Prickles and briers and thorns, oh my!

Won't it be a beautiful day when there is nothing on earth or heaven to hurt us? From satan himself destroying people's souls, down to the smallest thorn, nothing will pain us anymore. Remember, thorns were not part of the original creation. They appeared after the Fall when God cursed the ground.

cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; (Genesis 3:17b-18a)

THORNS AND BRIERS AND BRAMBLES
“All the land shall become briers and thorns.”—ISA. 7:24.

THE Hebrew words atad, koz, chedek, choach, naazuz, shait, shamir, sillon, sirim, sirpad, zinnim, and eight others, have been translated variously “thorns,” “briers,” and “brambles” in the Old Testament; and the word akantha is the “thorn” of the New Testament. It is impossible to say whether or not a particular species of plant was intended by each of these terms. Most of them apply generally to thorny plants, of which there are many in Palestine at the present day. 

Commentators mention among the thorny plants of the Holy Land species of Zizyphus, such as Zizyphus spina-Christi, also Paliurus aculeatus, Acanthus spinosus, Ononis spinosa, Solanum spinosum, Tribulus terrestris, Lycium europæum, and species of Rhamnus, Centaurea, and Astragalus. 

Since man’s fall, thorns of all kinds have come up on the ground, which was cursed (Gen. 3:18); and God in chastening Israel often refers to the curse of thorns. Thus Isaiah says, “Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers” (32:13); and Hosea prophesies that “the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars” (10:8).

Source, Balfour, J. H. (1885). The Plants of the Bible (p. 128). London; Edinburgh; New York: T. Nelson and Sons.

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