WILD OX (רְאֵם, H8028, unicorn KJV, wild ox ASV, RSV. The wild ox of KJV is discussed under Oryx). There is general agreement that the true wild ox, properly known as Aurochs (Bos primigenius) is the רְאֵם, H8028, of Scripture and it is unfortunate that earlier Eng. VSS give it the mythical name “unicorn.” This splendid animal, now extinct, was the wild species from which domesticated cattle have been derived. It was larger than most modern breeds, and the bull was blackish-brown, with long horns pointing forward and upward. In prehistoric times the aurochs ranged over much of Europe, W and Central Asia, and parts of N Africa, including Egypt, where it was already becoming rare in the reign of Thotmosis III (c. 1500 b.c.), who would travel far to hunt one. The last Egyp. documentary evidence for it is dated around 1190 b.c. (Rameses III), but it is still common in the Gezirah zirah. Assyrian kings also hunted it heavily, but it survived in the less inhabited parts of Mesopotamia until a few centuries ago, possibly after the last recorded European specimen died in a.d. 1627. It disappeared from Pal. long before the Christian era, and there is no real proof of its existence there in the Biblical era. The contexts of the nine occurrences provide some useful information:—Numbers 23:2, “...the strength of a wild ox” (ASV). The auroch was the largest and most powerful wild ungulate then known. Deuteronomy 33:17 speaks of the horns and associates them with a domestic bull. Isaiah 34:6, 7 again groups it with bulls and other clean animals. Job 39:9, 10 clearly contrasts the wild ox with domestic cattle used for pulling the plow. These are all fig. passages, but they imply a close acquaintance with the subject and leave little doubt that the wild ox is being described; also that it was then a familiar member of the fauna of nearby lands, if not of Pal. itself.

Bibliography F. S. Bodenheimer, Animal and Man in Bible Lands (1960); F. E. Zeuner, A History of Domesticated Animals (1963), ch. 8.