Christ Caught in a Thicket
Genesis 22:13; Matt 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2-5;
Abraham looked up, and there he saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a sacrifice instead of his son. (Gen 22:13, NEB)
They dressed him up in purple, twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on him. (Mark 15:17, NJB)
For this Bible Bit we will simply place two passages of scripture in front of you and see what you make of them.
We find an explicit equivalence in God’s placement of a ram in a thicket two millenia prior to placing a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head. The lamb-ram is Christ, and the substitutional sacrifice for Isaac then, and the rest of us now.
First, Abraham is prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac on an altar to God, but then Christ — er, a ram — appears caught in a thicket. With branches wrapped around the head:
Gen 22:13,
NRSV: And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. (NRSV)
HCSB: Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
CJB: Avraham raised his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. Avraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son.
The thicket of what presumably are thorny branches, snagging our sacrificial ram, are cut into sections by Roman soldiers and placed, once again, on Christ’s head:
Matt 27:29,
NRSV: and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
CJB: wove thorn-branches into a crown and put it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. Then they kneeled down in front of him and made fun of him: “Hail to the King of the Jews!”
KJV: And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
Mark 15:17,
ESV: And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him.
NRSV: And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him.
NET: They put a purple cloak on him and after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on him.
John 19:2,5,
NRSV: 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe…. 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
NET: 2 The soldiers braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple robe…. 5 So Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Look, here is the man!”
Lexham: 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and placed it on his head, and put a purple robe on him,…. 5 Then Jesus came outside wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and he said to them, “Behold the man!”
Luke does not include an account of the crown of thorns.
Adding to the intigue regarding the Abraham-Isaac event coupling with the cross event is that God seems to have placed both events in the same location. In Genesis 22, God sends Abraham and child to somewhere in the land of Moriah:
Gen 22:1-2, HCSB: After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. 2 “Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
If the place name Moriah refers to the same place over the hundreds of years between patriarch Abraham and the united monarchy under king Solomon, the temple mount location (or perhaps nearby Golgotha) is that of the Isaac sacrifice:
2 Chron 3:1, HCSB: Then Solomon began to build the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the site David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
On the site David had prepared, and where, presumably, a goat was made available to Abraham.
The goat in the thicket is Jesus in his crown. Yes?
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
There are numerous passages with briars, thorns, brambles, thickets in the Bible. In many of these, a thorn is simply a thorn. In some of these, the thorn additionally represents some adversary of Israel or God. Jesus tells, and you will recall, a parable regarding the planting of Christian seeds amongst the thorns of worldly hostility to Christ.
Very early in Genesis, in the creation story and account of the fall from Eden, God informs Adam of the difficulties which await him outside the walls of the garden:
Genesis 3:18,
NASB: Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field;
ESV: thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
NET: It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field.
Luke recounts the Exodus story of God appearing to Moses in a burning bush. The NASB explicitly calls it a burning “thorn” bush:
Acts 7:30,35, NASB: 30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush….. 35 This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.
Here is the original account:
Exodus 3:1-3, NASB: Now Moses was pasturing the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not being consumed.
We will close with a couple of examples from the prophets:
Isaiah 10:17, NASB: And the Light of Israel will become a fire and Israel’s Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.
Jeremiah 4:3, KJV: For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Thank you’s go to the creators and publishers of the New Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, Complete Jewish Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible, New International Verision and the good ol’ King James Version.
If you choose to respond to this Bible Bits, please cite and quote scripture. You might also include samples of good commentary.
We love reading the actual Bible for ourselves! We pray you do too!
God bless you!
Bible Bits 