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I.
Thorn
1.
Exo
3:2 And
the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire, out
of the midst of a thorn bush. And he looked. And
behold! The thorn bush burned with fire! And the
thorn bush was
not burned up.
Exo
3:3 And
Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight,
why the thorn bush is not burned up.
Exo
3:4 And
Jehovah saw that he had turned aside to see. God called to
him out of the midst of the thorn bush, and said,
Moses! Moses! And he said, Here I
am.
a.
Thorns
are a nonproductive plants.
i.e. they produce no edible
fruit. The only thing that happens to them in the desert is
that they will easily catch fire. So Moses seeing a thorn
bush burning was not surprised, what caught his attention
was that the thorn bush was not being consumed by the fire.
(MLL)
2.
2Sa 23:6
But
the wicked, all of them, shall
be like a thorn thrust away, because they
cannot be taken by the hand.
a.
2Sa
23:6
- But the sons of
Belial shall be all
of them as thorns thrust away,.... Not like the tender
grass that springs up, and flourishes after rain, and the
sunshine upon that; but like thorns, useless, hurtful, and
pernicious, and fit only for burning: this is true of wicked
men in general, that cast off the yoke of the Lord, and
become unprofitable, as Belial signifies; and of wicked
governors in particular, who, instead of being helpful, are
harmful to a commonwealth; and instead of being the joy and
comfort of their subjects, and of giving pleasure to them,
and making them cheerful and prosperous, give pain and
trouble, and cause grief and sorrow; and are, if possible,
to be thrust away, and deposed from government:
because they cannot be taken with hands;
thorns cannot be handled and gently dealt with, but some
instrument must be used to put them away with force; so
wicked men, and especially wicked rulers, are
untractable, and not to be
managed in a gentle way, and therefore violent ones must be
taken.(Gill)
3.
Job 41:2
Can
you put a reed rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw with a
thorn?
a.
Job 41:2
- Canst thou put a hook into his nose - Or rather, a
“rope,” or “cord.” The word used here (אגמון
'agmôn)
means “a caldron,” or “kettle”
Job_41:20, also a
reed, or bulrush, growing in marshy places, and thus a rope
made of reeds, a rush-cord. The idea is,
that he could not be led about by a cord, as tame animals
may be. Mr. Vansittart, however,
supposes that the words here are expressive of ornaments,
and that the allusion is to the fact mentioned by Herodotus,
that the crocodile was led about by the Egyptians as a
divinity, and that in this state it was adorned with rings
and various stately trappings. There can be no doubt that
such a fact existed, but this does not accord well with the
scope of the passage here. The object is to impress the mind
of Job with a sense of the strength and
untamableness of the animal, not to describe the
honors which were paid to it.
Or
bore his jaw through with a thorn -
Or
with a ring. The word here properly means a thorn, or
thorn-bush, Job_31:40;
Pro_26:9; and then
also a ring that was put through the nose of an animal, in
order to secure it. The instrument was probably made sharp
like a thorn or spike, and then bent so as to become a ring;
compare Isa_37:29.
Mr. Bruce, speaking of the manner of fishing in the
Nile,
says that when a fisherman has caught a fish, he draws it to
the shore, and puts a strong iron ring into its jaw. To this
ring is fastened a rope by which the fish is attached to the
shore, which he then throws again into the water. (Barnes)
4.
Pro 26:9
As
a thorn goes up into the hand of a drunkard, so
is a parable in the
mouth of fools.
a.
Pro 26:9
- As a thorn
goeth up into the hand of a
drunkard,....
And he perceives it not; or being in his hand he makes an
ill use of it, and hurts himself and others with it;
so
is a parable in the
mouth of fools,
a proverbial sentence respecting religious matters; or a
passage of holy Scripture which either he understands not,
and has no spiritual perception of, any more than the
drunkard has of the thorn in his hand; or which being used
as a pun, or by way of jest, as it is the manner of some to
pun upon or jest with the Scripture, hurts himself and
others, wounds his own conscience, and ruins the souls of
others; for it is dangerous meddling with edge tools, and
hard to kick against the pricks; so to do is like a drunken
man's handling thorns, which he does without judgment, and
to his own prejudice and others.
Gussetius (x)
understands this of a fish hook coming up into the hand of a
drunkard empty, without taking any thing by it, and so alike
useless is what is said by a fool. (Gill)
5.
