Acts 26:12-14

Luke recorded that Paul added two new bits of information that he had not mentioned in his previous testimonies (Acts 26:14). On the Damascus road all of his companions had fallen to the ground as a result of the bright light. This shows that the event was real and not a vision that Paul had. Also, the Lord had spoken to him in Aramaic, probably to confirm to Paul that the One addressing him was the God of the Jews.

Goads were sharp sticks used to drive cattle. The figure of kicking against goads was and is a common rural metaphor that describes opposing the inevitable (like "banging your head against a wall"). Such action only hurts the one doing it, not the object of his hostility. This was the case in Paul’s antagonism to God that his persecution of Christians expressed.

"In the Greek world this was a well-known expression for opposition to deity (cf. Euripides Bacchanals 794-95; Aeschylus Prometheus Bound 324-25; Agamemnon 1624; Pindar Pythia 2.94-95; Terence Phormio 1.2.27). Paul may have picked it up in Tarsus or during his missionary journeys. He used it here to show his Greek-oriented audience the implications of the question ’Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ Lest he be misunderstood as proclaiming only a Galilean prophet he had formerly opposed, he pointed out to his hearers what was obvious to any Jew: correction by a voice from heaven meant opposition to God himself. So he used a current expression familiar to Agrippa and the others . . ." [Note: Longenecker, "The Acts . . .," pp. 552-53. See also idem, Paul . . ., pp. 98-101.]

Paul related his conversion experience on this occasion very graphically, and he stressed the significance of these events.