I have read a few different ideas about what "kick against the pricks" means. One author said that it was like slapping a hornet between your palms so that you are stung in the process. The general idea seemed to include any behavior that is counter-productive.
The explanation below makes the most sense to 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.Acts 26:14
The plowman in Bible Lands carries in his hand a long pole or goad, with a sharp metal point or prick on one end of the pole and at the other there is a flat piece of iron which is used to clean the plowshare.Quite often the young ox, probably not well broken in, will kick, because he does not like his work.The plowman then holds the pole or goad in such a position that when the ox kicks again, he will kick against that prick or sharp point, and thus the animal will learn it doesn’t pay.
Paul, kicking against the plan of God, learned his mistake.
(Bowen, Barbara M., Strange Scriptures that Perplex the Western Mind, Grand Rapids, Michigan, WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1944, pg 66)
In 1940, a miller in Tecumesh, Michigan was inspired by two verses of scripture (John 12:24 & Malachi 3:10) and decided to put the Word to the test in an experiment that received nationwide publicity. He called his experiment "Dynamic Kernels." I love this true story.
The following is excerpted from The Intelligent Heart, by David McArthur.
While many experiences exist of individuals testing tithing as a tool for expanding their abundance, there was a very objective test that was conducted by a group of people in Michigan around 1940.They conducted their experiment in a public manner and kept careful records.
In their experiment they started with one cubic inch of wheat containing 360 kernels.They blessed the wheat and made the commitment to tithe ten percent of the harvest to their church.They then planted the wheat in a little plot behind the church.
From the first year's growth they harvested fifty cubic inches and tithed five cubic inches to the church which they fixed for the minister's breakfast.They planted the remaining nine-tenths which was forty-five cubic inches.
From the second year's growth they harvested seventy pounds of wheat.Their tithe to the church that year was seven pounds.By this time more and more people were interested in their experiment and over 350 people, including Henry Ford (who was himself a proponent of tithing), came to the dedication ceremony.
By the third year the public interest had really expanded with over 1,000 people, including the press, attending the event.The fourth year the governor of the state was in attendance, and the results were carried in the newsreels of the day.When they reached the sixth and final year of the experiment they did not have enough land to plant the wheat in.They sold the wheat to local farmers who agreed to keep careful records and to give a tenth of the harvest from the wheat to the church of their choice.
The final harvest after six years of planting nine-tenths of each year's harvest was 72,150 bushels of wheat.The tithe was 7,215 bushels.
At the start of the experiment, the people had arranged with a local miller not only to keep track of their harvest but also to compare their yields with the yield of other wheat farmers in that area.Using the state average for each year's production, the miller computed that if they had not tithed but had utilized the full ten-tenths of their crop, they would have received a yield of 5,297 bushels.
Planting ten-tenths = 5,297 bushels
Planting nine-tenths (one-tenth to God) = 72,150 bushels
Their tithe was greater than the entire harvest they would have received if they had not tithed.
The stunning result of this study comes not from what they did receive, but from what the miller's figures showed if they had continued to run their experiment for another six years.In the sixth year (the twelfth of the experiment), there would not have been enough land mass on the planet Earth to receive the nine-tenths for another planting.
In the biblical book of Malachi, there is a promise made that if we tithed, God would “… pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”These people showed that promise to be literally true.
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way.... he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.Ezekiel 21:21
The Eastern peoples in that day took few important steps without consulting the stars and the omens.When King Nebuchadnezzar and his generals couldn’t agree on a campaign strategy, they paused to consult their gods.
“Shaking the arrows” was something like our modern “drawing straws,” with the arrows marked with the possible choices of action. “Consulting images” had to do with seeking help from the images of the gods they carried with them. “Looking at the liver” involved offering and animal sacrifice and getting directions from the shape and marks on the liver.
The Babylonians were without divine guidance in the form of true prophets and the Urim and Thummim, so they had to make do with other counterfeit methods of receiving direction. As weird as their methods sound to us, it shows that throughout time, people have always been searching for a source of wisdom above their own.
How happy we should feel when we contemplate the blessings of inspired prophetic counsel and the direction of the Holy Ghost!
