He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Parallel Translations
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He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
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And he sayde what arte thou lorde? And the lorde sayd I am Iesus whom thou persecutest it shalbe harde for the to kycke agaynst the pricke.
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And he sayd, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord sayd, I am Iesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kicke against pricks.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Acts 9:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Timothy 1:13 although I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
- 1 Samuel 3:4-10 Yahweh called Samuel. He said, “Here I am.” He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He said, “I didn’t call. Lie down again.” He went and lay down. Yahweh called yet again, “Samuel!” Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He answered, “I didn’t call, my son. Lie down again.” Now Samuel didn’t yet know Yahweh, neither was Yahweh’s word yet revealed to him. Yahweh called Samuel again the third time. He arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” Eli perceived that Yahweh had called the child. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down. It shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Yahweh; for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Yahweh came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.”
- Job 9:4 God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
- Job 40:9-10 Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him? “Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty.
- Isaiah 45:9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’
- Acts 26:9 “I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
- Psalms 2:12 Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
- Acts 5:39 But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it, and you would be found even to be fighting against God!”
- 1 Corinthians 10:22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 5. Who art thou, Lord? We have Paul now…
5. Who art thou, Lord? We have Paul now somewhat tamed, but he is not yet Christ’s disciple. Pride is corrected in him, and his fury is brought down. But he is not yet so thoroughly healed that he obeyeth Christ; he is only ready to receive commandments, who was before a blasphemer. Therefore, this is the question of a man that is afraid, and thrown down with amazedness. For why doth he not know, by so many signs of God’s presence, that it is God that speaketh? Therefore that voice proceeded from a panting and doubtful mind; therefore, Christ driveth him nigher unto repentance, When he addeth, I am Jesus, let us remember that that voice sounded from heaven. Therefore it ought to have pierced the mind of Paul when he considered that he had made war against God hitherto. It ought to have brought him by and by to true submission, when he considered that he should not escape scot free, if he should continue rebellious against him whose hand he could not escape.
This place containeth a most profitable doctrine, and the profit thereof is made manifold, for Christ showeth what great account he maketh of his gospel, when he pronounceth that it is his cause, from which he will not be separated. Therefore he can no more refuse to defend the same than he can deny himself. Secondly, the godly may gather great comfort by this, in that they hear that the Son of God is partner with them of the cross, when as they suffer and labor for the testimony of the gospel, and that he doth, as it were, put under his shoulders, that he may bear some part of the burden. For it is not for nothing that he saith that he suffereth in our person; but he will have us to be assuredly persuaded of this, that he suffereth together with us, as if the enemies of the gospel should wound us through his side. Wherefore Paul saith, that that is wanting in the sufferings of Christ what persecutions soever the faithful suffer at this day for the defense of the gospel, (Colossians 1:24.) Furthermore, this consolation tendeth not only to that end to comfort us, that it may not be troublesome to us to suffer with our Head, but that we may hope that he will revenge our miseries, who crieth out of heaven that all that which we suffer is common to him as well as to us. Lastly, we gather hereby what horrible judgment is prepared for the persecutors of the Church, who like giants besiege the very heaven, and shake their darts, which shall pierce their own head by and by; yea, by troubling the heavens, they provoke the thunderbolt of God’s wrath against themselves. Also, we are all taught generally, that no man run against Christ by hurting his brother unjustly, and specially, that no man resist the truth rashly and with a blind madness, under color of zeal.
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It is hard for thee. This is a proverbial sentence, taken from oxen or horses, which, when they are pricked with goads, do themselves no good by kicking, save only that they double the evil by causing the prick to go farther into their skins. Christ applieth this similitude unto himself very fitly, because men shall bring upon themselves a double evil, by striving against him, who must of necessity be subject to his will and pleasure, will they nill they. Those which submit themselves willingly to Christ are so far from feeling any pricking at his hands, that they have in him a ready remedy for all wounds; but all the wicked, who endeavor to cast out their poisoned stings against him, shall at length perceive that they are asses and oxen, subject to the prick. So that he is unto the godly a foundation whereon they rest, but unto the reprobate who stumble at him, a stone which with his [its] hardness grindeth them to powder. And although we speak here of the enemies of the gospel, yet this admonition may reach farther, to wit, that we do not think that we shall get any thing by biting the bridle so often as we have any thing to do with God, but that being like to gentle horses, we suffer ourselves meekly to be turned about and guided by his hand. And if he spur us at any time, let us be made more ready to obey by his pricks, lest that befall us which is said in the Psalm, That the jaws of untamed horses and mules are tied and kept in with a hard bit, lest they leap upon us, etc.
In this history we have a universal figure of that grace which the Lord showeth forth daily in calling us all. All men do not set themselves so violently against the gospel; yet, nevertheless, both pride and also rebellion against God are naturally engendered in all men. We are all wicked and cruel naturally; therefore, in that we are turned to God, that cometh to pass by the wonderful and secret power of God, contrary to nature. The Papists also ascribe the praise of our turning unto God to the grace of God; yet only in part, because they imagine that we work together. But when as the Lord doth mortify our flesh, he subdueth us and bringeth us under, as he did Paul. Neither is our will one hair readier to obey than was Paul’s, until such time as the pride of our heart be beaten down, and he have made us not only flexible but also willing to obey and follow. Therefore, such is the beginning of our conversion, that the Lord seeketh us of his own accord, when we wander and go astray, though he be not called and sought; that he changeth the stubborn affections of our heart, to the end he may have us to be apt to be taught.
Furthermore, this history is of great importance to confirm Paul’s doctrine. If Paul had always been one of Christ’s disciples, wicked and froward men might extenuate the weight of the testimony which he giveth of his Master. If he should have showed himself to be easy to be entreated, and gentle at the first, we should see nothing but that which is proper to man. But when as a deadly enemy to Christ, rebellious against the gospel, puffed up with the confidence which he reposed in his wisdom, inflamed with hatred of the true faith, blinded with hypocrisy, wholly set upon the overthrowing of the truth, [he] is suddenly changed into a new man, after an unwonted manner, and of a wolf is not only turned into a sheep, but doth also take to himself a shepherd’s nature, it is as if Christ should bring forth with his hand some angel sent from heaven. For we do not now see that Saul of Tarsus, but a new man framed by the Spirit of God; so that he speaketh by his mouth now, as it were from heaven.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain This is a proverb which is spoken of them…
This is a proverb which is spoken of them that through their own stubbornness hurt themselves.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And…
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Ver. 5. To kick against the pricks] A metaphor from oxen pushing back upon the goad, when they are pricked therewith, as Beza showeth out of Aeschilus.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Who art thou, Lord? Saul was in a great…
Who art thou, Lord? Saul was in a great consternation and doubting, whether it was God, or an angel.
Jesus whom thou persecutest: though he did not intend this persecution against Christ, yet our Saviour looks upon the good or evil done unto his members as done unto himself.
