Bible Synapse
Did the men with Paul stand speechless or fall to the ground?
Hard question · Acts and the letters · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
The men journeying with Saul “stood speechless”.
And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
When the light shone at midday, “we were all fallen to the earth”.
At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. 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.
The objection
Acts 9:7 says the men travelling with Saul “stood speechless”. In Acts 26:14 Paul tells King Agrippa that “we were all fallen to the earth”. Did his companions stand or fall?
The answer
The two verses describe different moments. Acts 26:14 speaks of the first instant, when a light “above the brightness of the sun” blazed around them all at midday and everyone fell to the ground. Acts 9:7 describes the men during the conversation that followed: Saul lay on the ground hearing the voice and answering it, while his companions, who understood none of the words, had got up and stood there dumbstruck. The Greek verb in 9:7, heistēkeisan (from histēmi), is pluperfect, ‘had stood’ or ‘were standing’, which fits men who had already risen.
There is a second possibility. Histēmi often means to stand still or stop, as when the Ethiopian “commanded the chariot to stand still” (Acts 8:38), or when “Jesus stood still” (Matthew 20:32). Luke may mean that the men were stopped in their tracks, rooted to the spot and speechless, whatever their posture; Gill took it so. On either reading, falling first and standing speechless afterwards are both true.
From the classic commentators
This may mean merely that they remained so; but if the standing posture be intended, we have only to suppose that though at first they ‘all fell to the earth’ (Ac 26:14), they arose of their own accord while Saul yet lay prostrate.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on Acts 9:7 (1871)
for this standing is not opposed to their being fallen to the earth, but to their going forwardJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on Acts 9:7 (1746–1763)
Sources
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: Acts 9 (1871), at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Acts 9 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub