Bible animals : $b being a description of every living creature mentioned in the Scripture, from the ape to the coral.Wood, J. G. (John George)
Religion
Bible animals : $b being a description of every living creature mentioned in the Scripture, from the ape to the coral.
Wood, J. G. (John George)
Animals in the Bible; Nature in the Bible
"The sword of the Lord is filled with blood; it is made fat with
fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the
kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great
slaughter in the land of Idumea. And Reêm 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."
The last passage in which reference is made to this animal is in Ps.
xxix. 5, 6.
"The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the
cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon
and Sirion like a young Reêm."
On turning to the Jewish Bible we find that the word Reêm is
translated as buffalo, and there is no doubt that this rendering is
nearly the correct one, and at the present day naturalists are nearly
all agreed that the Reêm of the Old Testament must have been the now
extinct Urus. A smaller animal, the Bonassus or Bison, also existed
in Palestine, and even to the present day continues to maintain itself
in one or two spots, though it will probably be as soon completely
erased from the surface of the earth as its gigantic congener.
That the Reêm was one of the two animals is certain, and that it was
the larger is nearly as certain. The reason for deciding upon the Urus
is, that its horns were of great size and strength, and therefore
agree with the description of the Reêm; whereas those of the Bonassus,
although powerful, are short, and not conspicuous enough to deserve
the notice which is taken of them by the sacred writers.
Of the extinct variety we know but little. We do know, however, that
it was a huge and most formidable animal, as is evident from the
skulls and other bones which have been discovered.
Hitherto there has been considerable difficulty in treating of the
ancient Urus, on account of the great confusion which existed in the
various synonyms that were given to the animal. The tangled skein has,
however, been carefully unravelled by Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A.,
F.R.S., who has published an exceedingly valuable paper on the subject
in the _Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society_, March 21, 1866.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account