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It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks: this kicking against the pricks is a proverbial speech, taken either from oxen or slaves, whom they used with goads to prick on to their work, which when they kicked against, or opposed themselves to, they did not hurt the goads or pricks, but themselves; so shall all persecutors find that their mischiefs recoil upon themselves; Christ and his members shall be made here glorious by it: this metaphor is common in Scripture, Deu 32:15; 1Sa 2:29. The pricks Saul had kicked against, were the sermons and miracles of St. Stephen and others.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he said, who art thou, Lord?.... For he…
And he said, who art thou, Lord?.... For he knew not whether it was God, or an angel, or who it was that spake to him; he knew not Christ by his form or voice, as Stephen did, when he saw him standing at the right hand of God; he was in a state of ignorance, and knew neither the person, nor voice of Christ, and yet his heart was so far softened and wrought upon, that he was desirous of knowing who he was;
and the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. The Alexandrian copy, and the Syriac and Ethiopic versions, "read Jesus of Nazareth"; and one of Beza's copies, and another of Stephens', as in Act 22:8 whose name thou art doing many things against, and whose people thou art destroying:
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it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks; or "to resist me", as the Arabic version renders it; and which is the sense of the phrase; it is a proverbial expression, taken from beasts that are goaded, who kick against the goads or pricks, and hurt themselves the more thereby; and Christ uses it, suggesting hereby, that should Saul go on to persecute him and his people, to oppose his Gospel, and the strong evidence of it, in doctrine and miracles, and notwithstanding the present remonstrances made in such an extraordinary manner; he would find himself in the issue greatly hurt by it, and could not rationally expect to succeed against so powerful a person. This clause in the Syriac version is placed at the end of the fourth verse.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain To kick against the goads - is a Syriac…
To kick against the goads - is a Syriac proverb, expressing an attempt that brings nothing but pain.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. Who art thou, Lord?] τις ει, κυριε;…
Verse 5. Who art thou, Lord?] τις ει, κυριε; Who art thou, SIR? He had no knowledge who it was that addressed him, and would only use the term κυριε, as any Roman or Greek would, merely as a term of civil respect.
I am Jesus whom thou persecutest] "Thy enmity is against me and my religion; and the injuries which thou dost to my followers I consider as done to myself."
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The following words, making twenty in the original, and thirty in our version, are found in no Greek MS. The words are, It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks: and he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? and the Lord said unto him. It is not very easy to account for such a large addition, which is not only not found in any Greek MS. yet discovered, but is wanting in the Itala, Erpen's Arabic, the Syriac, Coptic, Sahidic, and most of the Slavonian. It is found in the Vulgate, one of the Arabic, the AEthiopic, and Armenian; and was probably borrowed from Ac 26:14, and some marginal notes. It is wanting also in the Complutensian edition, and in that of Bengel. Griesbach also leaves it out of the text.
It is hard for thee, c.] σκληρον σοι προς κεντρα λακτιζειν. This is a proverbial expression, which exists, not only in substance, but even in so many words, both in the Greek and Latin writers. κεντρον, kentron, signifies an ox goad, a piece of pointed iron stuck in the end of a stick, with which the ox is urged on when drawing the plough. The origin of the proverb seems to have been this: sometimes it happens that a restive or stubborn ox kicks back against the goad, and thus wounds himself more deeply: hence it has become a proverb to signify the fruitlessness and absurdity of rebelling against lawful authority, and the getting into greater difficulties by endeavouring to avoid trifling sufferings. So the proverb, Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim. Out of the cauldron into the fire. "Out of bad into worse." The saying exists, almost in the apostolic form, in the following writers. EURIPIDES, in Bacch. ver. 793:-
Θυοιμ' αν αυτῳ μαλλον, η θυμουμενος
Προς κεντρα λακτιζοιμι, θνητος ων, Θεῳ.
"I, who am a frail mortal, should rather sacrifice
to him who is a GOD, than, by giving place to
anger, kick against the goads."
And AESCHYLUS, in Agamemnon, ver. 1633:-
Προς κεντρα μη λακτιζε.
Kick not against the goads.
And again in Prometh. Vinct. ver. 323:-
Προς κεντρα κωλον εκτενεις, ὁρων ὁτι
Τραχυς μοναρχος ουδ' ὑπευθυνος κρατει.
"Thou stretchest out thy foot against goads, seeing
the fierce monarch governs according to his own will."
Resistance is of no use: the more thou dost rebel, the more keenly thou shalt suffer. See the Scholiast here.
PINDAR has a similar expression, Pyth. ii. ver. 171-5 :-
Φερειν δ' ελαφρως
Επαυχενιον λαβοντα
Ζυγον γ' αρηγει. Ποτι κεντρον δε τοι
Λακτιζεμεν, τελεθει
Ολισθηρος οιμος.
"It is profitable to bear willingly the assumed yoke.
To kick against the goad is pernicious conduct."
Where see the Scholiast, who shows that "it is ridiculous for a man to fight with fortune: for if the unruly ox, from whom the metaphor is taken, kick against the goad, he shall suffer still more grievously." TERENCE uses the same figure. Phorm. Act i. scen. 2, ver. 27:-
Venere in mentem mihi istaec: nam inscitia est,
Adversum stimulum calces._______
"These things have come to my recollection, for it
is foolishness for thee to kick against a goad."
OVID has the same idea in other words, Trist. lib. ii. ver. 15:-
At nunc (tanta meo comes est insania morbo)
Saxa malum refero rursus ad icta pedem.
Scilicet et victus repetit gladiator arenam
Et redit in tumidas naufraga puppis aquas.
But madly now I wound myself alone,
Dashing my injured foot against the stone:
So to the wide arena, wild with pain,
The vanquish'd gladiator hastes again;
So the poor shatter'd bark the tempest braves,
Launching once more into the swelling waves.
Intelligent men, in all countries and in all ages of the world, have seen and acknowledged the folly and wickedness of fighting against God; of murmuring at the dispensations of his providence; of being impatient under affliction; and of opposing the purposes of his justice and mercy. The words contain a universal lesson, and teach us patience under affliction, and subjection to the sovereign will of God; and they especially show the desperate wickedness of endeavouring, by persecution, to hinder the dissemination of the truth of God in the earth. He that kicks against this goad does it at the risk of his final salvation. The fable of the viper and the file is another illustration of this proverb: it gnawed and licked the file, till it destroyed its teeth and wasted away its tongue. The maxim in the proverb should be early inculcated on the minds of children and scholars; when chastised for their faults, resistance and stubbornness produce increased coercion and chastisement. And let parents and masters learn that the oft-repeated use of the goad and ferula seldom tend to reclaim, but beget obduracy and desperation. The advice of Columella to the ploughman, having some relation to the proverb in the text, and a strong bearing on this latter part of the subject, is worthy of the most serious regard: "Voce potius quam verberibus terreat: ultimaque sint opus recusantibus remedia plagae. Nunquam stimulo lacessat juvencum, quod retrectantem calcitrosumque eum reddit: nonnunquam tamen admoneat flagello." COLUMELLA, De Re Rustica, lib. ii. cap. 2, in fine. "Let the husbandman intimidate his oxen more by his voice than by blows, to which he should never have recourse but in extreme cases. A young steer should never be goaded, for this will induce him to kick and run back; but on proper occasions the whip, as an incentive to activity, may be profitably used." In reference to the same subject, which all concerned should feel to be of the greatest importance I shall close with the advice of one greater than the Roman agriculturist: Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged, Col 3:21; but bring them up (εν παιδειᾳ και νουθεσιᾳ Κυριου) in the discipline and admonition of the Lord, Eph 6:4, using the authority that God has given you with a steady hand, actuated by a tender and feeling heart.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And he said, Who art thou, Lord? - The…
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? - The word “Lord” here, as is frequently the case in the New Testament, means no more than “sir,” Joh 4:19. It is evident that Saul did not as yet know that this was the Lord Jesus. He heard a voice as of a man; he heard himself addressed, but by whom the words were spoken was to him unknown. In his amazement and confusion, he naturally asked who it was that was thus addressing him.
