Bullock

A bullock is a young bull or ox—an older English term for a bovine animal that Scripture presents as property, draft labor, and sacrificial offering (Exodus 22:1; 29:14). English translations use “bullock,” “ox,” “bull,” and “calf” for several Hebrew words, so the term overlaps with other bovine terms rather than naming one distinct species. In Israel’s laws the ox is protected property: “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep” (Exodus 22:1), and if the stolen animal is found alive, “he shall pay double” (Exodus 22:4). The Sabbath command gives rest “that your ox and your donkey may have rest” (Exodus 23:12), and the law says, “You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain” (Deuteronomy 25:4). The prophets use the animal figuratively: Ephraim is “as an untrained calf” (Jeremiah 31:18), and Isaiah speaks of those “who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey” (Isaiah 32:20).

The sacrificial use is explicit. In the ordination offering, “the meat of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp. It is a sin offering” (Exodus 29:14). The bullock also appears in visionary imagery: Ezekiel’s living creatures have “the face of an ox on the left side” (Ezekiel 1:10), and Revelation’s second living creature is “like a calf” (Revelation 4:7).

The New Testament cites the muzzle law twice. Paul quotes, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and asks, “Is it for the oxen that God cares” (1 Corinthians 9:9); 1 Timothy 5:18 joins the same line to “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

Christian traditions differ in how they read the sacrificial bullock. Catholic and Orthodox interpreters often treat the sin offering as a type of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, while many Protestant readers affirm that typology but stress the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ and the application of Deuteronomy 25:4 to those who labor in ministry (1 Corinthians 9:9; 1 Timothy 5:18). Historical-critical readings tend to place the bullock within ancient Israelite agriculture and cult. These are interpretive differences about significance, not about the animal named in the text.

AI-generated reference entry, grounded in the passages where this term appears — history and Scripture stated as such, interpretation labeled as interpretation. Not a substitute for the text itself.