2 Corinthians 12:7

7. Abundance of the revelations A clear intimation that 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 narrate his own experience. The word thorn, in the Greek, signifies any pointed peg, or piece of metal or wood. Hence it was used to designate a strike or pale; especially the pale by which the terrible punishment of impalement was inflicted. Hence Dr. Lightfoot is very positive that it is here used in that sense, and thus as the cross the instrument of crucifixion is used to figure any terrible endurance, so the pale the instrument of impalement is selected by Paul to figure the infliction he suffered. But the meaning thorn seems equally well supported, and more suitable to the present case. We gather from all the allusions, that, though a source of most poignant irritation, Paul’s thorn was more a mortification and an obstacle than a pain. Nor does the Greek of Galatians 4:14, suggest that Paul’s suffering was “loathsome” to the eyes, like the eruption or cancer of King Alfred, but rather provocative of contempt and ridicule, as if he were a failure in oratory. See notes, 2Co 1:8-9 ; 2 Corinthians 10:10.

Messenger of Satan Job was vexed by Satan himself; St. Paul only by his messenger. This has suggested to some interpreters the idea of a living, troublesome opponent, who was, as we say, “a thorn in the side.” But to a Jew, the “angel of Satan” was an invisible foe, and a spiritual. We are unable to say whether St. Paul believed that it was truly a Satanic work, or only that, like all other ailments, it was the natural result of sin and Satan in general. Given to me, implies that whether Satan was the permitted inflicter or not, the infirmity was a divine, severe gift.

Buffet Literally, to box or beat with the hand or fist, and figuratively applied to any maltreatment or hard usage. To our own mind it suggests an epileptic stroke, the result of nervous suffering under severe trial. It particularly negatives the idea of Alford and others, that the thorn was a disease of the eyes. It equally refutes the notion that it was the lust of the flesh. In short, the most excited of all lives, which St. Paul lived, “brought on,” as Bloomfield rightly says, “chronical infirmities of the paralytic sort, such as, especially with diabolical cooperation, might occasion distortion of countenance, defect in utterance, and nervous affections; all which would tend to raise contempt in the minds of the multitude, which, joined with his diminutive form,” would furnish a full solution, meeting the demand of every relevant passage.