And the Lord said - In this place the word “Lord” is used in a higher sense, to denote “the Saviour.” It is his usual appellation. See the notes on Act 1:24.
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I am Jesus - It is clear, from this, that there was a personal appearance of the Saviour; that he was present to Saul; but in what particular form - whether seen as a man, or only appearing by the manifestation of his glory, is not affirmed. Though it was a personal appearance, however, of the Lord Jesus, designed to take the work of converting such a persecutor into his own hands, yet he designed to convert him in a natural way. He arrested his attention; he filled him with alarm at his guilt; and then he presented the truth respecting himself. In Act 22:8, the expression is thus recorded: “I am Jesus of Nazareth,” etc. There is no contradiction, as Luke here records only a part of what was said; Paul afterward stated the whole. This declaration was suited especially to humble and mortify Saul. There can be no doubt that he had often blasphemed his name, and profanely derided the notion that the Messiah could come out of Nazareth. Jesus here uses, however, that very designation. “I am Jesus the Nazarene, the object of your contempt and scorn.” Yet Saul saw him now invested with special glory.
It is hard ... - This is evidently a proverbial expression. Kuinoel has quoted numerous places in which a similar mode of expression occurs in Greek writers. Thus, Euripides, Bacch., 791, “I, who am a frail mortal, should rather sacrifice to him who is a god, than, by giving place to anger, kick against the goads.” So Pindar, Pyth., 2:173, “It is profitable to bear willingly the assumed yoke. To kick against the goad is pernicious conduct.” So Terence, Phome., 1, 2, 27, “It is foolishness for thee to kick against a goad.” Ovid has the same idea, Tristam, ii. 15. The word translated “pricks” here κέντρον kentron means properly “any sharp point which will pierce or perforate,” as the sting of a bee, etc. But it commonly means an ox-goad, a sharp piece of iron stuck into the end of a stick, with which the ox is urged on. These goads among the Hebrews were made very large. Thus, Shamgar killed 600 men with one of them, Jdg 3:31. Compare 1Sa 13:21. The expression “to kick against the prick” is derived from the action of a stubborn and unyielding ox kicking against the goad. And as the ox would injure no one by it but himself; as he would gain nothing, it comes to denote “an obstinate and refractory disposition and course of conduct, resisting the authority of him who has a right to command, and opposing the leadings of Providence, to the injury of him who makes the resistance.” It denotes “rebellion against lawful authority, and thus getting into greater difficulty by attempting to oppose the commands to duty.” This is the condition of every sinner. If people wish to be happy, they should cheerfully submit to the authority of God. They should not rebel against his dealings. They should not complain against their Creator. They should not resist the claims of their consciences. By all this they only injure themselves. No man can resist God or his own conscience and be happy. People evince this temper in the following ways:
(1) By violating plain laws of God.
(2) By attempting to resist his claims.
(3) By refusing to do what their conscience requires.
(4) By attempting to free themselves from serious impressions and alarms.
(5) By pursuing a course of vice and wickedness against what they know to be right.
(6) By refusing to submit to the dealings of Providence. And,
(7) In any way by opposing God, and refusing to submit to his authority, and to do what is right.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain To kick against the goad. Others translate against the…
To kick against the goad. Others translate against the pricks; others, against the sting. The metaphor is taken from oxen kicking, when pricked to go forward. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Who art thou, Lord?--"Jesus knew Saul ere Saul knew…
Who art thou, Lord?--"Jesus knew Saul ere Saul knew Jesus" [BENGEL]. The term "Lord" here is an indefinite term of respect for some unknown but august speaker. That Saul saw as well as heard this glorious Speaker, is expressly said by Ananias (Act 9:17; Act 22:14), by Barnabas (Act 9:27), and by himself (Act 26:16); and in claiming apostleship, he explicitly states that he had "seen the Lord" (Co1 9:1; Co1 15:8), which can refer only to this scene.
I am Jesus whom thou persecutest--The "I" and "thou" here are touchingly emphatic in the original; while the term "JESUS" is purposely chosen, to convey to him the thrilling information that the hated name which he sought to hunt down--"the Nazarene," as it is in Act 22:8 --was now speaking to him from the skies, "crowned with glory and honor" (see Act 26:9).
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It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks--The metaphor of an ox, only driving the goad deeper by kicking against it, is a classic one, and here forcibly expresses, not only the vanity of all his measures for crushing the Gospel, but the deeper wound which every such effort inflicted upon himself.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. The pricks—The goad, or goad-points, with which oxen…
5. The pricks—The goad, or goad-points, with which oxen were stimulated and punished, and compelled to submit by their drivers. It was a proverb in antiquity used by AEschylus and other classic poets (as quoted by Dr. Clarke) to describe a vain resistance.
Christ, both personally and impersonated in his own on-moving, resistless cause, is, like a relentless driver, requiring Saul’s absolute submission; but Saul, like a refractory bullock, is kicking back, as if to overthrow his true Lord and Master. It is but to pierce himself. And the issue for him is submission or death.
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These words, however, are found in no Greek manuscript here, but are borrowed from Act_26:14. And Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? is borrowed from Act_22:10.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. And he said, Who art thou, Lord?] Saul…
5. And he said, Who art thou, Lord?] Saul is sensible of the Divine nature of the vision, and shews this by his address. The appearance of Christ, though in a glorified body, must have been like that which He wore in His humanity, and since Saul does not recognize Jesus, we may almost certainly conclude that he had not known Him during His ministerial life.
And the Lord said] The best texts have only “And he,” the verb “said” being understood.
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I am Jesus whom thou persecutest] In Act_22:8 St Paul gives the fuller form of the sentence, “I am Jesus of Nazareth.” By using this name, the being whose Divine nature Saul has already acknowledged by calling him “Lord,” at once and for ever puts an end to Saul’s persecuting rage, for he is made to see, what his master Gamaliel had before suggested (Act_5:39), that to persecute Jesus was to “fight against God.”
it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him] These words have been inserted here in some MSS. for the sake of making in this place a complete narrative by the combination and adaptation of the additional particulars given in Act_26:14 and Act_22:10. It is easy to understand the desire which prompted such a combination. The best MSS. omit the words here, giving them where they more naturally find place, in the personal narratives of St Paul himself.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) Who art thou, Lord?—The word “Lord” could not…
(5) Who art thou, Lord?—The word “Lord” could not as yet have been used in all the fulness of its meaning. As in many cases in the Gospels, it was the natural utterance of respect and awe (Joh_5:7; Joh_9:36; Joh_20:15), such as would be roused by what the persecutor saw and heard.
