Reference: Bull
Fausets
Used as synonymous with ox in the KJV. Baaqaar is the Hebrew for horned cattle fit for the plow. Tor is one head of horned cattle, akin to our steer. Egel, a calf, properly of the first year; specially one offered in sacrifice. Ho 14:2; "so shall we render the calves of our lips;" instead of sacrifices of calves, which we cannot offer to Thee in exile, we present the praises of our lips. The exile, by its enforced cessation of sacrifices during Israel's separation from the temple, the only lawful place of offering them, prepared the people for the superseding of all sacrifices by the one great antitypical sacrifice; henceforth "the sacrifice of praise continually, the fruit of our lips," is what God requires (Heb 13:15).
The abriym express "strong bulls" (Ps 22:12; 50:13; 68:30). Caesar describes wild bulls of the Hercynian forest, strong and swift, almost as large as elephants, and savage. The Assyrian remains depict similarly the wild urns. The ancient forest round London was infested with them. The wild bull (toh) in Isa 51:20, "thy sons lie at the head of all the streets as a wild bull in a net," seems to be of the antelope kind, Antilope bubalis, the "wild ox" of the Arabs; often depicted in Egyptian remains as chased not for slaughter, but for capture, it being easily domesticated.
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Watsons
BULL, the male of the beeve kind; and it is to be recollected that the Hebrews never castrated animals. There are several words translated "bull" in Scripture, of which the following is a list, with the meaning of each: ???, a bove, or cow, of any age. ???, the wild bull, oryx, or buffalo, occurs only De 14:5; and in Isa 51:20, ???, with the interchange of the two last letters. ?????, a word implying strength, translated "bulls," Ps 22:12; 50:13; 68:30; Isa 34:7; Jer 46:15. ???, herds, horned cattle of full age. ??, a full grown bull, or cow, fit for propagating. ???, a full grown, plump young bull; and in the feminine, a heifer. ???, Chaldee taur, and Latin taurus; the ox accustomed to the yoke: occurs only in Ezr 6:9,17; 7:17; Daniel 4:25, 32, 33; 22:29, 30.
This animal was reputed by the Hebrews to be clean, and was generally made use of by them for sacrifices. The Egyptians had a particular veneration for it, and paid divine honours to it; and the Jews imitated them in the worship of the golden calves or bulls, in the wilderness, and in the kingdom of Israel. The wild bull is found in the Syrian and Arabian deserts. It is frequently mentioned by the Arabian poets, who are copious in their descriptions of hunting it, and borrow many images from its beauty, strength, swiftness, and the loftiness of its horns. They represent it as fierce and untameable; as being white on the back, and having large shining eyes.
Bulls, in a figurative and allegorical sense, are taken for powerful, fierce, and insolent enemies, Ps 22:12; 68:30.