the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Thorns and Thistles
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or The desert flora of Palestine is unusually rich in thorns and thistles, containing a whole series of acanthaceous shrubs and various thistles, including Acanthus, Carduus (thistle), Centaurea Calcitrapa (star-thistle), Cirsium acarna, Linn. (horse-thistle), Cnicus benedictus, Linn. (blessed thistle), Cynara Syriaca, Linn. (cardoon), Echinops (globe-thistle), Eryngium nitraria, Noea, Notobasis Syriaca, Linn. (Syrian thistle), Ononis antiquorum, Linn. (tall rest-harrow; var. leiosperma, Post), Onopordon (down-thistle), Phæopappus scoparius, Sieb., Silybum Marianum, Linn. (milk-thistle), Tribulus terrestris, Linn. (land-caltrops), and others, some of them in many subspecies. All these plants were very troublesome to the farmer (Proverbs 24:31), who frequently set fire to his fields to get rid of them (Isaiah 10:17), while the Prophets threatened the people with a plague of briers and thistles (Isaiah 5:6; Jeremiah 12:13). The tyrant is compared to the useless bramble (Judges 9:14); and King Amaziah is likened to the thistle (2 Kings 14:9). Instead of fruit the earth is to bring forth "thorns and thistles" (Genesis 3:18), which must, therefore, be edible, and which are considered by the Midrash to be artichokes.
Many names for these plants are found in the Bible as well as in post-Biblical literature. Acanthaceous trees and shrubs, some of them admitting of classification, constitute the first group, which includes: 
, Bible and Mishnah (also Assyrian, Phenician, and Aramaic) = Lycium Europæum, Linn. (not Rhamnus), box-thorn; 
, Bible, Mishnah, and Aramaic = Rubus sanctus, Schreb., blackberry; 
= Acacia; 
, Mishnah, and 
, Talmud = Cratægus Azarolus, Linn., hawthorn; 
, Mishnah, and 
, Talmud = Zizyphus lotus, Lam., jujube, and Zizyphus spina-Christi, Linn., Christ's-thorn; 
, Mishnah, and 
, Talmud =Zizyphus vulgaris, Lam., common jujube.
The second group comprises acanthaceous or prickly herbs, shrubs, and nettles: 
(?), Bible, 
, Mishnah, and 
, Talmud (Assyrian, "egu" [?])= Alhagi Maurorum, DC., alhagi; 
and 
, Mishnah, 
and 
, Talmud = Carthamus tinctorius, Linn., safflower; 
, Bible, and 
, Talmud = Centaurea Calcitrapa, Linn., starthistle; 
(?), Bible, 
, Mishnah and Talmud = Echinops spinosus, Linn., or Echinops viscosus, DC., echinops (?); 
= Eryngium Creticum, Lam., button-snakeroot; 
= Cynara Scolymus, Linn., artichoke; 
= Cynara Syriaca, Boiss., and Cynara Cardunculus, Linn., cardoon (the heads of which are well described by Rashi in his commentary on Psalms 83:14); 
= Paliurus aculeatus, Linck., garland-thorn; 
(?), Bible = Phæopappus scoparius, Sieb., phæopappus; 
= Solanum coagulans, Forsk., nightshade; 
(?), Bible, and 
, Talmud = Urtica urens, Linn., nettle.
General terms, some of them applied also to thorns, are 
, and 
in the Bible, and 
, and 
in the Mishnah and Talmud.
These files are public domain.
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Thorns and Thistles'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/t/thorns-and-thistles.html. 1901.