I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.—Some of the best MSS. give “Jesus of Nazareth”; or better, perhaps, Jesus the Nazarene. It is probable, however, that this was inserted from Act_22:18, where it occurs in St. Paul’s own narrative. Assuming the words to have been those which he actually heard, they reproduced the very Name which he himself, as the chief accuser of Stephen, had probably uttered in the tone of scorn and hatred (Act_6:14)—the very Name which he had been compelling men and women to blaspheme. Now it was revealed to him, or to use his own suggestive mode of speech, “in him” (Gal_1:16), that the Crucified One was in very deed, as the words of Stephen had attested, at the right hand of God, sharing in the glory of the Father. The pronouns are both emphatic, “I, in my Love and Might and Glory, I am the Jesus whom thou, now prostrate and full of dread, hast been bold enough to persecute.” It was not the disciples and brethren alone whom Saul was persecuting. What was done to them the Lord counted as done unto Himself (Mat_10:40).
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It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.—There is a decisive preponderance of MS. authority against the appearance of these words here, and the conclusion of nearly all critics is that they have been inserted in the later MSS. from Act_26:14. As they occur in the English text, however, and belong to this crisis in St. Paul’s life, it will be well to deal with them now. In their outward form they were among the oldest and most familiar of Greek proverbs. The Jew who had been educated in the schools of Tarsus might have read them in Greek poets (Æschylus, Agam. 1633; Pindar, Pyth. ii. 173; Eurip. Bacch. 791), or heard them quoted in familiar speech, or written them in his boyhood. They do not occur in any collection of Hebrew proverbs, but the analogy which they presented was so obvious that the ploughmen of Israel could hardly have failed to draw the same lesson as those of Greece. What they taught was, of course, that to resist a power altogether superior to our own is a profitless and perilous experiment. The goad did but prick more sharply the more the ox struggled against it. Two of the passages cited apply the words directly to the suffering which man is sure to encounter when he resists God, as e.g.—
“With God we may not strive:
But to bow down the willing neck,
And bear the yoke, is wise;
To kick against the pricks will prove
A perilous emprise.”
—Pind. Pyth. ii. 173.
We ask what lesson the words brought to the mind of Saul. What were the “pricks” against which he had been “kicking”? The answer is found in what we know of the facts of his life. There had been promptings, misgivings, warnings, which he had resisted and defied. Among the causes of these, we may well reckon the conversion of the friend and companion of his youth (see Note on Act_4:36), and the warning counsel of Gamaliel (Act_5:34-39), and the angel-face of Stephen (Act_6:15), and the martyr’s dying prayer (Act_7:60), and the daily spectacle of those who were ready to go to prison and to death rather than to renounce the name of Jesus. In the frenzy of his zeal he had tried to crush these misgivings, and the effort to do so had brought with it discomfort and disquietude which made him more “exceedingly mad” against the disciples of the Lord. Now he learnt that he had all along, as his master had warned him, been “fighting against God,” and that his only safety lay in the surrender of his own passionate resolve to the gracious and loving Will that was seeking to win him for itself. In his later retrospect of this stage of his life he was able, as by a subtle process of self-analysis, to distinguish between the element of ignorance, which made forgiveness possible, and that of a wilful resistance to light and knowledge which made that forgiveness an act of free and undeserved compassion (1Ti_1:12-13).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain He for the Lord, A.V. and T.R. The rest…
He for the Lord, A.V. and T.R. The rest of ver. 5 in the A.V, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" and the first part of ver. 6, "And he trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him," are omitted in the R.T. They have, in fact, no manuscript authority (Meyer; Alford); and not much patristic authority, or from versions, and are omitted by all modern editors. They seem to be taken from the parallel narratives in Act_22:8-10 Act_26:14. The proverb, "It is hard," etc., is only found in Act_26:14. (where see note)
The considerateness era love already infinite.
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is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Note. There is ample evidence that Paul himself narrates these details of his conversion, (Act_26:14) and that their proper place is not here. They will, however, be considered here, and reference made to this place from Act_22:10 Act_26:14 Saul, when now he was called Paul, and after he had been some while in the service of Christ, himself tells us what passed in those wonderful moments when Christ and the Spirit wrestled with him thrown prostrate to the earth. They are never forgotten by him, nor will he for a moment try to hide those details describing Heaven"s remonstrances with him where they might most infer humiliation to himself. The humiliation of Saul at this time has its counterpart in some sort in the condescending-ness of Christ. The risen Lord will still use human language and human figure, even to employing a proverb. The proverb needs no explanation, and the interpretation of it needs only illustration and enforcement. And it may be led up to profitably by inferior applications of it which none will gainsay. How, then, will they be able to gainsay that illustration of it and that application of it which Jesus himself thinks it worth while to utter from an open window of heaven?
I IT IS HARD TO KICK AGAINST THE EARTHLY LOT ASSIGNED TO US. That lot is a very complex thing, but it is made up of some very manifest elements. It is a combination of the date in time"s long calendar at which our life is placed, of the bodily and the mental endowments which we own, of the circumstances and surroundings which we inherit, and of the very dispositions which belonged to those who went before us our parents" and theirs. None can give any account of these elements, but every man has to use them and to seek to use them to the best advantage. Some of them no man ever finds fault with or murmurs because of them, or most rarely. Very, very few ever complain that they live now, for instance, and did not live long ago that they live now and not rather a century or two hence. They see, they feel that to do this were insanity itself: and they do not kick against their lot in this respect. Yet they often do in other respects. Well, this is hard hard as for the bird of plumage to beat against the wires of its cage; nay, harder far than that. It is hard for loss of time, for loss of temper, for loss of strength, for loss of trusting loving obedience, and because no good can come of it, no success can be gained in the vain, Utopian, and worse than foolish struggle. Let every man struggle in his lot to improve himself, and he will not fail to improve it also. But let him never "kick" against it; for so, if hurt at all, he hurts himself the more. He "kicks against the pricks.
II IT IS HARD TO KICK AGAINST DUTY. The discipline of duty may often be painful at present. There is none, however, more strengthening and health-giving. Many a heavy burden becomes lighter if borne manfully. It always becomes more irritating in proportion as it is not willingly taken up and borne. And duty knows how to take keen revenge. When its obligations are only partially and grudgingly discharged, the penalty it assigns is the misery of utter dissatisfaction; and when they are altogether neglected, the penalty is a forfeiture of unknown amount and kind.
III IT IS HARD TO KICK AGAINST CONSCIENCE. If the conscience is alive and in full life, to sin against it in both disobeying it and also taking the offensive, makes its reproach tenfold. If it be already half dead, it hastens its destruction for the present life; and if it be "on the point of death," the death-stroke now falls.
IV IT IS HARD TO KICK AGAINST ANY FORCE THAT IS PLAINLY GREATER IN DEGREE OR THAT IS SUPERIOR IN KIND. If it be only greater in degree, the peril lies in the inevitable mercilessness of the opponent. He holds the vain struggler in his grip. And if it be a greater force because it is superior in kind, then he who struggles, struggles "against his own soul," and drives the deadly disease within.
