Topic
Goad
6 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- 1 Samuel 13:21Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave An instrument of torture
Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.
- Judges 3:31Smith · ISBE · Nave 600 Men killed with, by Shamgar, a judge (hero) of Israel
¶ And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
- Ecclesiastes 12:11ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE — Of mental incentive
The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
- Judges 3:1–31Easton
Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew…
- Acts 9:5Easton
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.
- Acts 26:14ISBE
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 3 references
(Heb. malmad, only in Judg. 3: 31), an instrument used by ploughmen for guiding their oxen. Shamgar slew six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. “The goad is a formidable weapon. It is sometimes ten feet long, and has a sharp point. We could now see that the feat of Shamgar was not so very wonderful as some have been accustomed to think.”
In 1 Sam. 13:21, a different Hebrew word is used, dorban, meaning something pointed. The expression (Acts 9:5, omitted in the R.V.), “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks”, i.e., against the goad, was proverbial for unavailing resistance to superior power.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 2 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 4 references
god (dorebhan, malmadh; kentron): The goad used by the Syrian farmer is usually a straight branch of oak or other strong wood from which the bark has been stripped, and which has at one end a pointed spike and at the other a flat chisel-shaped iron. The pointed end is to prod the oxen while plowing. The flattened iron at the other end is to scrape off the earth which clogs the plowshare. The ancient goad was probably similar to this instrument. It could do villainous work in the hands of an experienced fighter (Jud 3:31). If 1Sa 13:21 is correctly translated, the goads were kept sharpened by files.
Figurative: "The words of the wise are as goads" (Ec 12:11). The only reference to goads in the New Testament is the familiar passage, "It is hard for thee to kick against the goad" (Ac 26:14). It was as useless for Saul to keep on in the wrong way as for a fractious ox to attempt to leave the furrow. He would surely be brought back with a prick of the goad.
James A. Patch
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.