Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
Ver. 9. Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee?] The rhinoceros, saith the Vulgate: but that is another kind of beast, so called from the growing of his horn from his nose (Naricornis). This is the monoceros or unicorn, which cannot be taken alive (interimi potest, capi non potest), as the rhinoceros may. A very fierce and strong creature it is; and today very rare, but anciently more common. He hath one horn only (and not many, as R. Levi by a mistake would infer from Deu 33:17), that greweth in the middle of his forehead; and that he lifted up on high; whence also be hath his name in the Hebrew. He is described in Scripture, 1. By this high lifting up of his horn, Psalms 92:10 Psalms 92:2. By his strength, Numbers 23:22 Numbers 23:3. From his untameable fierceness here. Pliny calleth him a Licorn. Vertomannus saith he saw two of them. Scaliger saith he had seen the horn of a unicorn, a special antidote against poison. But some deny that there is any such creature; because if he had a horn so placed, and of such a length as is affirmed, he could not graze; and besides, it appeareth not certainly that ever any man saw such a creature. Aelian saith that there are a sort of wild asses in India of the size of a horse, that have one horn in the midst of their foreheads in length a cubit and a half; and so sharp, that therewith he pierceth through the hardest things. Some conceive that by the beast here mentioned is meant the wild bull, here opposed to the tame ox, and elsewhere joined to oxen, Deu 33:17 Isaiah 34:6. Whatever it is, it will not be brought to do man service, though fitted by stature and strength to do much; but lives at liberty, and is provided for by God.
Or abide by the crib?] Heb. lie all night there, as oxen do, ready for service next morning? I think not.