V But all these are faint warnings of what hardness may mean, WHEN A MAN"S SOUL AND ETERNAL LIFE, CHRIST AND THE SPIRIT, are on the one side; and the man himself, driven in darkness, error, and recklessness, is on the other.
1. It is hard, intrinsically so, hard on every account and in every bearing of it, to go against the interest of your own soul. The soul is so inestimably valuable, the injury so inestimably cruel. Eternal life is so unboundedly to be desired, the loss of it so unboundedly to be dreaded and wailed over. Saul was doing this very thing, beneath all other guise and disguise, when his career was stopped. If he could have had his way, his way shut him right out from "life, life eternal," and led him straightest path to death. And all the while he had been resisting light and evidence, miracles and signs and mighty wonders of apostles and of Stephen, which had availed with others; he was kicking against the highest welfare and interests of himself. Convictions are some of our strongest friends, and to kick against them is to inflict some of the keenest of pain and most cruel of injury upon self.
2. It is hard, essentially so, to resist the hand as kind as it is strong, as strong as it is kind, of Jesus. "Strong to save" is, indeed, his truest name and his best-loved name. But if he is to the last refused in this force, it must be, alas! he is swift to destroy. It is especially hard to resist Jesus:
(1) Because he means nothing but kindness.
(2) Because his meaning makes no mistake, incurs no slip nor charge of good intention only, and he does nothing but kindness.
(3) Because he first did so much and suffered so much for one only purpose that he might be qualified to show that kindness to the full.
(4) Because his is the initiative always, in proffering that kindness to those whose initiative always is the front of hostility to himself.
(5) Because all his kind meaning and his kind doing are in the train of perfect knowledge. He knows all that we shall want to bear us through and to bear us up on high, all that we shall want to save us from falling through and falling into "the lowest hell." What folly we often observe it to be to stand up against or to neglect knowledge superior to our own! But oh! but what extent and what kind of superior knowledge is this?
No eye but his might ever bear To gaze all down that drear abyss, Because none ever saw so clear The shore beyond of endless bliss!
The giddy waves so restless hurled, The vexed pulse of this feverish world, He views and counts with steady sight, Used to behold the Infinite!
(6) Because him refused, him lost, there is no other can plead our cause in our last extremity, there is no other Savior! When such a one speaks, touches, urges, then the sinner who resists him is one who has no mercy, no mercy at all on himself, "body or soul.
3. It is hard, most ruinously so, to resent the persuading address of the Spirit. Hardening as it is to neglect the lessons of reason, the persuasions of the affection of others, the call of duty, the dictates of conscience, and the Word and work and impassioned invitation of Jesus, this is the worst of all to resist and reject the Spirit. For he is the life itself. Light and Life are his twofold name. All round creation light will be attended ere long with symptoms of life; and nowhere round the whole sweep of creation does consent to dwell with perfect darkness. They seem almost synonymous, perhaps, but as they are not the same in nature, so neither can they be counted the same in grace. And still, therefore, this twofold name speaks something of the quality and prerogative of the Spirit. He brings Christ himself and his truth and his cross to the sinner"s heart, and if he is refused, then finally all is refused. Hence the awful trembling emphasis which Scripture lays on the pleading exhortation that we slight not, grieve not, quench not, the Spirit. And hard indeed it must be counted to" kick against him.
(1) He is so silent a Friend.
(2) He is so gentle a Friend,
(3) He is so close a Friend.
(4) He is so sensitive a Friend.
(5) He is so condescending a Friend in him it is that God dwells in the humble and contrite sinner"s heart.
(6) He is so cheerful and gladdening and sanctifying a Friend.
(7) He more than halves our griefs he dries them up. He more than doubles our joy he multiplies it a millionfold, till it is already "full of glory." His sympathy is perfect.
(8) He is our indispensable Friend, if we are to be loosed from sin, to be created anew, to take hold of Jesus, and to find salvation. Against the united, loving, determined, and predetermined force of Jesus and the Spirit, "twas hard indeed for Saul to strive. Love and. power amazing grace! have hold upon him nor mean to relax their gracious grasp If he struggles, he but prolongs his own fierce inner conflict, multiples his own subsequent pangs of memory and conscience. So Saul and every converted man are in a hand from which no power shall ever pluck them. B.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And he said, Who art Thou, Lord?
Act_9:5
And he said, Who art Thou, Lord?
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Pressing questions of an awakened mind
The manifestation of Jesus subdued the great man into a little child. He inquires, with sacred curiosity, Who art Thou, Lord? and then surrenders at discretion, crying, What wilt Thou have me to do?
I. The earnest inquirer seeking to know his Lord.
1. He is not only willing to learn, but he is eager to be taught. If men were but anxious to understand the truth, they would soon learn it and receive it.
2. The subject he wished to be taught. You have heard that Christ is the Saviour, let your ambition be to know all about Him. Saints on earth, and even saints in heaven, are always wanting to have this question more fully answered, Who art Thou, Lord?
(1) What is Thy person? Learn well that He is man, thy brother, touched with the feelings of thy infirmities, yet is He God eternal, infinite, full of all power and majesty.
(2) What are Thy offices? He is a Prophet; thou must be instructed by Him. He is a Priest; He has offered sacrifice, and thou must accept it as being for thee. He is a King, and thou must let Him govern thee.
(3) What are Thy relationships? The Son of the Highest, and yet the brother of the lowest. King of angels and of kings, and yet the friend of sinners.
3. What were the results of having this question answered?
(1) When Paul knew that He whose face had shone upon him brighter than the sun was Jesus of Nazareth, he was seized with contrition. When Christ is unknown we can go on refusing and even persecuting Him; but when we clearly perceive that it is the Son of God and the bleeding Lamb whom we have refused and persecuted, then our hearts melt; we beg His forgiveness, and cast ourselves at His feet.
(2) Hope was encouraged, for though Paul at the sight of the Lord Jesus must have been full of bitter anguish, it was by that same sight that he was afterwards comforted. Art Thou He who came to seek and to save that which was lost? Then is there hope for me. Oh, then, I will trust Him.
(3) It led him to complete submission. He said, Is this Christ whom I have rejected Lord of all? Then it is indeed hard for me to kick against the pricks. If all power be in His hands, then to oppose Him is as hopeless as it is wicked. O Lord Jesus, be my king. Some human leaders have had such extraordinary influence over their soldiery that they have been cheerfully obeyed, even at the cost of life. The Christ of God has a superlative power over all hearts that know Him. See how Paul felt His influence, and scoured the world to win Christs lost ones.
4. He sought instruction from the best possible Master; for who can tell us who Christ is but Christ Himself? Here is His book. It is the looking glass. Jesus is yonder, and He looks into it, and you may see His reflected image; darkly, however, at the best. So, too, when you hear His faithful servants preach you may see somewhat of Christ; but there is no sight of Christ like that which comes personally to your own soul by the Holy Spirit.
