Goad

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Κέντρον (Strong'S #2759 — Noun Neuter — kentron — ken'-tron )

from kenteo, "to prick," denotes (a) "a sting,"  Revelation 9:10; metaphorically, of sin as the "sting" of death,  1—Corinthians 15:55,56; (b) "a goad,"  Acts 26:14 , RV, "goad" (marg., "goads"), for AV, "pricks" (in some mss. also in  Acts 9:5 ), said of the promptings and misgivings which Saul of Tarsus had resisted before conversion.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(κέντρον)

This was a pole about 8 ft. in length, carried by Eastern plough men. Armed at one end with a spike and at the other with a chisel-shaped blade, it was used now to urge the yoked beasts to move faster, now to clean the share. Only one hand being required to hold and guide the light plough, the other was free to wield the goad. The Kicking of oxen against the goad (Authorized Versionthe pricks) suggested a popular metaphor for futile and painful resistance-σκληρόν σοι πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν ( Acts 26:14; all uncials omit these words in 9:5). The same figure is found in Pind. Pyth . ii. 173; aesch. Prom . 323; Eurip. Bacch . 795; Terence, Phorm . i. ii. 28.

James Strahan.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

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 Samuel 13:21 . It is applied metaphorically to the energy imparted by the words of the wise.  Ecclesiastes 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.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Judges 3 31

In  1 Samuel 13:21 , a different Hebrew word is used, Dorban , Meaning something pointed. The expression (  Acts 9:5 , omitted in the RSV), "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks", i.e., against the goad, was proverbial for unavailing resistance to superior power.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A pointed instrument, eight feet long, often headed with iron ( 1 Samuel 13:21;  Ecclesiastes 12:11). To "kick against the pricks" expresses unavailing resistance, as if cattle were to kick against the goads of their driver Who has them wholly in his power, as God has the recalcitrant sinner ( Acts 9:5).

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Goad.  Judges 3:31. A rod or pole about eight feet long, armed at the larger end with a piece of iron, with which the plowshare was freed from clods and earth, and at the smaller with a sharp spike, by which the oxen were urged on in their labor. In the hands of Shamgar,  Judges 3:31, it was a powerful weapon.

King James Dictionary

GOAD,n. A pointed instrument used to stimulate a beast to move faster.

GOAD, To prick to drive with a goad.

1. To incite to stimulate to instigate to urge forward, or to rouse by any thing pungent, severe, irritating or inflaming. He was goaded by sarcastic remarks or by abuse goaded by desire or other passion.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 1 Samuel 13:21 Judges 3:31 Ecclesiastes 12:11 Acts 26:14

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

GOAD . See Agriculture, § 1 .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( מִלְמָד , malmad', an instrument for guiding; the Greeks used the term Βουλήξ , Iliad, 6:135, also Βούκεντρον , or simply Κέντρον ; see Scbottgen, De Stimulo bousn, Francof. 1717; Hager, De Πρὸς Κέντρα Λακτίζειν , Lips. 1738). "Shamgar, the son of Anath, slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad" ( Judges 3:31). Maundrell gives us the best account of the ox-goad, which is no doubt the same as that used in the days of Shamgar. "At Khan Leban the country people were now everywhere at plow in the fields in order to sow cotton. 'Twas observable that in plowing they used goads of an extraordinary size; upon measuring of several I found them to be about eight feet long, and at the bigger end six inches in circumference. They are armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle for driving the oxen, and at the other end with a small spade or paddle of iron, strong and massy, to clear thee plough from the clay that encumbers it in working" (Journal of a Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, page 110). This was in the north of Syria. Prof. Hackett says, "The ox-goads that I saw in the south I should judge to be quite as large. It is manifest that such an instrument, wielded by a strong arm, would do no mean execution. It is easy, therefore, to credit the account of Shamgar's achievement. We may suppose, however (so fragmentary is the notice), that he was not entirely alone; that some others rallied to his aid with such instruments of labor as they could snatch at the moment" (Illustrations of Scripture, page 155). (See Agriculture).

In the other passages where the word "goad" occurs it is the representative of a different term in the original; דָּרְבָן dorban ´ , something pointed ( 1 Samuel 13:21), or דָּרְבוֹן dorbon ´ ( Ecclesiastes 12:11), which is, perhaps, properly' the iron point to which the rod or handle, denoted by the previous term, was fixed. This, at least, is the explanation adopted by Jahn (Archaeol. 1:4, § 9) from Rabbinical writers (Gesenius, Thes. page 349). According to others, it may refer to anything pointed, and the tenor of Ecclesiastes 12 allows the sense of a peg or nail anything, in short, which can befastened; while in 1 Samuel 13, the point of the ploughshare is possibly intended (which is likewise understood by the Sept. and Yabg. at Judges Ἐν Τῷ Ἀροτρόποδι , vomere). There are undoubted references to the use of the goad in driving oxen in  Sirach 38:25, and  Acts 26:14. The expression "to kick against the goads" ( Acts 9:5; A.V. "the pricks") was proverbially used by the Greeks for unavailing resistance to superior power (comp. Ascheyl. Agam. 1633; Prom. 323; Eurip. Bacch. 791). The same means of inciting animals to greater speed is probably alluded to in  2 Kings 4:24. (See generally Buckingham, Travels Ins Palestine, 1:91; Kitto, Daily Bible Illustr. 2:341; Thomson, Land And Book , 1:501.) (See Ox).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

gōd ( דּרבן , dōrebhān , מלמד , malmādh  ; κέντρον , kéntron ): 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 (  Judges 3:31 ). If  1 Samuel 13:21 is correctly translated, the goads were kept sharpened by files.

Figurative: "The words of the wise are as goads" (  Ecclesiastes 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" ( Acts 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.