BULL. Bullock. This animal was reputed by the Hebrews to be clean, and was generally made use of by them for Sacrifices. The Septuagint and Vulgate have often rendred that Ox which signifies a Bull,1 under the word Ox comprehending rather the Species than the Sex or Quality of the Animal. The antient Hebrews in general never cut any Creature, and where in the Text we read Ox, we are to understand a Bull by it.
The beauty of Joseph is compared to that of a Bullock. The Egyptians had a particular veneration for this Animal, they paid divine honours to it; and the Jews imitated them in their worship of the golden Calves, that is to say, golden Bulls in the Wilderness, and in the Kingdom of Israel. Jacob reproaches his Sons Simeon and Levi for having dug down the Wall of the Sichemites2; or, according to another Translation of the Hebrew, for hamstringing a Bull. Thus the Septuagint have translated it, and many of the antient Fathers3 have followed their Ver sion, and explained this passage of Jesus Christ, and his being put to death by the Jews. The Hebrew, Shor, signifies a Wall, and a Bull.
This last word, in a figurative and allegorical sense, is taken likewise for powerful, fierce, insolent Enemies. Fat bulls (in the Hebrew, Bulls of Bashan) kept me in on Pf. xxii. 13. Pf. lxviii. 31.every side, says the Psalmist. And in another place, Rebuke the beast of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls: Lord smite in thy wrath these Animals which feed in large Pastures, these herds of Bulls. And Isaiah, The Lord If. xxxiv. 7.shall cause his Victims to be slain in the land of Edom, a terrible slaughter will he make, he will kill the Unicorns and the Bulls, that is to say, those proud and cruel Princes who oppressed the weak.
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