II. The obedient disciple requesting direction. Whosoever believeth in Jesus has everlasting life is the basis doctrine of the gospel; but you may not believe in Him and then live as you like. Hence the question, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? The apostle here puts himself into the position of a soldier waiting for orders. He will not stir till he has received his officers command. Before it used to be, What will Moses have me to do? And with some now present it has been, What should I like to do? Now take heed that Christ be your Master, and nobody else. It would never do to say, What would the Church have me to do? nor even What would an apostle have me to do? Paul said, Be ye followers of me, even as I am also of Christ. But if Paul does not follow Christ, we must not follow Paul. Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. One is your Master, even Christ. This obedience is--
1. Personal. I have little enough to do with my neighbours. They have their duty; but, Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do? Other persons must follow the light they have; but, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Let it separate the nearest ties, let it cause your past friends to give you the cold shoulder, let it subject you to persecution even unto death; you have nothing to do with these consequences, your business is to say, Show me what Thou wouldst have me to do, and I will do it. Note again--
2. Prompt. He does not ask to be allowed a little delay. If you would have salvation, you must be ready to follow Christ tonight. Tonight, it may be, is the time when the Spirit of God is struggling with you, and if resisted He never may return.
3. Unconditional. Saul little knew what the doing of his Masters will would involve, but he was prepared for it. Oh, you that would be Christians, do not suppose that it is just believing something--an article of a creed, or undergoing a ceremony--that will save you; you must, if you are Christs, yield yourselves up to Him. Conclusion: It is by knowing Christ that you will learn to obey Him, and the more you obey Him the more easy it will be: and in obeying Him you will find your honour. Paul at this day stands in a most honourable place in the Church of God, simply because being called of God to do His will he did it faithfully even to the end. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.--
The ways of sin hard and difficult
You often hear of the narrow and rugged road which leadeth unto life; and some of you, I am afraid, have not courage enough to venture upon it. You rather choose the smooth, broad, downhill road, though it leads to death. It must be owned, that a religious life is a course of difficulties, and it is fit you should be honestly informed of it; but then it is fit you should also know that it is disagreeable and difficult only as a course of action is difficult to the sick, though it affords pleasure to those that are well. There are difficulties in the way of sin, as well as in that of holiness, though the depravity of mankind renders them insensible of it. It may be easy and pleasing to you to sin, just as it is easy to a dead body to rot, or pleasing to a leper to rub his sores. If it be hard, in one sense, to live a life of holiness, it is certainly hard, in another sense, to live a life of sin; namely, to run against conscience, reason, honour, interest, and all the strong and endearing obligations you are under to God, to mankind, and to yourselves.
I. Is it not a hard thing to be an unbeliever, while the light of the gospel shines around us with full blaze of evidence. Before a man can work up himself to the disbelief of a religion attended with such evidence, and inspiring such Divine dispositions and exalted hopes, what absurdities must he embrace! what strong convictions must he resist! what tremendous doubts must he struggle with! what glorious hopes must he resign! what violence must be offered to conscience! what care must be used to shut up all the avenues of serious thought, and harden the heart against the terrors of death and the supreme tribunal! How painful to reject the balm the gospel provides to heal a broken heart and a bleeding conscience, and the various helps and advantages it furnishes us with to obtain Divine favour and everlasting happiness! How hard to work up the mind to believe that Jesus was an impostor, or at best a moral philosopher! or that the religion of the Bible is the contrivance of artful and wicked men! These are no easy things. There are many sceptics and smatterers in infidelity, but few, very few, are able to make thorough work of it. Such men find the arms of their own reason often against them, and their own conscience forms violent insurrections in favour of religion; so that whatever they pretend, they believe and tremble too. They find it hard, even now, to kick against the goads: how much harder they will find it in the issue! Christianity will live when they are dead and damned, according to its sentence. Infidels may hurt themselves by opposing it; as an unruly stupid ox, their proper emblem, may hurt himself, but not the goads, by kicking against them.
II. Is it not hard foe men to profess themselves believers and assent to the truth of Christianity and yet live as if they were infidels? If you believe Christianity--
1. You believe that there is a God of infinite excellency; the Maker, Preserver, Benefactor, and ruler of the world, and of you in particular. How, then, can you withhold your love from Him, and ungratefully refuse obedience? Is not this a hard thing? Does it not cost you some labour to reconcile your consciences to it? This would not be easy to the mightiest archangel. And if it be easy to you, it is in the same sense that it is easy to a dead body to rot. Your strength to do evil is your real weakness, or the strength of your disease.
2. You believe the doctrine of redemption through Jesus Christ. And is it no difficulty to neglect Him, to dishonour Him, to slight His love and disobey His commands? Does not at least a spark of gratitude sometimes kindle which you find it hard to quench entirely? Does not conscience often take up arms in the cause of its Lord, and do you not find it hard to quell the insurrection? Alas! if you find little or no difficulty in treating the blessed Jesus with neglect, it shows that you are giants in iniquity, and sin with the strength of a devil.
3. You must believe that holiness is essentially to constitute you a real Christian, and prepare you for everlasting happiness. And while you have this conviction, is it not a hard thing for you to be only Christians in name, or self-condemned hypocrites? Is it an easy thing to you to keep your eyes always shut against the light, which would show you to yourselves in your true colours?
4. You believe in a future state of rewards and punishments. And since you love yourselves, and have a strong desire of pleasure and horror of pain, how can you reconcile yourselves to the thoughts of giving up your portion in heaven, and being engulfed forever in the infernal pit?
III. Is it not hard for a man to live in a constant conflict with himself? I mean with his conscience. When the sinner would continue his career to hell, conscience, like the cherubim at the gates of paradise, or the angel in Balaams road, meets him with his flaming sword, and turns every way, to guard the dreadful entrance into the chambers of death. The life of the sinner is a warfare, as well as that of the Christian. Conscience is his enemy, always disturbing him; that is, he himself is an enemy to himself, while he continues an enemy to God. Some, indeed, by repeated violences, stun their conscience, and it seems to lie still. But this is a conquest fatal to the conquerors.
IV. Is it not hard for you to deprive yourselves of the exalted pleasures of religion? Is not this doing violence to the innate principle of self-love and desire of happiness? Can you be so stupid as to imagine that the world, or sin, or anything that can come in competition with religion, can be of equal or comparable advantage to you? Sure your own reason must give in its verdict in favour of religion. And is it not a hard thing for you to act against your own reason, against your highest and immortal interest, and against your own innate desire of happiness? (S. Davies, A. M.)
Kicking against the pricks
This expression is highly characteristic of the Saviour--
1. From its figurative form. While He was on earth, without a parable spake He not unto the people; and speaking out of heaven He still adopts the parabolic style, as He did in Patmos. He does not say to Saul, It is injurious to thee to resist My appeals, that would be mere abstract fact, but He puts it more pictorially, It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
2. From the tenderness of the rebuke. It is not, It is wicked of thee to resist Me. The Saviour leaves Sauls conscience to say that; nor It is hard for My people to bear thy cruelties; nor It is very provoking to Me, and I shall ere long smite thee in My wrath. No, it is not, It is hard for Me, but It is hard for thee. We have in the parable of the text--
I. An ox. No other beast is driven by a goad.
1. How low is man fallen that he can be compared to a brute beast! Oh, saith the proud heart, cloth God compare me to a beast? Ah! and it is the beast which hath cause to complain rather than you; for what beast is that who has rebelled against God? Do not be angry, for if you knew yourself you would cry with Asaph, So foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before Thee. Penitent sinners have wished that they had been beasts rather than men, feeling as if sin had degraded their nature below the meanest reptile.
