Deut. 33:17 - re'em == unicorn - David Kimchi

Steven Avery

Administrator
Hi Folks,

Deut. 33:17--Did one reem have a horn or horns?
http://www.fundamentalforums.com/bi...-33-17-did-one-reem-have-a-horn-or-horns.html


Deuteronomy 33:16-17
And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof,
and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush:
let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph,
and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
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.


Some interesting aspects to the thread.

Shalom,
Steven Avery
 

Steven Avery

Administrator
Rabbi David Kimchi's Commentary Upon the Prophecies of Zechariah (1837)
Alexander McCaul
https://archive.org/details/rabbidavidkimch00mccagoog/page/n45/mode/2up
1661286886463.png
 

Steven Avery

Administrator
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2006-July/029002.html
Hi folks,

Greetings .. I would like to revisit a question about Deuteronomy 33:17.

Deuteronomy 33:17 (KJB)
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.

Similar issues last discussed a while back.
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2002-June/013294.html
With two good responses from Ben Crick who in the following verse mentioned that ..

"The horns of a unicorn"
QaR:NeY Re:'eM (horns plural; unicorn singular)
could mean that Aurochs is intended in Deuteronomy 33:17.

Rhinoceros is my candidate for Re'em ... One notable horn; and one insignificant horn behind it

And there is also a rich history of reports of apparently extinct one-horned candidates for re'em.

For those interested, the following books gives a lot of the history of the reports worldwide of such animals. (likely extinct, if the reports were true). There are a few other similar books.

www.herper.com/ebooks/library/biofort/AncientMyths.html
Un-Natural History, or Myths of Ancient Science - Edmund Goldsmid's (1886)

Now, I would like to see if this grammar can be examined a bit closer.

Deuteronomy 33:17
His glory is like the firstling of his bullock,
and his horns are like the horns of unicorns (re'em)

For the purpose of this discussion, the identity of re'em is not the primary issue,
we can discuss the grammar whether it is a unicorn, rhinoceros, wild ox, or
something else.

As indicated above, in the Hebrew horns is plural form with definite article,
unicorns is singular form, no article.

Historical hebraic understanding on this is mixed,
David Kimchi (Radaq) is the one very important one, which likely was
a factor in the historic Christian Bibles as well (Geneva, King James Bible, etc)

http://britam.org/proof3.html
Rabbi David Kimchi (Safer HaShorashim, RAEM):
<<his horns are like the horns of unicorns (Deuteronomy 33:17).
It is intended to mean that his horns are like the horns of
(several) unicorns for the Raem has only one horn. >>

The main issue is the situation with the grammatical form being singular,
viewing it in the translation as a generic, or collective, potentially plural usage.

We can do similar in English (although it would be smoother with the definite article) ....

the colorful tails of (the) peacock inspire the art of the ages (including TV-CBS)
the flowing manes of (the) arabian horse are a joy to behold in the highlands and at the shows
the sharp noses of (the) bedington dog can save miners in
emergencies and roots out drug smuggler and foxes

Notice that in English the choice of form is interpretative, style, nuance,
allowing for various possibilities of singular and plural forms to show the
majesty of the anatomy and the collective nature of the animal group
(peacock, horse, dog), which can be written in plural or singular.

These are unusual constructions, where the anatomy subject is the focus,
not the actual animal.

Do we have other examples in Biblical Hebrew of such an interesting combination
of singular and plural as in Deut 33:17?

And do you view the Kimchi understanding as comparable in strength and
reasonableness (of course, many factors are involved in his viewpoint, which
rests on his understanding of the meaning of the word re'em) as the grammatically
simpler idea of multiple horns on one re'em.

Thanks for your assistance.

Shalom,
Steven Avery


http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2006-July/029003.html
The word qarney is not in the plural but in the dual. The plural of qeren is
qarnot. Compare also yad, yadayim, yadot. The word re'em is probably
"wild ox" and a singular "wild ox" fits perfectly as a parallel to "bullock."

Yitzhak Sapir

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2006-July/029014.html
On 7/9/06, Shoshanna Walker wrote:
> The Stone edition English translation, doesn't translate the word, it
> just says Re'em in English. It is an animal - Rashi says it's an
> animal that is noted for the beauty of its horns. I don't know how
> anyone decided it's a unicorn.