Isa
55:13
Instead
of the thorn, the fir tree shall come up; and instead
of the brier, the myrtle tree shall come up; and it shall be
to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign
which shall not be cut
off.
a.
Isa 55:13 -
thorn--emblem of the wicked (2Sa_23:6;
Mic_7:4).
fir
tree--the
godly (Isa_60:13;
Psa_92:12). Compare
as to the change wrought,
Rom_6:19.
brier--emblem
of uncultivation (Isa_5:6).
myrtle--Hebrew,
Hedes, from which comes
Hedassah, the original name of
Esther. Type of the Christian Church; for it is a lowly,
though beautiful, fragrant, and evergreen shrub (Psa_92:13-14).
for
a name . . . everlasting sign--a
perpetual memorial to the glory of Jehovah (Jer_13:11;
Jer_33:9). (JFB)
6.
Eze
28:24
And
there will not be a pricking brier, or a painful thorn
to the house of
Israel
any more, from all who surround them,
those who hate them.
And they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.
a.
Eze
28:24
- no more . . . brier . . . unto . . .
Israel--as
the idolatrous nations left in
Canaan
(among which Zidon is expressly
specified in the limits of Asher,
Jdg_1:31) had been (Num_33:55;
Jos_23:13). "A
brier," first ensnaring the Israelites in sin, and then
being made the instrument of punishing them.
pricking--literally,
"causing bitterness." The same Hebrew is translated
"fretting" (Lev_13:51-52).
The wicked are often called "thorns" (2Sa_23:6).
(JFB)
7.
Hos
10:8
Also
the high places of Aven, the sin
of
Israel,
shall be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle shall
come up on their altars; and they shall say to the
mountains, Cover us, and to the hills,
Fall on us.
a.
Hos 10:8
- The high places also of
Aven,....
Bethel,
which is not only as before called
Bethaven, the house of iniquity; but
Aven, iniquity itself; the high
places of it were the temple and altars built there for
idolatrous service, which were usually set on hills and
mountains:
the
sin of
Israel
shall be destroyed;
that is, which high places are the sin of
Israel,
the occasion of sin unto them; and where they committed sin,
the sin of idolatry, in worshipping the calves; these should
be thrown down, demolished, and no longer used:
the
thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars;
lying in ruins, these shall grow upon them, the people and
priests being carried captive that used to sacrifice upon
them; but now they shall lie deserted by them, being
destroyed by the enemy:
and
they shall say to the mountains, cover us; and to the hills,
fall on us;
not that the high places and altars shall say so in a
figurative sense, according to R. Moses in
Aben Ezra; but, as
Japhet, they that worshipped
there, the priests and people of Samaria,
Bethaven, and even of all
Israel, because of their great distress; and, as persons in
the utmost consternation, and in despair, and confounded,
and ashamed, shall call to the mountains and hills where
they have been guilty of idolatry to hide and cover them
from the wrath of God; see
Luk_23:30 Rev_6:16.
(Gill)
8.
2Co 12:7
and
by the surpassing revelations, lest I be made haughty, a
thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan
to buffet me, lest I be made haughty.
a.
2Co
12:7
- exalted above measure--Greek, "overmuch uplifted."
How dangerous must self-exaltation be, when even the apostle
required so much restraint!
abundance--Greek,
"the excess"; exceeding greatness.
given
. . . me--namely,
by God (Job_5:6;
Phi_1:29).
thorn
in the flesh--
(Num_33:55;
Eze_28:24). ALFORD
thinks it to be the same bodily affliction as in
Gal_4:13-14. It
certainly was something personal, affecting him
individually, and not as an apostle: causing at once acute
pain (as "thorn" implies) and shame ("buffet": as slaves are
buffeted, 1Pe_2:20).
messenger
of Satan--who
is permitted by God to afflict His saints, as Job (Job_2:7;
Luk_13:16).
to
buffet me--In
Greek, present: to buffet me even now continuously. After
experiencing the state of the blissful angels, he is now
exposed to the influence of an evil angel. The chastisement
from hell follows soon upon the revelation from heaven. As
his sight and hearing had been ravished with heavenly
"revelations," so his touch is pained with the "thorn in the
flesh." (JFB)
Notes:
(MLL)
stands for comments by the webmaster Michelle Liga.
(Gill)
stands for comments from John Gill’s “Expostion
of the Entire Bible”
(Barnes) stands for comments from Albert Barnes’ “Notes
on the Bible”
(JFB)
stands for comments from “Jamieson,
Fausset and Brown Commentary”
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