2. But courage! The ox is a valuable animal. The text does not liken a man to a wild beast without an owner, but to an ox for which its master careth, and for which he hath paid a price. I, says Jesus, whom Thou persecutest, redeemed thee, with My own precious blood; thou art Mine, and I will break thee in. Why dost thou kick against Me? I have paid for thee too dearly to let thee be lost.
3. The ox is dependent upon its master for the supply of its needs. The ox knoweth its owner. Thou, who art an enemy to God, dost thou not know that thou art the object of His daily providence? We have been worse than oxen. We have not known the hand that feeds us, but have kicked against the God from whom all our mercies have been flowing.
4. An ox is a creature of which service is rightly demanded. So does God expect of those creatures whose wants He supplies that they should do His bidding. Wherefore should God keep them, and they do Him no service? For if He gets nothing out of thee, He will not forever spare thee. The bullock which is not good for its master in the furrows shall soon be good for the butcher in the shambles.
5. The ox is a perverse creature, not easily made accustomed to the yoke. Hence the rough and cruel instrument used by the Eastern husbandman--a long stick with a sharp prong at the end. Ah, how perverse are our wills! We will not go in the right way; we choose the wrong naturally. We go to the fire of sin, and we put our finger in it, and we burn it; but we do not learn better; we then thrust our hands into it, and though we suffer for it we return and plunge our arm into the flame.
6. Yet the ox is a creature which can be of great service to its master. When it becomes docile, it is one of the most valuable possessions of the Oriental husbandman. And when once the brutish heart of man is conquered by Divine grace, of what use he is.
II. The ox goad. A cruel instrument, but one thought by the Oriental husbandman to be needful for the stubborn nature of the ox. God has many ways of goading us, but He does not use that where gentler means will avail. I should think that a kind man would speak to his ox, and might get it into such a condition that it would be obedient to his word. Now God does bring His people into such a state as that. God does not come to blows with men till He has first tried words with them. Before the tree is cut down there is a time of sparing, in which it is digged about if haply it may bring forth fruit. But when words are of no avail, then the Lord in tender mercy adopts sharper means, and comes from words to blows and wounds--that He may come in all His power to heal.
1. Some of us felt the ox goad when we were children. Under the government of our parents we were often very restive, and felt it hard to sin.
2. Since that time some of you have felt the irksome goad in the good advice of friends with whom you have been situated. You do not like to be talked to about religion.
3. The teachings of Gods Word acts like a goad to unconverted men. I have known people come in here, and the sermon has made them feel so angry that they could almost have knocked the preacher down, but yet they could not help coming again. They could not tell why, but they could not stop away; and yet they hated the truth they heard. When a man thinks enough about the truth to begin to fight against it, I am in hope that the truth will never let him go till it has fairly beaten him into better things.
4. At times the Lord will goad us by personal afflictions; a sickness, a failure in business, a loss of property, a disappointment in marriage, or the death of friends, or a gradual decay of the constitution, or the loss of a limb or an eye. Loud voices these, if men had ears to hear. Some of you have had so many afflictions that the Lord might well inquire, Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more.
5. Sometimes God stirs men with the common operations of the Holy Ghost in their consciences. Saul was being goaded at that very moment when Christ said, Why persecutest thou Me? And take care you do not resist these goadings. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not, etc.
III. The kicks. The ox when wounded is so foolish as to dash its foot against the goad, and consequently drives it deeper into himself and hurts himself the more. This is the natural manner of men till God makes something more than beasts of them.
1. Even when we were children we rebelled against our teachers; prayer was distasteful, the Sabbath was dull, and the house of God wearisome, and therefore we kicked against them.
2. As some of you grow up, you took to sneering at those who kindly advised you. Many, the moment they get a word of counsel from any person, treat him at once as an enemy, and vow that they will take no further notice of such a cant. Many sinners when the Word of God is too hot for them, take to cavilling at it, or disputing over it. A man who is reproved by a sermon will perhaps feel that he must give up his drunkenness. But, say she, I will not give up my drunkenness; I do not want to do that, and therefore I do not believe that the sermon is true. Or another says, If this is correct, I must shut up my shop on the Sunday, and so lose my Sundays profits. I cannot afford to lose money, and therefore I will abuse the preacher. The guilty conscience cries, I will pick a hole in the ministers coat, because he has found one in mine.
3. There are many who persecute Gods people. They cannot burn them, nor shut them up in prison; but they vex them with cruel mockings, they twist their innocent actions into something wrong, and then they throw it in their teeth.
4. Certain profane men have gone so far as to kick at God Himself. Mind that He does not answer you, blasphemer.
IV. The result. Christ says, It is hard. It has been very hard for your mother, for your families, for your neighbours and employers; Christ says it is hard for you. You know that sin does not make you happy. You have had your swing of it, and you are miserable. You are afraid to die. Do you know what will very likely be your history if you run into sin and persist in it? You will make your present afflictions grow worse, and cause your present losses to accumulate. You are kicking against the pricks, and are making the wounds already received ten times worse, and so it always will be so long as you keep on kicking. He that is converted to God finds it hard to have been a sinner so long. His repentance is bitter in proportion to the greatness of his sin. Those who are saved late in life feel that their sins will be their plague till they die. A man does not go and plunge into the ditch of sin without bearing the stench of its vileness in his memory all his life. An old song that you used to sing will come up and defile your closet prayers, and perhaps the recollection of some unholy scene will trouble you even when you are at the sacramental table. The apostle Paul always bore the memory of his sin. God forgives me, said one, but I never can forgive myself.
