An aurochs was a large wild ox that was widespread across Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. Similar in concept to the American buffalo, the aurochs were large, non-domesticated cattle. The last record of the aurochs was in Poland in AD 1627. The King James Version of the Bible uses the word “unicorn”, which is based on textual tradition and etymological transmission, rather than on lexical accuracy. This tradition is rooted in the Latin Vulgate, not the original Hebrew. The KJV translation is based upon a mythical one-horned creature, likely due to the influence of Hellenistic lore. The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) uses a word that indicates a one-horned animal. Aurochs are mentioned in nine verses of the Hebrew Scriptures. They are renowned for their strength with majestic horns and for their ability to break ropes, making it very difficult to bind them.
In Numbers 23:22, the aurochs are used in comparison to the strength with which God brought Israel out of Egypt. This statement was made by Balaam to Balak. Balak desired for Balaam to curse the children of Israel, but Balaam, a prophet of God, knew he could not. Although Balak called Balaam to curse Israel, he could only bless the nation. In his blessing, again, he speaks of the strength of the aurochs concerning how the LORD brought Israel out of the land of Egypt (Numbers 24:8).
When Moses blessed the children of Israel before his death, he used the majesty of the horns of the aurochs to describe the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin’s glory is like the firstborn bull, and his appearance is like the horns of the aurochs—majestic in appearance (Deuteronomy 33:16).
In Isaiah 34:6, the aurochs are used to describe the men of war that come against the LORD when He returns to claim His inheritance. The LORD has given all the armies of the nations over to slaughter because the day of His wrath has come. In Psalm 22:21, the aurochs are used to describe the men who surround the Messiah, seeking to crucify Him.
In praise to God, David writes in Psalm 29 that the voice of the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon, making the people skip like a calf and the young aurochs (Psalm 29:6). In Psalm 92:10, the horns of the aurochs are employed to describe how the LORD exalts His people.
When God responds to Job, He asks whether the aurochs will serve him or whether he will be able to bind the aurochs with furrows and ropes to plow his valleys (Job 39:9–10).
The aurochs are not mystical creatures of lore. Although the King James Version uses “unicorn” to translate the Hebrew word רְאֵם, it is not intended to imply the factious creature we have come to know as the unicorn. The term “unicorn” refers to a one-horned beast. However, the aurochs are described as having majestic two-horned heads. Thus, the unicorn in the King James Version is based on textual tradition rather than lexical accuracy and should be taken as such. It describes a wild ox, a large animal, whose strength is renowned because it cannot be bound with ropes nor subdued to plow.
In Psalm 22:21, when the men who are surrounding the Messiah are described like the aurochs, they are mighty men, strong as an ox. These are the type of men they used against Jesus, a man who had done no wrong, nor caused any revolt. He only spoke the truth. In His distress, the Messiah’s cry to the LORD to save Him did not go unanswered; He loosed Him from the pains of death, for it was not possible that death could hold Him (Acts 2:24).
