"... In the Hebrew Bible, bull and horn imagery is applied to YHWH in two ways. The first is exactly what one might expect given the above description of the symbolic import of the bull. The author of Numbers 23:22 likens YHWH to the horns of a wild ox, protecting Israel against Egypt, and, similarly, Isaiah 10:13 likens him to a bull bringing down foreign kings who are enemies of Zion. Another analogy between YHWH and bulls is drawn by the most common idiom used to describe YHWH’s anger, and that is “his nostril(s) grew hot” (e.g., Exodus 15:8; 32:10; Isaiah 11:4; Psalm 18:15; Job 4:9). This idiom conjures the image of YHWH as a snorting bull with flared, if not steaming, nostrils, preparing for conflict. As with a bull, the metaphor of visible heat vaporizing from YHWH’s nostrils serves as a threat of violence to whomever has angered YHWH within that particular pericope, usually by endangering the well-being of Israel, even if sometimes the offender is Israel itself (e.g., Exodus 32:10). The imagery of a bull or a horn as a metaphor for YHWH’s power, particularly as it manifests in the destructive and protective elements of his personality, functions as an expression of that which is made clear in other parts of the Hebrew Bible, independent of such language: that YHWH is a deity who protects the well-being of those who serve him, even at the expense of others ..."