V. The good counsel.
1. Since it is hard for you to kick against the pricks, and there is nothing to be got by it, cease.
2. Yield thy heart to the goadings of Divine love. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sauls goads
The figure of speech is borrowed from a custom of Eastern countries: the ox driver wields a long pole, at the end of which is fixed a piece of sharpened iron, with which he urges the animal to go on or stand still or change its course; and, if it is refractory, it kicks against the goad, injuring and infuriating itself with the wounds it receives. This is a vivid picture of a man wounded and tortured by compunctions of conscience. There was something in him rebelling against the course of inhumanity on which he was embarked, and suggesting that he was fighting against God. It is not difficult to conceive when these doubts arose. He was the scholar of Gamaliel, the advocate of humanity and tolerance, who had counselled the Sanhedrin to leave the Christians alone. He was himself too young yet to have hardened his heart to all the disagreeables of such ghastly work. Highly strung as was his religious zeal, nature could not but speak out at last. But probably his compunctions were chiefly awakened by the character and behaviour of the Christians. He had heard the noble defence of Stephen, and seen his face in the council chamber shining like that of an angel. He had seen him kneeling on the field of execution and praying for his murderers. Doubtless, in the course of the persecution he had witnessed many similar scenes. Did these people look like enemies of God? As he entered their homes to drag them forth to prison, he got glimpses of their social life. Could such spectacles of purity and love be products of the powers of darkness? Did not the serenity with which his victims went to meet their fate look like the very peace which he had long been sighing for in vain? Their arguments, too, must have told on a mind like his. He had heard Stephen proving from the Scriptures that it behoved the Messiah to suffer; and the general tenor of the earliest Christian apologetic assures us that many of the accused must on their trial have appealed to passages like the fifty-third of Isaiah, where a career is predicted for the Messiah startlingly like that of Jesus of Nazareth. He heard incidents of Christs life from their lips which betokened a personage very different from the picture sketched for him by his Pharisaic informants; and the sayings of their Master which the Christians quoted did not sound like the utterances of the fanatic he conceived Jesus to have been! (J. Stalker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 5. Who art thou, Lord? Sure that it was…
5. Who art thou, Lord? Sure that it was a supernatural communication, though he might possibly suspect its source, he did not yet know that it came from Christ. Perhaps at times he had had misgivings that he might be wrong, but he was sincere. I am Jesus. It is not said, “the Christ,” but Jesus, the crucified one against whom Saul was raging. Had the answer been “the Christ,” or the Son of God, Saul might still have doubted whether this was Jesus. It is hard for thee to kick, etc. Omitted here by the Revision, but found in Acts 26:14. The idea is, that he is injuring himself, like the ox that kicks back on the goads used to urge him forward.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain 5, 6. Though his conscience was now aroused, and…
5, 6. Though his conscience was now aroused, and he knew full well that the vision before him was from heaven, he can not comprehend it until he knows who it is that speaks to him and asserts himself the object of his persecutions. (5) " And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute. " It is impossible for us, who have been familiar with the glory of our risen Savior from our infancy, to fully appreciate the feelings which must have flashed, like lightning, into the soul of Saul, upon hearing these words. Up to this moment he had supposed Jesus an impostor, cursed of God and man; and his followers blasphemers worthy of death; but now, this despised being is suddenly revealed to him in a blaze of divine glory. The evidence of his eyes and ears can not be doubted. There he stands, with the light of heaven and the glory of God around him, and he says, "I AM JESUS!" "Now is Jesus risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept." Stephen was a blessed martyr, and I have shed innocent blood. My soul is guilty. "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" I have gloried in my shame. All that I have gained is lost. It is filth and refuse. I will throw myself upon his mercy. (6) " And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? " The die is cast. The proud spirit yields, and the whole mighty current of that soul is turned back in its channel, to flow forever, deeply and strongly, in the opposite direction.
The glorious power of the one great gospel proposition was never more forcibly illustrated than on this occasion. A moment ago, Saul was sternly, and with fearful calmness, pressing to the destruction of the cause of Jesus, but now he is a trembling suppliant at his feet. What has produced this change? It is not the fact that he has seen a light and heard a voice. For when he fell to the ground in alarm, his unbelief and ignorance still remained, and he still had to ask the question, "Who art thou?" Thus far, he is no more convinced that Jesus is the Christ than he was before; but he is convinced that the vision is divine, and this prepares him to believe what he may further hear. When that heavenly being, whose word he can not doubt, says, "I am Jesus," one new conviction, that must, from its very nature, reverse all the purposes of his life, takes possession of his soul. To stifle its effects he is not able; to resist its impulse is contrary to the honesty of his nature; and he has no time, if he would, to steel his heart against it. The change flashes over him in an instant, and he lies there a penitent believer. The word of the Lord, miraculously attested, gives him faith. The conviction that Jesus, whom he had persecuted in the person of his disciples, is really the Lord of glory, brings him to repentance. He mourns over his sins, and yields his will. These facts reveal the glorious simplicity of gospel salvation; and while we contemplate them, the sickly talk about "irresistible grace," which floats, like the green scum on a stagnant pool, over the pages of many commentaries, in reference to this conversion, is swept away, while the sights and sounds which haunt the memory of many a superstitious convert are driven back to dwell with the ghosts and hobgoblins of a night of ignorance now nearly gone.
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To the question, What wilt thou have me to do? the Lord gave an answer which naturally divides itself into two parts. One part is given by Luke, in the verse before us, and by Paul, in his speech to the Jerusalem mob; the other, in the speech before Agrippa. The latter contains his commission as an apostle, and is expressed in these words: "I have appeared to thee for this purpose, to appoint thee a minister and a witness of the things which thou hast seen, and of those in which I will appear to thee, delivering thee from the people and the Gentiles, to whom I now send thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins, and inheritance among the sanctified, by faith in me." In this sentence, which we will notice more at length in its proper connection, Jesus states the object of his personal appearance to Saul, and gives him his commission as an apostle. The former was necessary to the latter; for an apostle must be a witness of the resurrection, and this he could not be without having seen him alive since his crucifixion. Having now seen him, not only alive, but glorified, his evidence was afterward classed with that of the original apostles and witnesses. If he had been converted without having seen the Lord, he would not have been an apostle, unless the Lord had afterward appeared to him to make him one. Instead of this, the Lord chose to appear to him in connection with his conversion. While this appearance was necessary to his apostleship, we may not assume that it was necessary to his conversion, unless we take the strange position that it was impossible for him to be convinced in any other way.
Before Saul could enter upon the office of an apostle, it was necessary that he should become a citizen of the kingdom of which he was to be a chief officer. The other portion of the Savior's reply has reference to his duty in this particular. It is stated by Luke in these words, constituting the last clause of verse 6 , of which we have already quoted a part: " Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. " Saul's own statement of it is more minute: "Arise and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee concerning all the things which are appointed for thee to do." The things which he was to do as an apostle had just been told him, and concerning these there had been no previous appointment. The things which had been appointed for him to do concerned him in common with all other penitent sinners. These having been already appointed by the Lord himself, and their execution committed to the hands of faithful men, the Lord shows respect to his own transfer of authority, by sending the suppliant to Damascus to learn them.
During his personal ministry, Jesus sometimes spoke pardon, at once, to penitent sinners. But, since his resurrection from the dead, and the appointment, by formal enactment, of the terms of pardon, there is no instance of this kind. Moreover, his refusal to tell Saul his appointed duty, or to pardon him on the spot, establishes the presumption that he will not do so in any case. If there ever was an occasion on which we would expect the glorified Savior to speak pardon, in person, to a sinner, it is here, when he is in actual conversation with the penitent, and the request is formally preferred. But he refuses to do so. Those, therefore, who imagine themselves to have received a direct communication of pardon from Christ, either orally, or by an abstract spiritual agency, are deluded. They claim for themselves what was not accorded to Saul, and what is inconsistent with the order established in the kingdom of Christ. The reply to all inquirers, if Christ should now speak, would be, as it was then, Go to Damascus, and it shall be told you; Go to the apostles and evangelists of the New Covenant, and the answer will now be given you by Peter, Philip, Ananias, in the same words, and by the same authority, that it was then.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Every occurrence of the word "you" here is singular.
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Who are you, Lord?
Saul was not acknowledging that Jesus is the Lord. He uses that title because he understood that he spoke to someone of supernatural power.
but rise, enter into the city
"get up and go into the city Damascus"
it will be told you
This can be stated in the active form. AT: "someone will tell you" (See: Active or Passive)
hearing the voice, but seeing no one
"they heard the voice, but they did not see anyone"
but seeing no one
"but saw no one." Apparently only Saul experienced the light.
translationWords
Paul
lord
Jesus
persecute
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.