Well, the Radak was quoted here earlier through some oddball
website (that uses this and other claims to show that unicorns existed).
owever, the quote itself is accurate. My copy of the Book of Roots of
Radak says exactly so. Also, the website mentions the
Septuagint on Num 23:22, and you can see from the following:
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/gopher/text/religion/biblical/parallel/04.Num.par
That the Septuagint does seem to translate R)em as "unicorn" (under 23:22):
R)M MONOKE/RWTOS
So apparently late Second Temple period Jews already thought that the Re)em
was a unicorn. There are only a handful of references to a R)em in the Bible.
Perhaps the significant one, on which the Re)em = unicorn interpretation is
based is Ps 92:11, "wattarem kir)em qarni". Interestingly, the spelling of R)M
in this verse ("R)YM") seems to indicate post-exilic spelling as well, using the
Y as a vowel letter for a tsere whereas a defective spelling is used in other
places (Numbers, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and even another reference in
Psalms). This appears to me to be again indirect evidence that R)M was
thought to be a unicorn in post-exilic times. Joshua Fox provides
various cognates from Akkadian, Arabic (where it means "gazelle"), Syriac,
and Ugaritic, reconstructing *ri)m in Semitic as the word for "wild-ox".

While the use of the dual may not have been exact in Biblical times, to the
point that it is not possible to ascertain whether "qarney re)em" means "two
horns of a re)em" or "pairs of horns of several re)emim" (using re)em as a
collective), it is clear from the use of the dual "qarney" that a two-horned
beast is intended. After all, it could have read "qeren re)em" or "qarnot
re)em" (compare with "qarnot hamizzbeax", "horns of the altar"). Just like
Jer 38:4 uses "ydey )n$ey hammilxamah" in the sense that each person
has two hands. The construct "ydey" appears from a quick review of the
concordance to be used only where a human (with two hands) is intended.
For example, in the case of 1 Kings 7:32, it says "wydot ha)opannim
bammkonah".

This little nuance of language -- qarney = dual, qarnot = plural -- coupled with
the apparent conclusion that at least during Greek times, r)em was
believed to be a unicorn, using the Septuagint evidence and the indirect
evidence from Psalms, seems to suggest that those verses which use
a phrase such as "qarney r)em" (Deut 33:17 and Ps 22:22) predate the
Greek period. In the case of Deuterononmy, this is a significant conclusion
although still a weak one.

Incidentally, linguists consider it possible that the word "qeren" and
the "corn"
in unicorn are linguistically related.

Yitzhak Sapir

http://toldot.blogspot.com


http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2006-July/029015.html
 
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Steven Avery

Administrator
The Oryx and the Unicorn
https://web.archive.org/web/20071106235938/http://www.zootorah.com/VirtualTour/oryx.html

Radak in Sefer haShorashim maintains that the re'em possesses only one horn, and asserts that this verse is to be read loosely, as though it states re'emim in the plural. This is not a straightforward explanation, and R' Eliyahu Ashkenazi, in his Nimukim response to Sefer HaShorashim, concludes from this verse that the re'em does indeed possess more than one horn.
 

Steven Avery

Administrator

Steven Avery

Administrator
Biblical Proof
Yair Davidy
https://britam.org/proof3.html

The Classical Opinion
Rabbi David Kimchi (Safer HaShorashim, RAEM): <<HIS HORNS ARE LIKE THE HORNS OF UNICORNS (Deuteronomy 33:17). It is intended to mean that his horns are like the horns of (several) unicorns for the Raem has only one horn. [Psalms 29:6] HE MAKETH THEM ALSO TO SKIP LIKE A CALF; LEBANON AND SIRION LIKE A YOUNG UNICORN. [Psalms 22:21] SAVE ME FROM THE LION'S MOUTH: FOR THOU HAST HEARD ME FROM THE HORNS OF THE UNICORNS & A wild beast of the wilderness, extremely strong.>>

The Classical Opinion
https://bookofmormonevidence.org/why-unicorns-are-in-the-bible/
Rabbi David Kimchi (Safer HaShorashim, RAEM): “His horns are like the horns of unicorns.”(Deuteronomy 33:17). It is intended to mean that his horns are like the horns of (several) unicorns for the Raem has only one horn. [Psalms 29:6] “He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.” [Psalms 22:21] Save me from the Lion’s mouth’ for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.” i.e. A wild beast of the wilderness, extremely strong.
 
