Thorns, Thistles, Etc.
Thorns, Thistles, Etc
THORNS, THISTLES, ETC.So many words are used in the Heb. for thorny plants, and they are so variously translated, that it will be convenient to consider them all in one group. In the great majority of cases it is impossible to identify the special species referred to.
1. td, Jdg 9:14 f. AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , bramble, mg. thistle, RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] thorn; Psa 58:9 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] thorns. In Gen 50:10-11, Atad occurs as a proper name. The td is probably the buckthorn (Rhamnus palestina), a lowly bush.
2. barqnm (Jdg 8:7; Jdg 8:10 briers), some kind of thorn. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] berqn is the Centaurea scoparia, a thorny-headed composite common in Palestine.
3. dardar (Gen 3:18, Hos 10:8), some thistly or thorny plant. In modern Arab. [Note: Arabic.] shauket el-dardar is applied to the star thistles or knapweeds of which Centaurea calcitrapa and C. verutum are common Palestine forms.
4. chdeq (Pro 15:19 thorn, Mic 7:4 brier; cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] chadaq to enclose), some prickly plant used as a hedge (Pro 15:19).
5. chach (2Ki 14:9, 2Ch 25:18, and Job 31:40 thistle; 2Ch 33:11, Son 2:2, and Hos 9:6 thorns; Isa 34:13 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] brambles; 1Sa 13:6 thickets; Job 41:2 thorn, where book, as in RV [Note: Revised Version.] , would be better), some shrub, species unknown, with very strong spines.
6. mskh, a thorn hedge (Mic 7:4).
7. nautsts (Isa 7:19 thorns, Isa 55:13 thorn), from Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] naats to prick), a general term for a thorn.
8. srm (Ecc 7:6, Isa 34:13, Hos 2:6, Nah 1:10 thorn). The reference to the crackling of thorns suggests the thorny burnet, which is burned all over Palestine in lime-kilns. srth, Amo 4:2, means books.
9. silln (Eze 28:24 brier; sallnm, Eze 2:6 thorns).
10. srbm (Eze 2:6 briers, lit. rebels, as in mg., but text doubtful).
11. sirpd (Isa 55:13 brier, lit. the burner, hence perhaps nettle).
12. tsinnm (Job 5:5, Pro 22:5 thorns); tsnnm (Num 33:55, Jos 23:13 thorns).
13. qts (Gen 3:18, Exo 22:6, Jdg 8:7; Jdg 8:18 etc.), the commonest and most general word for thorns.
14. qimms (Pro 24:31 thorns), elsewhere nettles. See Nettle.
15. sikkm (Num 33:55 pricks), cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] shauk thorn.
16. shayith, only in Is. (Isa 5:8; Isa 7:23 f., Isa 9:17, Isa 10:17, Isa 27:4), always with shmr (brier), and tr. [Note: translate or translation.] thorns.
17. shmr, in Is. (see above) always tr. [Note: translate or translation.] brier; cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] samur a thorny tree.
18. rhamnos (Gr.), Bar 6:71 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] thorn).
19. skolops (Gr.), 2Co 12:7 thorn (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] stake). See Medicine, p. 600b; Paul, p. 688a.
20. akanthai (Gr.) = Heb. qts, Mat 7:16; Mat 13:7; Mat 13:22; Mat 27:29 etc. thorns.
21. tribolos (Gr.), Mat 7:16 thistle, Heb 6:8 brier.
The variety of words used to describe these prickly plants is not surprising, when it is remembered that such plants are ubiquitous throughout Palestine, and for many months of the year are almost the only living uncultivated vegetation. They form the common food of goats and camels; they are burned (Ecc 7:6), specially the thorny burnet (Arab. [Note: Arabic.] billn), in ovens and lime-kilns, large areas of land being diligently cleared every autumn for this purpose. Gigantic thistles, sometimes as high as a horses head, cover whole acres of fallow land and have to be cleared by fire before ploughing can begin. Thorns of various kinds, e.g. brambles, oleasters, etc., are commonly used as hedges; and tangled masses of dead thorny branches from the Zizyphus and similar trees are used, particularly in the Jordan Valley, as defences round fields, flocks, or tents (Pro 15:11, Mic 7:4 etc.).
