Unicorn
In Psalms 92, the writer compares his “horn” (or strength) with the horn of a unicorn. “But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” (Psalms 92:10-12, KJV) I’ve never seen a unicorn, but I believe they existed at one point. They certainly figure prominently in legends. If a horse paws fiercely and rejoices in its strength (Job 39), then just imagine the strength that a unicorn would have wielded with its horse-like power and its big horn! The Hebrew word for “horn” is qeren, a word that can also connote power, a mountain peak, a ray of light, and the corner of an altar (The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996, Hebrew and Aramaic appendix p. 128). Given that God made His creation as a witness to His eternal power and divine nature (Romans 1:20), therefore it would seem logical to assume that the unicorn was more than a horse with a pretty face, that its horn was suggestive of power in general, congruent with a ray of light, or a mountain peak, or the corner of an altar. The unicorn must have been an amazing animal to behold—it would have been like a jousting horse with a built-in lance, like a veritable ray of light and power on the landscape that could cause men to wonder and reflect on the source of all power, the LORD God of Israel. Great deference is given to the strength of the unicorn in Job 39:9-12: “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valley after thee? wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?” (KJV)
In Numbers also, we see that the unicorn is as a symbol for the power of God Himself: “God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. . . . How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.” (Numbers 23:22, 24:5-9, KJV) This is a reiteration, of course, of the Abrahamic covenant in the book of Genesis: “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3, KJV) In the Numbers passages above, the LORD God of Israel is pictured as the rescuer of Moses and the Israelites who had been languishing in captivity in Egypt, and the LORD’s saving power in this context is likened, as it were, to the strength of a unicorn! With strength likened to that of a unicorn or a great lion, as it were, the LORD God of Israel shall eat up the nations that are arrayed against Israel, breaking their bones and piercing them through! In a passage of divine judgment against all nations that come against Jerusalem and Zion (Isaiah 34, KJV), it is said that the judgment would include the slaughter of lambs, goats, rams, bulls, and unicorns! Why would the unicorns have been mentioned here? Perhaps the idea is that even a wonderful creature such as the unicorn would have to be subject to the judgment of God, such was the need for cleansing regarding the Zion controversy (Isaiah 34:7-8, KJV).