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Numbers 33:
Judges 2:
The expressions seem to mean some troublesome spot.55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.
Judges 2:
Paul used a similar expression in 2 Corinthians 12:3 So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.
That's the purpose of Paul's thorn: to keep him humble. God humbles everyone, including his prophets and servants.7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,
It was not literally a thorn. Satan used it to harass Paul constantly. God used Satan to keep Paul humble. Paul wasn't being precise in describing exactly what it was.a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me,
The thorn was some kind of weakness in Paul.to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
This was how Paul dealt with it practically.Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
He looked to the strength of God, not to the thorn. I don't think it was a physical condition. It may be some mental/psychological attack that he had trouble dealing with. When it happened, he rested in God.10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.