Thorns

Thorns and thistles as the result of the curse of the fall

Genesis 3:17–19 See also Numbers 33:55; Joshua 23:12–13; Isaiah 5:5–6, Isaiah 7:23–25, Isaiah 55:8–13; Jeremiah 12:13; Hosea 9:6

And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground — because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

Thorns and thistles as worthless weeds

Hebrews 6:7–8 See also 2 Samuel 23:6; 2 Kings 14:9 parallel 2 Chronicles 25:18; Matthew 7:16 parallel Luke 6:44; Matthew 13:1–8 parallels Mark 4:1–8, Luke 8:4–8; Matthew 13:22 parallels Mark 4:18–19, Luke 8:14

For land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is tended receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.

Thorns unpleasant and to be avoided

2 Samuel 23:6–7 See also Proverbs 15:19, Proverbs 22:5; Song of Solomon 2:2; Hosea 2:6

But the worthless are all like thorns raked aside, for they can never be gathered by hand. The man who touches them must be armed with iron or with the shaft of a spear. The fire burns them to ashes in the place where they lie.”

Thorns associated with burning

Isaiah 33:12 See also Exodus 22:6; Psalm 118:12; Ecclesiastes 7:6; Isaiah 9:18, Isaiah 10:17, Isaiah 27:4

The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze.

Thorns used as instruments of punishment

Judges 8:16 See also Judges 8:4–7

Then he took the elders of the city, and using the thorns and briers of the wilderness, he disciplined the men of Succoth.

Thorns indicative of desolation and dereliction

Hosea 10:8 See also Proverbs 24:30–31; Isaiah 32:11–15

The high places of Aven will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Jesus Christ crowned with thorns

Matthew 27:28–29 parallels Mark 15:16–18, John 19:2–6

They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, knelt down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

Metaphorical use of thorns

Micah 7:4 See also Ezekiel 2:6, Ezekiel 28:24; 2 Corinthians 12:7

The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. Now is the time of their confusion.