What does it mean to kick against the pricks?

The pointed goads by which oxen when ploughing were urged on; to kick against these was only to injure themselves. This action is figuratively applied by the Lord to Paul when he was smitten to the ground at his conversion: "It is hard for thee to kick against the goads." Acts 9:5; Acts 26:14.

He was coming near to Damascus. It was about noon, and the sun shone brightly above him on the road. Suddenly a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone round about him. He fell on the earth, and heard a voice speaking to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" 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." (This means that Paul was like a stubborn ox. His master wished him to go one way, and pricked him with his goad, a stick with a sharp point at the end of it, to make him obey. But the ox kicked the goad, and the point went into his leg, and hurt him still more. Each time he kicked, the goad hurt more.) Saul trembled when he heard these words, and was astonished, and said, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" And the Lord said, "Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." The men with Saul heard a voice, but did not see anyone; but Saul had seen heaven opened, and had seen the Lord Jesus Himself in the glory (1 Cor. 9:1). Saul never forgot that sight. Three times in the book of Acts we read that story. (Acts 9:1; 22:6; 26:12). The sight of the Lord Jesus in glory changed everything for Saul. He rose from the earth, and went into the city, but the glory of that light had blinded him, and men had to lead him by the hand.

A long slender pole with a sharp point at one end, used for guiding and urging the oxen in ploughing. It can also be used as a formidable weapon. Shamgar slew six hundred men with an ox goad. Judges 3:31; 1 Sam. 13:21. It is applied metaphorically to the energy imparted by the words of the wise. Ecc. 12:11. The goad is alluded to in Acts 9:5; Acts 26:14, translated 'pricks:' if the ox kicked against the goad, he only hurt himself the more: as do all those who oppose God.

Now he recounts his experience in journeying to Damascus with authority given him by the chief priests. Their authority was rather reduced to nothing by the light from heaven, brighter than the sun at noonday. It prostrated all who were traveling together. We are not told whether the others at the time testified of this to the chief priests later, or not, but if so, the chief priests could likely just as easily bribe them to keep quiet or lie about it just as they had the soldiers guarding the grave of the Lord Jesus (Mt.28:11-15). The voice was addressed directly to Saul, however, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads." His case was similar to that of an animal's kicking when goaded by its driver in a way it does not like. For Saul was rebelling against God's dealings with him and finding it harder than he would have liked to admit.

He cried out, “Who art Thou, LORD?” The voice replied, “I am JESUS, whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks,” using the illustration of an ox kicking in vain against the goad of its master, and all its struggles in this direction only increasing its distress. So it was with Saul of Tarsus.

When this is so, excuses are of no avail: no palliation is offered now. A man finds his soul laid bare, in the presence of infinite holiness. Hitherto, the conscience may have been asleep, with no thought of guilt, unless the vague sense that all is not well. Or the conscience may hitherto have been uneasy, yet no defined sense of guilt be there. Doubtless, Saul of Tarsus quailed before the words, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” The natural conscience of man feels this pricking and goading at times: its zeal and ardor is forced and unreal. There are compunctions in that principle which sits in judgment upon men’s actions (which conscience does), and though it be sought to silence its voice with freshened zeal, it never rests.

“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” Detected, exposed, called to give account of his ways, and found almost speechless. Poor Saul! Had this been the day of judgment, what an eternity of woe had been thine! “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” had rung upon thy burning brain in the blackness of darkness forever. But it is the accepted time, the day of salvation, and that voice, full of infinite compassion, once more falls upon his ear, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” “Hard for thee!” O, boundless mercy! Who of Adam’s race would have cared how hard had been the path of his persecutor? How different this spirit from that of this insolent, overbearing, proud Pharisee! In his self-will and rebellion against the decree of God he had been kicking to his own hurt. No one was injured but himself. The Lord does not say, “It is hard for Me to have patience with thee,” or, “It is hard for those poor afflicted followers of Mine to bear up under thy relentless persecutions.” No, no, “It is hard for thee. Thou art the one to be pitied.”

So how did Shamgar deal with them? Again, by using the Word of God. Is there anything in the New Testament to show that this is what it means? Yes, there is. When Saul of Tarsus was arrested on the Damascus road, the Lord said, "Saul, Saul..... it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" (Acts 9:4-5). What the Lord was saying to him was, 'Saul, the Word of God has continually been brought to bear on your conscience, and you have rejected it. It is like a prick or a goad (an ox goad, if you like), continually pricking into your side reminding you that you are not right with God, and you are refusing those directions, and it is hard because you are not coming into blessing, you have not got liberty or joy, simply because you are not being obedient'. Saul of Tarsus bowed that day, and said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" (v.6), and he followed the Lord ever after.

When I was in Israel some years ago, I saw an Arab ploughing with an ox and an ass, an unequal yoke, and the evidence of this statement was there before me. The Arab had a long pole in his hand, eight or nine feet long, and on the end was a sharp piece of metal. The animals did not move out of the straight and narrow way, but if they had they would have received a prod in their side with the sharp instrument. That would have been extremely sore and would have reminded them that they were not doing what the ploughman wanted them to do, and it would get them to return to the straight way. The more they sought their own will, the more prods they got with the goad; and the more they wanted their own way, the more painful the process. This is the illustration that the Lord was using with Saul of Tarsus. Thank God he bowed, and he had no more of those painful pricks.

It begins therefore, by laying the persecutor himself in ruins. It shines around him, and he falls to the earth. It is the light of Gideon's pitchers confounding the armies of the uncircumcised. Saul takes the sentence of death into himself. With a vengeance he knows that he has been kicking against the pricks; madly destroying himself in all his enmity against Jesus, for that Jesus was the Lord of the glory. But the One that wounded can heal, the One that kills can make alive. "Rise and stand upon thy feet," says the Lord of this glory. Life comes from Him who could wield the power of death — life infallible, and indestructible — life with inheritance of this very glory. And he is made the witness of the same life and inheritance to all kinds of sinners, kings, Gentiles, and people of Israel.

The sequel is well weighed. It is vain for man, or the world, or the god and prince of it, to resist the risen Christ; it will be found to be but kicking against the pricks — self-destruction. It is vain for the sinner who trusts in the risen Christ to be doubting, for God has justified him. The righteousness of God is his who pleads redemption and ransom by the blood — the God-glorifying atonement of Jesus. His death was the vindication of God in full, glorious righteousness. Let God now pardon the vilest — the cross entitles Him to do so, and yet maintains His righteousness and moral glory in all perfectness. Yea, it is the righteousness of God which accepts the sinner who pleads the cross; for as the cross maintains God's righteousness, that righteousness is displayed in making righteous the sinner who pleads it.