many people today think that we can have all 4 sins crying to God for vengeance perpetrated by public policy and unjust "law" without any FEAR of the wrath of God? Or, at least, without any abiding concern that we're fools to shun this fear as if it were that the fear is somehow the evil thing, instead of the four sins that cry to heaven for vengeance?

For it is unquestionably a popular trend today to ignore thinking about this objectively reasonable fear. Even here on CI, the posts dry up when you touch on it. It's human nature.

Does Psalm 21 mean a little bit more in that context???

How many Sainted Theologians ever considered that someday the Church would be so infiltrated with Modernist that even the Chair of Peter would be occupied by a Modernist bent on destroying God's Church from within and actually become instead the Chair of Peter, the seat of Anti-Christ.

Neil Obstat · « **Reply #12 on:** May 07, 2014, 06:31:13 PM »

Quote from: TKGS

Quote from: Luker
Quote from: Stubborn
He said there was a reason God did not want them on the ark, but I cannot remember exactly what he said the reason was.

Safety hazard? After all in the tight confines of the ark, a unicorn waving around that pointy horn on their nose isn't going to inspire a lot of confidence in the other animals.

And one thing Noe would not have wanted would be for OSHA to come down on him for violating federal safety regulations!!

It should be obvious why there won't be any more great flood and there won't be another Ark today -- Noah would never have made it through the red tape. There would be a parade of inspectors slowing the progress of building the thing. Some liberal would be whining about every detail, like SPCA and PITA. It would run over budget, the wood would be an endangered species, the unions would protest and the taxes would be unaffordable.

.

procopius · « **Reply #13 on:** May 07, 2014, 06:36:24 PM »

Unicorns were real and still exist today, here's a picture of a biblical unicorn...

procopius · « **Reply #14 on:** May 07, 2014, 06:43:16 PM »

Here's a creationist site about the subject.

http://www.creationtoday.org/why-does-the-bible-mention-unicorns/