![]() Yusuf Ali: We ordained therein for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose or nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if any one remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement for himself. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are wrong-doers. ![]() But whoso forgoeth it (in the way of charity) it shall be expiation for him. Pickthall: And We prescribed for them therein: The life for the life, and the eye for the eye, and the nose for the nose, and the ear for the ear, and the tooth for the tooth, and for wounds retaliation. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed – then it is those who are the wrongdoers. But whoever gives charity, it is an expiation for him. Sahih International: And We ordained for them therein a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds is legal retribution. He probably left it this way so that people with various kinds of physical and spiritual problems might identify with Paul and experience the grace that God has promised (2 Corinthians 12:9).Chapter (5) sūrat l-māidah (The Table spread with Food) God must have had a good reason for not giving this information. The fact of the matter is that the Bible doesn’t identify Paul’s thorn. And in 1 Thessalonians 2:18, Satan is said to have prevented Paul more than once from visiting the Thessalonians. Those who hold to this view also refer to Numbers 33:55, where Moses warned the children of Israel as they were about to enter Canaan, “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.”Īnother example of such a “thorn” would be Elymas, the sorcerer mentioned in Acts 13, who tried to turn the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, away from the faith (v.8) and was addressed by Paul as “you son of the devil” (v.10). Some scholars prefer this interpretation and think Paul referred to Alexander the coppersmith (2 Timothy 4:14), Hymenaeus, and Philetus (2 Timothy 2:17), as the “thorns” who were adversaries of the work and therefore doing Satan’s business. Those who believe that the thorn was something other than a physical affliction point out that it was sent to “buffet” Paul (2 Corinthians 12:7), that is to prick the apostle’s arrogance which may have lingered on after he had been converted from Pharisaism. We therefore have scriptural support for the idea that the “messenger of Satan” can be something physical. ![]() ![]() Paul also referred to his “thorn” as “a messenger of Satan.” We know that the devil afflicted Job with a physical malady (Job 2:7) and caused physical deformity to a woman (Luke 13:16). ![]() Some have suggested that this may have been a chronic eye disease or an injury suffered when he was stoned in Lystra (Acts 14:19,20). He also declared that the Galatians would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him (Galatians 4:13-15). He spoke of the large letters he used in writing to the Galatians (Galatians 6:11). There is some evidence in Scripture that Paul had an eye problem. We do not know exactly what the affliction was that Paul called his “thorn in the flesh.” It probably was a physical malady. What was the “thorn” that Paul referred to in 2 Corinthians 12:7? ![]()
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