Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 22:21

Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

21. for thou hast heard me &c.] Render, yea from the horns of the wild oxen thou hast answered me. A singularly bold and forcible construction. We expect a second imperative, repeating the prayer for deliverance ( rescue thou me: cp. Jer. exaudi). But the conviction that his prayer is heard, nay, answered, flashes upon the Psalmist’s soul; prayer is changed into assurance, joyous confidence takes the place of petition. Less forcible is the explanation which assumes a pregnant rather than a broken construction: From the horns of the wild oxen thou hast answered and delivered me.

unicorns ] The rendering of LXX, Vulg., Jer. But the re’m was certainly a two-horned animal (Deu 33:17, R.V.). The Auerochs or wild ox (Bos primigenius), now everywhere extinct, is almost certainly the animal meant. Its strength and untamableness are described in Job 39:9 ff. See Tristram’s Nat. Hist. p. 146 ff.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Save me from the lions mouth – His enemies represented as fierce and ravening lions, compare Psa 22:13,

For thou hast heard me – The word heard in this place is equivalent to saved – or saved in answer to prayer. The fact of hearing the prayer, and answering it, is regarded as so identical, or the one as so certainly following from the other, that they may be spoken of as the same thing.

From the horns of the unicorns – The idea here is, that he cried to God when exposed to what is here called the horns of the unicorns. That is, when surrounded by enemies as fierce and violent as wild beasts – as if he were among unicorns seeking his life – he had called upon God, and God had heard him. This would refer to some former period of his life, when surrounded by dangers, or exposed to the attacks of wicked men, and when he had called upon God, and had been heard. There were not a few occasions alike in the life of David and in the life of the Saviour, to which this would be applicable. The fact that he had thus been delivered from danger, is now urged as an argument why God was to be regarded as able to deliver him again, and why the prayer might be offered that he would do it; compare Psa 22:9-11. To see the force of this it is not necessary to be able to determine with accuracy what is meant here by the word rendered unicorn, or whether the psalmist referred to the animal now denoted by that term. The existence of such an animal was long regarded as fabulous; but though it has been proved that there is such an animal, it is not necessary to suppose that the psalmist referred to it. Gesenius renders the word – r^e’em – buffalo (Lexicon) So also DeWette. See the notes at Job 39:9-10, where the meaning of the word is fully considered. The word occurs elsewhere only in Num 23:22; Num 24:8; Deu 33:17; Psa 29:6; Psa 92:10; Isa 34:7, in all which places it is rendered unicorn, or unicorns.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 21. Save me from the lion’s mouth] Probably our Lord here includes his Church with himself. The lion may then mean the Jews; the unicorns, remin (probably the rhinoceros,) the Gentiles. For the unicorn, See Clarke on Nu 23:22. There is no quadruped or land animal with one horn only, except the rhinoceros; but there is a marine animal, the narwhal or monodon, a species of whale, that has a very fine curled ivory horn, which projects from its snout. One in my own museum measures seven feet four inches, and is very beautiful. Some of these animals have struck their horn through the side of a ship; and with it they easily transfix the whale, or any such animal. The old Psalter says, “The unicorn es ane of the prudest best that es, so that he wil dye for dedeyn if he be haldyn ogayn his wil.”

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The lion; either the devil, that raging and roaring lion, who did many ways assault and annoy him; or his lionlike enemies.

Heard me, i.e. answered and delivered me.

Unicorn; a strong, and fierce, and untamable wild beast; though the learned are not agreed about the kind of it. See of it Deu 33:17; Job 39:9,10; Psa 92:10; Isa 34:7, and my Latin Synopsis on Num 23:22. For it is not worth while to trouble the unlearned reader with such disputes.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

21. Deliverance pleaded in viewof former help, when in the most imminent danger, from the mostpowerful enemy, represented by the unicorn or wild buffalo.

