Thorns: Outside the Garden

Welcome to my new newsletter series.

This time we will look at the appearances, imagery and symbolism of thorns in the Bible.

What do they mean and why are they so important?

The Garden of Eden

The ancient Israelites, 2nd Temple Jews and the early Christians all saw the Garden of Eden as a mountain.

Even though this is not explicit in the text, the geography describes a place which has four rivers flowing from it. As rivers flow from a higher place to lower, this means Eden would be a high place, like a mountain. The above picture is a good representation of Eden, with the four rivers flowing from the mountain.

The Four Trees

In Genesis 2 and 3, we read about four trees.

• Tree of Life

• Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

• Fig Tree

• Thorn Bush

Traditionally, it was understood that the trees where positioned with the Tree of Life at the top. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil situated half way down. The fig tree was situated a little lower and at the base of mountain, and outside of Eden, resided the thorn bush. See the picture below.

The Thorn Bushes

In Genesis 3, we see there are two types of thorn bush. One is translated as thorn, the other as thistles.

Genesis 3 v 17-18

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.

In Hebrew, the root word of thorn is quts, which means Summer. There were two main seasons in ancient Israel, Summer and Winter. Winter was wet and cool. The Summer was dry and hot.

This gives the sense that the land outside of Eden was rainless and barren.

The root word of thistle is deror, which means to run free, or maybe ‘run wild’.

So together, the phrase ‘thorns and thistles’ means an unordered and unproductive land. An anti-Eden, so to speak. Everything Eden is, the land outside is the opposite. No low hanging fruit in abundance or unending provisions of food and water. No protection from the encroaching wilderness and from threats which ‘run wild’ through the cursed landscape.

Thorns and thistles grow in a disordered manner. Expanding quickly, in unpredictable ways, and always seeking out new territory. Wherever they go, they make the land fruitless and impossible to inhabit.

Any attempt to remove them by hand would result in cuts and pierced skin.

Adam and the Thorn Bush

The thorn bush became a fruit of Adam’s decision to disobey God. It symbolises the curse he passed down to all generations.

So what’s the solution?

Cain’s solution was to build a city.

He attempted to build his own ‘Eden’ to protect him and his children from the curse of the thorns and thistles. His descendants developed technologies and tools to protect their community. They did not rely on God, but on what their minds could conceive and their hands produce.

How did Seth, Adam and Eve’s third son, and his descendants deal with this same issue? In verse 26, they called on God.

Genesis 4 v 26

Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.

Human accomplishments in technology and culture are to be lauded, but when they replace God as the solution, then sin abounds.

Cain’s city was a fake Eden. He named it after his son, Enoch.

The name Enoch has a Hebrew root meaning lips, mouth or speech. It could be argued that the city was Cain’s Word.

In John 1, we see that Jesus is God’s Word.

So Cain’s path of self reliance, and trying to deal with the problem of the ‘thorns’, led to the Flood.

Following God’s path, and trusting Him above all, leads to our salvation.