E. W. G. Masterman.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Thorns, Thistles, Etc.
thornz: There are very many references to various thorny plants in the Bible, and of the Hebrew words employed great uncertainty exists regarding their exact meaning. The alternative translations given in the text of English Versions of the Bible and in the margin show how divided are the views of the translators. In the following list the suggestions given of possinle species indicated, usually by comparison with the Arabic, are those of the late Professor Post, who spent the best years of his life in study of the botany of Palestine. In the great majority of instances, however, it is quite impossible to make any reasonable suggestion as to any particular species being indicated.
(1) , ‘atadh (Jdg 9:14, English Versions of the Bible bramble, the King James Version margin thistle, the Revised Version margin thorn; Psa 58:9, English Versions of the Bible thorns): Probably the buckthorn (Rhamnus Palestina Post). Atad occurs as a proper name in Gen 50:10, Gen 50:11.
(2) , barkanm (Jdg 8:7, Jdg 8:16, English Versions of the Bible briers): Some thorny plant. The Egyptian-Arabic bargan is, according to Moore (Commentary on Judges), the same as Centaurea scoparius (Natural Order, Compositae), a common Palestinian thistle.
(3) , dardar (Gen 3:18; Hos 10:8, English Versions of the Bible thistle; Septuagint , trbolos): In Arabic, shauket ed-dardar is a general name for the thistles known as Centaureae or star-thistles (Natural Order, Compositae), of which Palestine produces nearly 50 species. The purple-flowered C. calcitrapa and the yellow C. verutum are among the commonest and most striking.
(4) , hedhek (Pro 15:19, English Versions of the Bible thorns; Septuagint , akantha; Mic 7:4, English Versions of the Bible brier): From former passages this should be some thorny plant suitable for making a hedge (compare Arabic hadak, to enclose, wall in). Lane states that Arabic hadak is Solanum sanctum. Post suggests the oleaster, Eleagnus hortensis.
(5) , hoah; Septuagint , knde, and , akantha (2Ki 14:9; Job 31:40, English Versions of the Bible, thistle, margin thorn; 2Ch 25:18, English Versions of the Bible thistle, the King James Version margin furze bush, the Revised Version margin thorn; Hos 9:6; Son 2:2, English Versions of the Bible thorns; Isa 34:13 the King James Version brambles the Revised Version (British and American) thistles; Pro 26:9, English Versions of the Bible a thorn; 1Sa 13:6, thickets; , hawahm, is, however, according to Driver and others a corruption for , horm, holes; Job 41:2, the King James Version thorn the Revised Version (British and American) hook; 2Ch 33:11, the King James Version thorns, the Revised Version (British and American) in chains, margin with hooks): Clearly hoah stands for some plant with very strong thorns, but it is quite impossible to say what species is intended; indeed, probably the word was used in a general way. See HOOK.
(6) , mesukhah, occurs only in Mic 7:4, where it means a thorn hedge.
(7) , naacuc (Isa 7:19, the King James Version thorns, the Revised Version (British and American) thorn hedges; Isa 55:13, English Versions of the Bible thorn): The word is derived from the root , naac, to prick, or pierce, and probably applies to any prickly plant. The Septuagint translation has , stoibe (Isa 55:13), suggesting the thorny burnet, Poterium spinosum, so common in Palestine (see BOTANY). Post says, It may be one of the thorny acacias (HDB, IV, 752).
(8) , srm (Ecc 7:6, the crackling of thorns (srm) under a pot (sr); Isa 34:13, Thorns shall come up in its palaces; Hos 2:6, I will hedge up thy way with thorns; Nah 1:10, Entangled like thorns (King James Version folden together as thorns)…they are consumed utterly as dry stubble): The thorny burner, Poterium spinosum, is today so extensively used for burning in ovens and lime-kilns in Palestine that it is tempting to suppose this is the plant especially indicated here. In Amo 4:2 , sroth, is translated fish-hooks. See HOOK.
(9) , sillon (Eze 28:24, English Versions of the Bible, brier); , sallonm (Eze 2:6, English Versions of the Bible, thorns): Arabic, sallu = thorn.
(10) , sarabhm (Eze 2:6, English Versions of the Bible, briers; the King James Version margin rebels): The translation as a plant name is very doubtful.
(11) , sirpadh (Isa 55:13, Instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree): The Septuagint has , konuza, which is (Post) the elecampane, Inula viscosa (Natural Order Compositae), a plant 2 or 3 ft. high, growing on the bare hillsides of Palestine, not infrequently in close association with the myrtle.
(12) , cinnm (Job 5:5; Pro 22:5, English Versions of the Bible, thorns); , cennm (Num 33:55; Jos 23:13, English Versions of the Bible, thorns): The words apparently have a very general meaning.
