SEV Biblia, Chapter 9:5
Y l dijo: ¿Quin eres, Seor? Y l Seor dijo: YO SOY Jesus el Nazareno a quien t persigues; dura cosa te es dar coces contra el aguijn.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 9:5
Verse 5. Who art thou, Lord?] tiv ei, kurie; Who art thou, SIR? He had no knowledge who it was that addressed him, and would only use the term kurie, 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." 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 chap. xxvi. 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.] sklhron soi prov kentra laktizein. This is a proverbial expression, which exists, not only in substance, but even in so many words, both in the Greek and Latin writers. kentron, 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. 7xc3: - quoim an autw mallon, h qumoumenov prov kentra laktizoimi, qnhtov wn, qew.
"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. 16x23: - prov kentra mh laktize.
Kick not against the goads.
And again in Prometh. Vinct. ver. 323: - prov kentra kwlon ekteneiv, orwn oti tracuv monarcov oud upeuqunov kratei.
"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 : - ferein d elafrwv epaucenion labonta zugon g arhgei. poti kentron de toi laktizemen, teleqei olisqhrov oimov.
"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. x17: - 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, Deuteronomy Revelation 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. iii. 21; but bring them up (en paideia kai nouqesia kuriou) in the discipline and admonition of the Lord, Eph. vi. 4, using the authority that God has given you with a steady hand, actuated by a tender and feeling heart.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. And he said, who art thou, Lord ? etc.] 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 Bezas copies, and another of Stephens, as in ( Acts 22:8) whose name thou art doing many things against, and whose people thou art destroying: 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.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-9 - So ill informed was Saul, that he thought he ought to do all he coul against the name of Christ, and that he did God service thereby; he seemed to breathe in this as in his element. Let us not despair of renewing grace for the conversion of the greatest sinners, nor let suc despair of the pardoning mercy of God for the greatest sin. It is signal token of Divine favour, if God, by the inward working of his grace, or the outward events of his providence, stops us from prosecuting or executing sinful purposes. Saul saw that Just One, ch 22:14; 26:13. How near to us is the unseen world! It is but for God to draw aside the veil, and objects are presented to the view, compare with which, whatever is most admired on earth is mean and contemptible Saul submitted without reserve, desirous to know what the Lord Jesu would have him to do. Christ's discoveries of himself to poor souls ar humbling; they lay them very low, in mean thoughts of themselves. For three days Saul took no food, and it pleased God to leave him for tha time without relief. His sins were now set in order before him; he wa in the dark concerning his own spiritual state, and wounded in spiri for sin. When a sinner is brought to a proper sense of his own stat and conduct, he will cast himself wholly on the mercy of the Saviour asking what he would have him to do. God will direct the humble sinner, and though he does not often bring transgressors to joy an peace in believing, without sorrows and distress of conscience, unde which the soul is deeply engaged as to eternal things, yet happy ar those who sow in tears, for they shall reap in joy.
Greek Textus Receptus
ειπεν 2036 5627 V-2AAI-3S δε 1161 CONJ τις 5101 I-NSM ει 1488 5748 V-PXI-2S κυριε 2962 N-VSM ο 3588 T-NSM δε 1161 CONJ κυριος 2962 N-NSM ειπεν 2036 5627 V-2AAI-3S εγω 1473 P-1NS ειμι 1510 5748 V-PXI-1S ιησους 2424 N-NSM ον 3739 R-ASM συ 4771 P-2NS διωκεις 1377 5719 V-PAI-2S σκληρον 4642 A-NSN σοι 4671 P-2DS προς 4314 PREP κεντρα 2759 N-APN λακτιζειν 2979 5721 V-PAN
Vincent's NT Word Studies
5. It is hard for thee, etc. Transferred from ch. xxvi. 14, and omitted by the best texts.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
9:5 {Lord} (kurie). It is open to question if kurie should not here be translated "Sir" as in #16:30 and in #Mt 21:29,30; Joh 5:7; 12:21; 20:15; and should be so in #Joh 9:36. It is hardly likely that at this stage Saul recognized Jesus as Lord, though he does so greet him in #22:10 "What shall I do, Lord?" Saul may have recognized the vision as from God as Cornelius says "Lord" in #10:4. Saul surrendered instantly as Thomas did (#Joh 20:28) and as little Samuel (#1Sa 3:9). this surrender of the will to Christ was the conversion of Saul. He saw a real Person, the Risen Christ, to whom he surrendered his life. On this point he never wavered for a moment to the end.
