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(4.) Another view which has been maintained is that this “thorn” consisted in an infirmity of temper, to which he occasionally gave way, and which interfered with his success (comp. Acts 15:39; 23:2-5). If we consider the fact, “which the experience of God’s saints in all ages has conclusively established, of the difficulty of subduing an infirmity of temper, as well as the pain, remorse, and humiliation such an infirmity is wont to cause to those who groan under it, we may be inclined to believe that not the least probable hypothesis concerning the ‘thorn’ or ‘stake’ in the flesh is that the loving heart of the apostle bewailed as his sorest trial the misfortune that, by impatience in word, he had often wounded those for whom he would willingly have given his life” (Lias’s Second Corinthians , Introd.).
•THOUSANDS (Micah 5:2), another name for “families” or “clans” (see Numbers 1:16; 10:4; Joshua 22:14, 21). Several “thousands” or “families” made up a “tribe.”
•THRESHING See AGRICULTURE.
•THRESHOLD (1.) Hebrews miphtan, probably a projecting beam at a higher point than the threshold proper (1 Samuel 5:4,5; Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4,18; 46:2; 47:1); also rendered “door” and “door-post.”
(2.) ‘Asuppim, pl. (Nehemiah 12:25), rendered correctly “storehouses” in the Revised Version. In 1 Chronicles 26:15, 17 the Authorized Version retains the word as a proper name, while in the Revised Version it is translated “storehouses.”
•THRONE (Hebrews kiss’e), a royal chair or seat of dignity (Deuteronomy 17:18; 2 Samuel 7:13; Psalm 45:6); an elevated seat with a canopy and hangings, which cover it. It denotes the seat of the high priest in 1 Samuel 1:9; 4:13, and of a provincial governor in Nehemiah 3:7 and Psalm 122:5. The throne of Solomon is described at length in 1 Kings 10:18-20.
•THUMMIM perfection (LXX., “truth;” Vulg., “veritas”), Exodus 28:30; Deuteronomy 33:8; Judges 1:1; 20:18; 1 Samuel 14:3,18; 23:9; 2 Samuel 21:1. What the “Urim and Thummim” were cannot be determined with any certainty. All we certainly know is that they were a certain divinely-given means by which God imparted, through the high priest, direction and