[94] 2.THE "THORN IN THE FLESH". The character of the Pamphylian country, not merely in its modern half-cultivated condition, but at all times, must have been enervating and calculated to bring out any latent weakness of constitution. Now it is a probable and generally accepted view that the "physical weakness,"which was the occasion why Paul preached to the Galatians, was the same malady which tormented him at frequent intervals. I have suggested that this malady was a species of chronic malaria fever; and, in view of criticisms, it is necessary to dwell on this point; for I have incurred the blame of exaggerating an ephemeral attack. The question is put whether such an illness "could reasonably have called forth their contempt and loathing. 1

[95] A physical weakness, which recurs regularly in some situation that one is regularly required by duty to face, produces strong and peculiar effect on our human nature. An attentive student of mankind has caught this trait and described it clearly in one of the characters whom his genius has created. I quote from Charles Reade's description of a clergyman engaged in warfare against the barbarity of prison discipline, upon whom every scene of cruelty which he had often to witness produced a distressing physical effect, sickness and trembling. "His high-tuned nature gave way. He locked the door that no one might see his weakness; and, then, succumbing to nature, he fell first into a sickness and then into a trembling, and more than once hysterical tears gushed from his eyes in the temporary prostration of his spirit and his powers. Such are the great. Men know their feats, but not their struggles. The feeling of shame at this weakness is several times described in the course of the narrative (It is Never too Late to Mend); and, when at last nature, on the verge of a more serious physical prostration, ceased to relieve itself in this painful way, "he thanked Heaven for curing him of that contemptible infirmity, so he called it". Yet that weakness did not prevent the sufferer from facing his duty, but only came on as a consequence; and it could be hidden within the privacy of his chamber. Let the reader conceive the distress and shame of the sufferer, if the weakness had prostrated him before his duty was finished, and laid him helpless before them all when he required his whole strength. Surely he would have "besought the Lord that it might depart from"him, and regarded it as "a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him"(II Cor. XII 7, 8).

Now, in some constitutions malaria fever tends to recur [96] in very distressing and prostrating paroxysms, whenever one's energies are taxed for a great effort. Such an attack is for the time absolutely incapacitating: the sufferer can only lie and feel himself a shaking and helpless weakling, when he ought to be at work. He feels a contempt and loathing for self, and believes that others feel equal contempt and loathing.

Charles Reade's hero could at least retire to his room, and lock the door, and conceal his weakness from others; but, in the publicity of Oriental life, Paul could have no privacy. In every paroxysm, and they might recur daily, he would lie exposed to the pity or the contempt of strangers. If he were first seen in a Galatian village, or house, lying in the mud on the shady side of a wall for two hours shaking like an aspen leaf, the gratitude that he expresses to the Galatians, because they "did not despise nor reject his infirmity,"was natural and deserved.

Fresh light is thrown on this subject by an observation of Mr. Hogarth, my companion in many journeys. In publishing a series of inscriptions recording examples of punishment inflicted by the God on those who had approached the sanctuary in impurity, he suggests that malarial fever was often the penalty sent by the God. The paroxysms, recurring suddenly with overpowering strength, and then passing off, seemed to be due to the direct visitation of God. This gives a striking effect to Paul's words in Gal. IV 14, "you did not despise nor reject my physical infirmity, but received me as an angel of God": though the Galatians might have turned him away from their door as a person accursed and afflicted by God, they received him as God's messenger. The obvious implication of this passage has led many to the view that Paul's malady was [97] epilepsy, which was also attributed to the direct visitation of God.

A strong corroboration is found in the phrase: "a stakein the flesh,"which Paul uses about his malady (II Cor. XII 7)- That is the peculiar headache which accompanies theparoxysms: within my experience several persons, innocentof Pauline theorising, have described it as "like a red-hotbar thrust through the forehead". As soon as fever conneeted itself with Paul in my mind, the "stake in the flesh"impressed me as a strikingly illustrative metaphor; and theoldest tradition on the subject, quoted by Tertullian andothers, explains the"stake in the flesh "as headache.

The malady was a "messenger of Satan". Satan seemsto represent in Pauline language any overpowering obstacleto his work, an obstacle which it was impossible to struggleagainst: so Satan prevented him from returning to Thessalonica, in the form of an ingenious obstacle, which made his return impossible for the time (p. 230). Thewords "messenger sent to buffet me,"imply that it camefrequently and unexpectedly, striking him down with the power of the Enemy.

The idea that the malady was an affection of the eyes, resulting from blinding at his conversion, seems inadequate in itself, unsuitable to his own words, and contradicted bythe evidence as to the power of his eyes (p. 38).

Paul describes the malady as sent to prevent him from "being exalted overmuch by reason of the exceedinggreatness of the revelations"which had been granted tohim; and he clearly implies that it came later than thegreat revelation, when "he was caught up even to the thirdheaven"about 43 A.D. (p. 60). The malady certainly didnot begin long before this journey; and the attack in Pam-phylia may perhaps have been the first.

FOOTNOTES:

1 Expositor, Dec., 1893, p. 4417.