“Like a Thistle Whirl”

REGARDING the enemies of God’s people, the psalmist prayed: “O my God, make them like a thistle whirl, like stubble before a wind.” (Ps. 83:13) In the psalmist’s homeland one may often see during the fall a number of star thistles being blown about as a rolling, whirling mass. This is probably what the psalmist had in mind by his prayerful expression.