Don't Kick Against the Pricks

I found out recently what "kick against the pricks" means (as in, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" Acts 26:14).

I was raised on the King James Version of the bible, and Sunday school teachers must have avoided this verse for fear of sending their tweens into fits of uncontrollable laughter.

The "prick" in this case is what you'd call a cattle prod, and Paul is the ox pulling a cart. God is saying something like "Hey, Paul, you're the ox, I'm the farmer, there's not a whole lot to debate here."

It's a good metaphor if we're being compelled to do a good thing.

I'm reminded of the story in the Old Testament where, after a successful but long and dangerous journey moving the Ark of the Covenant, one of the patriarchs sacrifices the oxen that had carried the ark, and I thought, wow, that's a fine how-do-you-do. And how about the poor schlemiel that tried to keep it from tipping over?

(You can tell it made an impression on me; here it is maybe 40 years later and the memory is still fresh.)

 

Him Who Pisseth Against the Wall

Here's another linguistic curiosity I discovered as a boy during my own devotions:

Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, 1 Kings 21:21 (KJV)

Now, I did actually bring this up in Sunday school, but I was a lot older - 15 or 16 - and my Sunday school teacher was Mr Rodney Blystone, also my high school science teacher at Bethel Christian School, and I was trying to catch him off guard. He said "piss" wasn't in the bible, I said it was and proved it, and he took it home to consider it further. Like all good teachers, he brought an answer back with him the next week, though I don't remember what it was.

I looked again at this recently, and his answer was probably something like this...

Here are a few different translations:

Lo, I am bringing in unto thee evil, and have taken away thy posterity, and cut off to Ahab those sitting on the wall, and restrained, and left, in Israel (Young's Literal)

Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. (WEB)

The LORD says, 'Look, I am ready to bring disaster on you. I will destroy you and cut off every last male belonging to Ahab in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. (NETfree)

Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will utterly sweep thee away and will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel (ASV)

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a literary allusion connecting piss, circumcision and castration, given the contextual proximity of "cutting off" and "urinating" and the angry tone. The Apostle Paul did something similar when confronting Jewish converts who wished to continue circumcision.

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Started: 2012-11-18