20. SiKi'li) (1310) is mentioned only once as a des- ert shrub (Isa. Iv, 13), "And instead of the brier (sir- pad, Sept. KOi'(>^>;, Yulg. urtiat) shall come up the myr- tle." Though this has generally been considered a thorn}' and prickly plant, it does not follow from the context that such is necessarily meant. It would be sufficient for the sense that some useless or insignificant plant be understood, and there are many such in desert and uncultivated places. In addition to Pidiunis car- cluus, Urtica, Comjza, species of I'ol//(/onum, of Eujihorbia, etc., have been adduced ; and also Ruscus acideatus, or butcher's-broom. The etymolog_v of the word is obscure.
21. TuiiioLOs (rpi/^oXoc), Lat. tribuliis, is found in Matt, vii, !(!, " Do men gather figs of tfiix/les?" (rpi/^iJ- Xwv) ; and again in Heb. vi, 8, " But that which beareth thorns and hiie?-s (rp//3oXoj) is rejected." The name was applied by the Greeks to two or three plants, one of which was, no doubt, aciuatic, Trapa nutans. Of the two kinds of land tribidi mentioned by the Greeks (Di- oscorides, iv, 15; Theophrastus, I/Mf. Plant, vi, 7, 6), one is believed by Sprengel, Stackhousc, Koylc, and others to refer to the Trihidus tcrreMris, Linn., the other is supposed to be the Far/onia Cretica; but see Scbnei-
Tribulus terrestris.
dcr's commentary on Theophrastus, loc. cit.. and Du Mo- lin (Flore Poelique .-1 Jicira/ic, p. 305), who identities the tribulus of Virgil with the Centmrrea ccddlnqur, Liim. ("star-thistle"). Celsius (JJierob. ii, 128) argues in fa- vor of the Fctgonia .■\ rdbica, of which a figure is given in Shaw, Truvds (CJatal. Plant. No. 220); see also For- skal, Flor. Arab. p. 8«. Both or nearly allied species are found in dry and barren places in the ICast ; and, as both are prickly and spread over the surface of ihe ground, they are extremely luirtf'ul to tread upon. The word rpi/^oAof is further interesting to us as being em- ployed in the Sept. as the translation of dtirJdr (above). The presence of species of tribulus indicates a dry and barren uncultivated soil, covered with prickly or tliorny plants. The Tribulus terrestris, however, is not a spiny or thorny plant, but has spines on the fruit. Tlie (ireek word means literally three-proncjefl, and originally de- noted the caltro}}, or military crow-foot, an instrument composed of three radiating spikes, thrown upon the ground to hinder and annoy cavalry (Veget. iii, 24; I'lutarch, Mor(d. ii, 76). See Wiiiii).
22. TsEN ("|1J) or TsENiN C)"'':^) occurs (only in the plur.) in several passages of Scripture, as in Numb, xxxiii, 55; Josh, xxiii, 13, where it is mentioned along with sek (sikkim); also in Job v, 5 and Pro v. xxii, 5. Both are invariably rendered "thorns" in the A. V. The Sept. has rpifioXoc in I'rov. xxii, 5, and /SuXiOfc in Numb, xxxiii, 55 and Josh, xxiii, 13. It has been sup- posed that zinnim might be the Rhammis pidlurus, but nothing more precise has been ascertained respecting it than of so many other of these thorny plants; and we may therefore, with Micliaelis, say, "Nullum simile nomen habent reliquffi linguaj Orientales; ergo fas est sapienti, Celsio quorjue, fas sit et mihi, aliquid ignorare. Ignorantia; professio via ad inveniendum verimi, si quis in Oriente quEesierit." See also Thorn-hedge.
THOKN IN THE Flesh (cricoXo*// ry aapKi), an in- fliction ("a messenger of Satan to buffet me") men- tioned by Paul as an offset to his extraordinary revela- tions (2 Cor. xii, 7). The expression has called forth very many, and some very absurd, conjectures (see the commentators, ad loc), which may be resolved into the following heads, the first two of which are, from the nature of the case, out of the question :
1. Spiritual Temptatious. — jNIany have thought that the apostle refers to diabolical solicitations (" interjecti- ones Sataiue"), such as blasphemous thoughts (so Ger- son, Luther, Calovius), or remorse for his former life (Osiander, Mosheim, etc.), or — according to Komish in- terpreters who seek a precedent for monkish legends — incitements to lust (so Thomas Aqidnas, Lyra, Bellar- mine, Estius, Corn, a Lapide, etc.). These are all nega- tived, not oid\' by their intrinsic improbability, but by the qualilication " in the tlesii."
2. Personal Hostil- ity. — This we know Paul frequently ex- perienced, especially from Judaizing secta- ries, and hence this explanation has been seized u])on by many ancient interpreters ( e. g. Chrysostom, Tlieopliylact,(Ecume- nius, Theodoret), as well as later ones (Cal- vin, Beza, etc.) and moderns ( Fritzsche, Schrader, etc.). But this, too, could hardly with propriety be call- ed a "fleshly" afflic- tion.
3. Bodily Pain. — This view has been
THORN", CONFERENCE OF 385
THORN-HEDGE
adopted by very man}-, who differ, however, as to the particular ailment. The ancients (Chrysostom, The- ophylaet, Qicumenius, Jerome, on Qui. ic, 14) mention headache, but without assigning any special ground for the conjecture. Some have supposed hypochondriacal vielancholy, which, however hardh' answers the condi- tions of a aKoKo-^, wherebj' acute suffering seems to be implied. So of other speculations, for which see Poll Synopsis, ad loc.
On the whole (remarks xMford, ad loc), putting to- gether the figure here used, that of a thorn (or a point- ed stake, for so uKoXoxp primarily signifies [see Xenoph. A nab. v, 2, 5]), occasioning pain, and the KuAo^t(T/t'')c, or bujfeting (i. e. perhaps puttinr/ to shame), it seems quite necessary to infer that the apostle alhules to some dis- tressing and tedious bodily malady, which at the same time caused him mortification before those among whom he exercised his ministry. Of such a kind ma// have been the disorder in his eyes, more or less indicated in several passages of his history (see Acts xiii, 9 ; xxiii, 1 sq. ; Gal. iv, 14; vi, 11). But as affections of the eyes, however sad in their consequences, are not usual- ly (certainly not to all appearance in the apostle's case) very painful or distressing in themselves, they hardly come up to the intense meaning of the phrase. Paul was therefore probably troubled with some internal dis- ease of which the marks were evinced only in languor and physical anguish. There are few who do not thus " bear about in their body" some token of mortal frailty.