the lion’s mouth(ComparePs 22:13). The lion often usedas a figure representing violent enemies; the connecting of the mouthintimates their rapacity.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Save me from the lion’s mouth,…. Either the devil, who is as a roaring lion, whom Christ overcame both in the garden and on the cross, and destroyed him and his works; or all his wicked enemies, especially the most powerful of them, who were in greatest authority, as the chief priests and elders; so rulers and civil magistrates, who are cruel and unmerciful, are compared to lions, Pr 28:15;

for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns; some read this as a prayer like the former, “hear thou me” l, c. that is, deliver me but according to our version it expresses what God had done, that he had heard him and saved him; and is used as a reason or argument with him that he would regard also his other petitions: or it may have respect to what follows, that since God had heard him, and delivered him out of the hands of his most powerful enemies, therefore he would declare his name and praise him; for the unicorn being a very strong creature, and its strength lying much in its horn, with which it pushes and does mischief; see Nu 23:22. Christ’s strong and potent enemies are intended here; such as Satan and his principalities and powers, the sanhedrim of the Jews, Herod, Pontius Pilate, and others, from whose power he was freed when raised from the dead. According to Pliny m, the monoceros, or unicorn, is the fiercest of wild beasts; in its body like a horse, it has the head of an hart and feet of an elephant, the tail of a bear, makes a great bellowing; has one black horn rising up in the middle of the forehead, of two cubits long; it is denied that it was ever taken alive, which agrees with Job 39:9;

[See comments on Job 39:9] and

[See comments on Job 39:10].

l “exaudi me”, Muis, Gejerus, Michaelis. m Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 21.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(21) Unicorns.See Num. 23:22; either buffaloes or antelopes. There is some uncertainty about the translation of the second clause of this verse. It may be (1) And from the horns of buffaloes hear me, i.e., hear me calling for help from the horns, &c; or (2) Save me from the lions mouth, and from the horns of buffaloes Thou hast heard mea sudden transition from plaintive prayer to exultant faith; or (3), following the LXX. and Vulg., And from the horns of buffaloes save me, poor and humble as I am. The first is, on the whole, preferable, as preserving the parallelism better.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

21. Lion’s mouth horns of the unicorns Two descriptions of imminent death. The lion’s mouth is already open to devour its prey. The unicorn was either a fabulous animal, as is most probable, or belonged to some extinct species of the bovine genus. The word “unicorn” is not in

the Hebrew. The Vulgate, unicornium, is the representative of the Septuagint, , both signifying an animal with one horn. The Hebrew , ( reem) denotes no such animal. The word occurs nine times, and best suits the Asiatic buffalo. In Deu 33:17 two horns are given. In Psa 29:6, a “young unicorn” and a calf are synonymous. In Isa 34:7 unicorns are classed with “bullocks and bulls,” as animals to be offered in sacrifice. In Psa 92:10 “horn” is not in the Hebrew. A wild buffalo, refusing the yoke, (Job 39:9-12,) is undoubtedly intended. See note on Psa 22:12. If the extinct urus, or wild bull, is meant, it is yet to be verified by discovery. The wild buffalo sufficiently answers the description of the reem of the Scriptures. It must have been an animal with which the Hebrews were familiar. Livingstone says of the African buffalo:

“A herd of buffaloes kept a number of lions from their young by the males turning their heads to the enemy, the cows and their young being in the rear. One toss from a bull would kill the stoutest lion that ever breathed.” Van Lennep says of the Hindu buffalo, that it is “of such power and vigor as by his charge to prostrate a well-sized elephant.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psa 22:21 Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

Ver. 21. Save me from the lion’s mouth] 2Ti 4:17 . David was oft snatched out of death’s mouth, and so was Christ; for although he had his life taken away upon the cross, yet was it (as Calvin here well observeth) more miraculously and by greater power restored after death, than if he had been delivered from the cross; and it is a greater miracle to raise the dead than to heal the most dangerously sick, and to stay the life when it is departing.

For thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns ] See Heb 5:7 . It is ordinary with David to call his enemies by the names of the fiercest creatures. This here mentioned, whether the unicorn, or rhinoceros, or some other wild beast, see Job 39:9 , &c. Cornua habet fortiora aliorum cornibus, saith Aben Ezra; Et audivi quod deiecit seipsum ab alto monte super cornu eius, irrupto illo permanente. Asperrimam feram appellat Plinius.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)