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•THISTLE (1.) Hebrews hoah (2 Kings 14:9; Job 31:40). In Job 41:2 the Hebrew word is rendered “thorn,” but in the Revised Version “hook.” It is also rendered “thorn” in 2 Chronicles 33:11; Proverbs 26:9; Cant. 2:2; “brambles” in Isaiah 34:13. It is supposed to be a variety of the wild plum-tree, but by some it is regarded as the common thistle, of which there are many varieties in Palestine.
(2.) Hebrews dardar, meaning “a plant growing luxuriantly” (Genesis 3:18; Hos. 10:8); Gr. tribolos, “a triple point” (Matthew 7:16; Hebrews 6:8, “brier,” R.V. “thistle”). This was probably the star-thistle, called by botanists Centaurea calcitropa, or “caltrops,” a weed common in corn-fields. (See THORNS.)
•THOMAS twin, one of the twelve (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18, etc.). He was also called Didymus (John 11:16; 20:24), which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name. All we know regarding him is recorded in the fourth Gospel (John 11:15, 16; 14:4, 5; 20:24, 25, 26-29). From the circumstance that in the lists of the apostles he is always mentioned along with Matthew, who was the son of Alphaeus (Mark 3:18), and that these two are always followed by James, who was also the son of Alphaeus, it has been supposed that these three, Matthew, Thomas, and James, were brothers.
•THORN (1.) Hebrews hedek (Proverbs 15:19), rendered “brier” in Micah 7:4. Some thorny plant, of the Solanum family, suitable for hedges. This is
probably the so-called “apple of Sodom,” which grows very abundantly in the Jordan valley. “It is a shrubby plant, from 3 to 5 feet high, with very branching stems, thickly clad with spines, like those of the English brier, with leaves very large and woolly on the under side, and thorny on the midriff.”