II. CORINTHIANS 12, 7. 28^

on which God had unveiled to the apostle the treasures of di- vine knowledge. There vxis given to me^ i. e. by God. It was God who sent the trial here referred to, and from God the apostle sought deliverance. A thorn in the fleshy o-KoXoxp rrj aapKL. The word o-Kokoij/ properly means a sharpened stake, a paHsade, then any piece of sharpened wood, and specifically a thorn. This last is the meaning best suited to this passage, and is the one commonly adopted. Others say the meaning is, "a goad for the flesh," borrowing a figure from oxen, raetaphora a bobus sumpta, as Calvin says ; others again un- derstand a-KoXoij/ to refer to a stake on which offenders were impaled, or the cross on which they were suspended. A stake, or cross, for the flesh, would be a figurative expression for bodily torture. Flesh may be taken literally for the body, or figuratively for the corrupt nature. Calvin and many oth- ers take the latter view. But there is no reason for departing from the literal meaning, which should in all cases be pre- ferred, other things being equal. The dative o-apKt may be rendered either, for the flesh, or pertaining to the flesh, i. e. in the flesh. This last is to be preferred, as it suits the con- text and is sustained by the parallel passage. Gal. 4, 14, tov Tretpao-ftov />cov tov Iv rrj crapKc fxov. If this is the true interpreta- tion of the word adpi, it goes far to determine the nature of the thorn of which the apostle here speaks. It cannot be the evil suggestions, or fiery darts of Satan, as Luther, Calvin, and others, understand it; nor some prominent adversary, as many of the ancients suppose ; it was doubtless some painful bodily affection. A messe^iger of Satan. In the Bible the idea is often presented that bodily diseases are at times pro- duced by the direct agency of Satan, so that they may be regarded as his messengers, something sent by him. The Avord Saray is used here probably as an indeclinable noun, as in the Septuagint in one or two places, but in the New Testa- ment it is always, except in this instance, declined, nom. 2a- Tava<;^ gen. ^arava. On this account many are disposed to take the word here as in the nominative, and translate the phrase a7igel Sata7i, i. e. an angel (or messenger) who is Sa- tan. But inasmuch as iSarai/ is at times indeclinable, and as Satan is never in the New Testament called an angel, the great majority of commentators give the same exposition as that given in the English version. To buffet me, iVa /xe koXo.- (^iQq^ in order that he (i. e. the angel or messenger) may buffet me. The use of the present tense seems to imply that " the