Act 9:3-8 | Abbott

Acts 9:3-8

Kick against the pricks; an image taken from the case of the ox, kicking against the goad by which he is driven.

Hearing, a voice. In some cases, where God is said to have spoken to men, the communication appears to have been made, not by audible words, but by inward suggestion; and hence it has sometimes been supposed that the dialogue here recorded represents the train of reflection which was awakened in Saul's mind by this event, and that the voice here spoken of was some sound, not articulate, which accompanied the light. The language, however, which Paul uses in Acts 22:9 where he says that his companions did not hear—that is, did not understand—the voice of him which spake to him, and in 26:14, where he says that the words which he heard were in the Hebrew tongue, seems to be utterly inconsistent with this interpretation. The accounts are plainly intended to convey the idea that this was actually a personal interview between the determined persecutor and the Lord Jesus Christ.