The ancients believed that there were 70 levels of understanding embodied in each letter in the scriptures, and that it would take more than this lifetime to discover them all. Our modern prophets have also stated that increasing our understanding of the gospel is a lifelong task.
President Kimball once attended a Stake Conference, and after hearing a younger man's talk, he went to him and said, "I've read The Book of Mormon more than 70 times and yet today you used a scripture in a way that I've never thought of before. Like President Kimball, we can bear a similar witness that scriptural symbolism continues to unfold for us. In this way, we can model for our children the potential of many exciting new discoveries yet to be made in scripture study.
Although we live in a modern culture which thrives on the spiritual "fast food" of superficial understanding, we need to realize that the Lord has spread a banquet for us that can not be fully consumed in this life. When we are truly feasting on the word, we can never have a "been there, done that" attitude toward the scriptures, nor will we ever be complacent regarding the teachings given in sacred places.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed with all there is to learn, this realization that the scriptures contain many hidden treasures should cause us to rejoice. Speaking of feasting and rejoicing-- the Jews throw a party every year to celebrate the great blessing of having access to God's Word. They express gratitude for the insights they have gained during the past year, and anticipate with delight that precious new truths will be unfolded during the coming year. On this occasion, members of the congregation take turns carrying the Torah scrolls holding them high above their heads, or over their hearts, while everyone joins in a celebratory circle winding its way around the room. This is done with great joy in a style reminiscent of Tevye's exuberant dancing as portrayed in Fiddler on the Roof.
I love this idea of dancing with our scriptures. Dancing is a powerful symbolic gesture as well as a form of Biblical worship. We too can rejoice that Heavenly Father's words to us will never become stale, because the unfolding symbolism keeps His teachings forever fresh.
Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.John 13:33
[Middle] Eastern teachers, when conveying their love and closeness to their disciples, will address them as “little children”.Ecclesiastical authorities, when addressing a letter to the members of their churches, will write:“My beloved children [sons].”One also hears people engaged in conversation calling each other “my father” or “my son.”Elders usually address the younger ones as “my sons.”
Interestingly, according to custom, people call or address unlearned men, no matter how old they are, as “little children.”When God called Jeremiah to preach to the people, the prophet said:“I am a child.”This means “I am unlearned.”In Arabic, people refer to such person as jahil, “inexperienced.”
(Errico, Rocco A.Let There Be Light, Noohra Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico: 1994, pgs 195-196)
We see this particular usage of "little children" as well in D&C 50:40-41. Joseph Smith certainly was inspired, because this is not a typical (or respectful) way to address grown men in American culture.
40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth.
41Fear not, little children,for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me;
Behold, I will make Jerusalema cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:2
As you might have guessed by now, I enjoy collecting information that helps me understand unfamiliar scriptural phrases and terminology. Best of all, I love seeing the same imagery in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. That’s because when I figure out the Biblical understanding, I then have an insight to apply to modern scriptures.One fact equals several more scriptures made more meaningful and less confusing.
According to one scholar, " ‘cup of trembling’ means a cup of wine mixed with poison.In the East many princes, governors, and prominent men are poisoned during banquets and dinners.Some of those who are suspicious of the poisoning tremble when the cup is handed to them.
The days were to come when Jerusalem would be a cup of trembling to the nations who would come to fight against it and besiege it.They would tremble because the capital city and Judah would be defended by God himself [verses 3-6]. “(Lamsa, George M. 1964.Old Testament Light. San Francisco: Harper Collins., pg 951)
The words “cup” and “tremble” or“trembling” are found together or in close proximity in five places in the standard works. Nephi’s recounting of Isaiah is one example:
2 Nephi 8:17,22
17 Awake, awake,stand up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury—thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling wrung out--
22 Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord and thy God pleadeth the cause of his people;behold I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury;thou shalt no more drink it again.
Additionally, I believe it is also alluded to in the poignant description of the Savior’s experience with the Atonement.
D&C 19:18
Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink--
I am eternally thankful that because the Savior drank the painful and bitter cup, we- through our repentance- can know the sweetness of reconciliation with Him.