(13) , koc; the Septuagint , akantha: A general name for thorny and prickly plants, the commonest in the Old Testament (Gen 3:18; Exo 22:6; Jdg 8:7, Jdg 8:16; 2Sa 23:6; Psa 118:12; Isa 32:13; Isa 33:12; Jer 4:3; Jer 12:13; Eze 28:24; Hos 10:8).
(14) , kimmosh (Pro 24:31, thorns; Isa 34:13; Hos 9:6, nettles). See NETTLES.
(15) )51(, sikkm, plural of , sekh, same as Arabic shauk, a thorn (Num 33:55, pricks).
(16) , shayith: A word peculiar to Isa (Amo 5:6; 7:23 ff; 9:18; 10:17; 27:4) and always associated with shamr (See (17)), always translated thorns.
(17) , shamr: References as above (16), and in Isa 32:13, where it is with koc (see (13)) always translated briers. The Arabic samur is the thorny acacia A. seyyal and A. tortilis (Post).
(18) , akanthos: The equivalent of koc (see (13)) (Mat 7:16; Mat 13:7, Mat 13:22; Mat 27:29, etc.). Always translated thorns.
(19) , rhamnos (Baruch 6:71, white thorn): The Rhamnus Palaestina.
(20) , skolops (2Co 12:7, English Versions of the Bible thorn, margin stake). See THORN IN THE FLESH.
(21) , trbolos (Mat 7:16, thistle; Heb 6:8, the King James Version briers the Revised Version (British and American) thistles).
The extraordinary plentifulness of various prickly plants in Palestine – in its present condition – is evident to any traveler during the summer months. Many of the trees and shrubs are thorny and the ground is everywhere covered thick with thistles, many of which are very handsome and some of which attain a height of 6 or 8 ft. Before the peasant can plow, he must dear these away by burning (compare Isa 10:17). The early autumn winds often drive before them in revolving mass some of the star-thistles – a sight so characteristic that it may be the thistle down (the King James Version margin, the Revised Version (British and American) whirling dust) of Isa 17:13. Thorns and thistles are described (Gen 3:18) as God’s curse on the ground for sin. The Talmud suggests that these must be edible and are therefore artichokes. The removal of them and the replacement by more useful plants is a sign of God’s blessing (Isa 55:13; Eze 28:24).
Gen 3:18 uses the words , koc and , dardar for thorns and thistles. Midrash Rabba’ to Genesis (Midr. Gen. Rabba’ 20 10) says that , koc (thorn) is the same as (, akkabhth), which means an edible thistle (compare Levy, Dictionary, 645), and that (, dardar, thistle) is the same as (, kinras; Greek , kunara, artichoke) (compare Levy, Dictionary, 298). But, adds the Midrash, some reverse it, and say that (, dardar) is (, akkabhth) and that (, koc) is (, kinras).
The neglected vineyard of the sluggard was all grown over with thorns the face thereof was covered with nettles (Pro 24:31), and in God’s symbolic vineyard there shall come up briers and thorns (Isa 5:6); They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing (Jer 12:13).
Jotham compares the usurper Abimelech to a bramble (Rhamnus Palaestina) (Jdg 9:14 f), and Jehoash king of Israel, taunted Amaziah, king of Judah, by comparing him slightingly to a thistle (margin thorn), readily trodden down by a wild beast (2Ki 14:9).
Nevertheless, thorns and thistles have their uses. On them the goats and camels browse; scarcely any thorns seem to be too sharp for their hardened palates. The thorny burner (Poterium spinosum), Arabic ballan, which covers countless acres of bare hillside, is used all over Palestine for ovens (Ecc 7:6) and lime-kilns. Before kindling one of these latter the fellahin gather enormous piles of this plant – carried on their heads in masses much larger than the bearers – around the kiln mouth.
Thorny hedges around dwellings and fields are very common. The most characteristic plant for the purpose today is the prickly pear (Opunctia ficus Indica), but this is a comparatively late introduction. Hedges of brambles oleasters, etc., are common, especially where there is some water In the Jordan valley masses of broken branches of the Zizyphus and other thorny trees are piled in a circle round tents or cultivated fields or flocks as a protection against man and beast (Pro 15:19; Mic 7:4, etc.).
The Saviour’s crown of thorns (Mat 27:29) was according to Palestinian tradition constructed from the twisted branches of a species of Rhamnaceae either the Zizyphus lotus or the Z. spina.