Wednesday, December 09, 2020

Unicorns in the Bible?



 
I am faithful viewer of the game show Jeopardy but I've been tuning in even more attentively in recent weeks. Long-time host Alex Trebek died of the dreaded pancreatic cancer a month ago but he lives on, so to speak, in pretaped shows and will do until the end of the year. Who wants to miss these final episodes?  

Two evenings ago the Final Jeopardy question was bible-based, but it stumped me:  

Huh? While the correct "question" was "what is a unicorn", this was factually incorrect. Yes, the King James Version of the bible translated the Hebrew word re'em into English as unicorn, but the king's scholars were wrong. In Robert Alter's excellent translation of the Hebrew scriptures and the New Revised Version of the bible we find "wild ox', which is less exciting but accurate. As I puzzled away I thought "auroch" which was a sort of proto-cow or ox, but they aren't in the bible either. I will say, though, that auroch is a lot closer than unicorn. 

I've never understood why Jeopardy persists in using the KJV as though it is authoritative.  Yes, the KJV is often more poetic, and it was a marvelous accomplishment for its time. But there are many errors because of the limitations of scholarship in the 17th century. 

I know you'll sleep better tonight with this information. No thanks necessary. Of course, My Little Pony is mentioned a number of times in scripture...


                                              Auroch



at

2 comments:

  1. Judy9:16 AM

    Thanks for a good laugh this morning, David ! There really were unicorns, you know - but they got the time of departure wrong for the Ark....

    ReplyDelete
  2. roger1:04 PM

    I thought of you when that question came up. I wondered if you would get the answer. I didn't get the answer....but my wife did. And it is a little eerie seeing Alex in his final days. He looks so good, it's hard to believe he's gone.

    ReplyDelete