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Steven Avery

Administrator

Another reference to this verse is also found in David Kimchi’s Commentary upon the Prophecies of Zechariah as translated into English by Alexander M’Caul in 1837, and it also indicates that the Hebrew word is singular in number (p. 28).

Deuteronomy 33:17 (AV)
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.
David Kimchi
(Safer HaShorashim, RAEM): “His horns are like the horns of unicorns.”(Deuteronomy 33:17). It is intended to mean that his horns are like the horns of (several) unicorns for the Raem has only one horn. [Psalms 29:6] “He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.” [Psalms 22:21] Save me from the Lion’s mouth’ for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.” i.e. A wild beast of the wilderness, extremely strong.
Kimchi saw fluidity in the Hebrew construction.
As one of the world's best Hebrew grammarians and linguists, he speaks with solid authority.
We can often use a singular with a plural feature.
We do similar in English, in this type of construction:
the flowing manes of the Arabian horse (or Arabian horses) are a joy to behold in the highlands
the sharp noses of (the) bedington dog (or bedington dogs) can save miners in emergencies and roots out drug smuggler and foxes
Notice that in English the choice of form is interpretative, style, nuance, allowing for various possibilities of singular and plural forms to show the
majesty of the anatomy feature and the collective nature of the animal group (horse, dog), which can be written in plural or singular.
These are unusual constructions, where the anatomy (e.g. horns) subject is the focus, not the actual animal.
My conjecture is that the learned men of the AV fully understood Kimchi and followed his lead, making unicorns plural for English clarity.
 

Steven Avery

Administrator
Is “horns of unicorns” an error in Deuteronomy 33:17 in the KJV
https://theearnestcontender.wordpre...orns-an-error-in-deuteronomy-3317-in-the-kjv/

There are those who though they defend the use of the word “unicorn” in the King James Bible and rightfully attribute it to a one horned animal, such as the one horned rhinoceros, as opposed to the mythical version of unicorn that people today are more familiar with, on the basis of a comparison of the definitions of unicorn and rhinoceros in Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary (Compare for yourself here: http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/Rhinoceros and here: http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/unicorn) they still argue that there is a mistake in the King James Bible in Deuteronomy 33:17 because it says “horns of unicorns”:

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.

whereas they argue that the Hebrew word ראם “reem” from which the word “unicorn” is translated is singular and that the passage is therefore referring to a single animal with multiple horns. It is true that the Hebrew word itself is singular but the underlying Hebrew text of the Bible often uses singular nouns for plural words, For example in Deuteronomy 8:15 it says:

Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents [Hebrew נחש -singular] , and scorpions [Hebrew ועקרב -singular], and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

המוליכך במדבר הגדל והנורא נחשׁ שׂרף ועקרב וצמאון אשׁר אין־מים המוציא לך מים מצור

The words “נחש” “serpents” and “ועקרב“ “scorpians” are singular in the Hebrew and you can copy and paste the two Hebrew words into google translate https://translate.google.com/ to see for yourself that they indeed translate as singular, (the plural of these words look like this in the Biblical hebrew text: הנחשׁים -serpents, בעקרבים׃ -scorpians) yet the context clearly implies a plurality of serpents and scorpians. So you cannot assert that the Hebrew word ראם “reem” must be translated into English as singular in Deuteronomy 33:17 on the basis that it is singular in the Hebrew.

It is then assumed that the context of the passage represents a single two horned animal on the basis that Ephraim was prophesied to be greater than Manasseh in Genesis 48:19 and the two horned rhinoceros has one horn larger than the other so that the smaller horn represents Manasseh and the larger horn represents Ephraim. Although this interpretation of the horns sounds interesting it is mere speculation and it is entirely unprovable that that is the intended meaning of the horns. It is just as well to interpret the horns as belonging to multiple creatures with one horn with which the two tribes of Joseph pushes the people to the ends of the earth without inserting the greater and lesser horn interpretation, as such it cannot be asserted as fact that the King James Bible has an error in Deuteronomy 33:17.
 
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