It deserves also to be particularly remarked, that the reem is a fierce and dangerous animal; while it is universally acknowledged that the goat is a timid and harmless creature. From this comparison it has been inferred, that the reem, and the wild goat of the desert, must be two different animals. But if these plausible objections are carefully examined, they will be found insufficient to support the conclusion, for the sake of which they are brought for. ward. If the reem is a kindred animal to bullocks and bulls, because it is mentioned in the same verse, then goats and rams must be animals of the same species, for they are as nearly connected in the preceding verse; and for the same reason, rams, and goats, and bullocks," all of them fatlings of Bashan," must be numbered among the beeves, for the prophet mentions them in the same passage. When the sacred writer speaks of the height and superior strength of that particular species of goat, he does not mean to compare him with the elephant or the bull, but only with those of his own species; he intends merely to assert that the reem, or white goat of the desert, is a much higher and stronger animal than any other of the same species. To this may be referred the words of Balaam concerning Israel: "He hath as it were, the heights of an unicorn;" that is, his stature resembles that of a reem. The meaning of the prediction seems to be, that Israel should be as eminent among the nations, as the reem among the goats; or the prophet refers, perhaps, to the erect attitude for which the white goat of the desert is so remarkable, in order to illustrate the rising spirit and improving condition of Israel, since their emancipation from Egyptian bondage; 9 Ezek. xxxix, 18. p Isa. xxxiv, 6, 7. and the high degree of prosperity and glory which they were destined to attain. The strength and vigour of the white goat, although not to be compared with the prodigious power of some animals, is by no means inconsiderable; and nothing prevents him, and others of the same species, from being yoked in the plough, which in those countries is so light that a man may easily carry it in his hand, and performing his part in the labours of the field, but his intractable temper. The Arabian historians represent his horns as very formidable weapons. The doe, says Gesner, resembles the goat in size, figure, and hair : he has horns like a stag, but smooth, long and sharp: he is, however, swift of foot, jealous of his safety, and given to push with his horns. Now if the doe, of which the white goat is a variety, has long sharp horns, with which he is apt to strike his adversaries, the objection relating to the horns of the reem, will be easily removed: if they are long, David might justly say in prayer, "Thou shalt exalt my horn like the horn of the reem;" if they are sharp and ready to be employed against an opponent, Moses might justly say in relation to Joseph, "His horns are the horns of the reem; with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth." The goat is, in general, a timid and harmless animal: but this is not the case in every instance, for in some places he displays great energy and resolution, and if Oppian may be credited, often attacks the wild boar, and obtains the victory. The doe has been known to engage in desperate combat, and to yield the victory only with his life. But the reem, or white goat, is a much fiercer animal, which, in the amphitheatre at Rome, where he was often exhibited for the amusement of the people, spread destruction among the dogs by which he was opMartialis Epigram, lib. v. posed. There is, says Oppian, a certain tenant of the forest, a beast with a sharp horn, the savage oryx, extremely formidable to the wild beasts. In another passage, he describes him as naturally an intrepid and warlike animal, that neither fears the fury of a dog, nor the rage of a wild boar; that shrinks not from the threatening voice of a bull, from the terrific yell of a leopard, nor the inflamed wrath of a lion. So great is his boldness, that he regards not the attack of man: often, too, the robust hunter, who ventures to encounter him, pushed from the rock by the fury of his onset, pays the forfeit of his rashness with his life. When he sees a wild boar, or a lion, preparing to attack him, he immediately lowers his head, inclining it a little to one side, and watching his opportunity, rushes upon his adversary, and with the points of his long sharp horns, pierces his breast. Whether the oryx be precisely the same animal as the white goat of the desert, may be doubted; but it is clearly admitted by Pliny, and other early writers, that the oryx is a species of goat, of a pure white colour, his double spine loaded with fat, with long sharp horns rising from his forehead, black and hard as flint or iron. He, therefore, bears a striking resemblance to the white goat of the desert, if he is not the very same creature; and by consequence might belong to that class of animals which the Hebrews distinguished by the name reem, and the Chaldee paraphrasts by rima and remanin. The size of the oryx also seems to correspond with the brief notices which the inspired writers have given us of the reem. He stands for the most part higher on his limbs than the ox," and is not much inferior in size to the rhi Lib. xiii, Epigram. 95. t Quoted by Bochart, lib. iii, cap. 27, p. 968. " Herodot. lib. iv, cap. 192. noceros." Thus his character agrees in every particular with the description of the reem in the holy Scriptures. The oryx inhabits the solitudes of Africa, on the confines of Egypt; from whence he might easily make excur. sions into the deserts which border on the land of Canaan. He seems indeed to have been properly an Egyptian animal, and familiarly known to the inhabitants of that coun try. His character and habits must have been well known to the people of Israel, that sojourned for several centuries in Egypt, and spent their time chiefly in tending their flocks and herds in the pastures of Goshen, where they probably had many opportunities of meeting him, and many reasons, perhaps, to remember his strength and intrepidity. After their deliverance from the Egyptian yoke, they settled in a neighbouring country, and had occasional intercourse with Egypt. These facts account for the frequent mention of the oryx under the name of the reem, in the sacred volume; and the interesting allusions to its dispositions and manners. In the opinion of ancient writers, the oryx is distinguished by another name in the sacred volume. The Hebrew term (18) theo, in Deuteronomy," which our translators render wild ox, Jerome translates oryx; and Aquila uses the same term in translating a passage in Isaiah, as an equivalent for (n) tho, in our version a wild bull.* Many interpreters, beside the English translators, are disposed to consider these Hebrew terms as the proper name of the buffalo, or some species of wild ox. But it has been already shewn, that Judea and the surrounding countries possessed no wild oxen of any kind; and that three varieties of that animal are the natives of a cold climate. u Oppian. lib. ii, 1. 445, &c. ▾ Bochart. Hieroz. lib. iii, cap. 27, p. 971. w Deut. xiv, 5. * Isa. li, 20. The buffalo, it is admitted, is bred in southern latitudes; but in ancient times, he seems to have been confined to the remotest parts of the east. No mention is made of him, at least, by any writer before the Christian era; for the Brbados or Brbads of the ancient Greeks, was the name of a wild goat. Besides, the wild bull was not taken in a net; but, according to the ancients, in a deep pit, for he is too powerful and furious an animal to be detained by a snare of that kind; but every variety of the deer, and consequently the oryx, it was the custom to hunt with nets and dogs. This statement renders it extremely probable that the Hebrew word tho or theo, was a name given to the oryx, the white goat of the desert. The Coney. The Hebrew name of this animal, is derived from a verb which signifies to hide, and seems to indicate a creature of a timid and harmless disposition. Unable to avoid or encounter the various dangers to which it would be exposed in the plain, it seeks a shelter among the rocks, in the fissures of which it hides itself from the pursuit of its enemies. This circumstance is attested by the sacred writer in one of the songs of Zion: "The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the (bw) shaphans." The choice which the shaphan makes of the rock for the place of its abode, is mentioned by Solomon as a proof of sagacity: "The shaphans are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks." It is evident from these words also, that the shaphan is a gregarious animal, although they afford us no hint from which the numbers which constitute their little communities may be inferred. Bochart. Hieroz. lib. iii, cap. 28, p. 973, 974. z Psa. civ, 18. |