Paul had a vision of Jesus on his journey to Damascus and heard him speak to him. Many Bible critics have pointed out inconsistencies in the accounts of hearing and not hearing the voice of Jesus in Acts 9, 22, and 26, and some have even called Paul a false apostle. Original Acts 9:7 Original Acts 22:9 Original Acts 26:13
There are two patterns of people who appear in each scripture passage
Acts 9:3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" 5 And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." 7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice(Phon in Greek). but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Acts 22:6 Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' 8 So I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.' 9 And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.(Meaning they may have heard the sound of the voice, but did not understand it, or if they were fellow Jews in a remote position, they may not have even heard the sound of the voice.) 10 So I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.' 11 And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.
Acts 26:12 "While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, 13 at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice(Phon in Greek) speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' 15 So I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
In Revelation 1:15, both the voice and sound of Jesus' voice and the sound of the waters are phon in Greek. In short, both voice and sound are often translated as phon in Greek. There are also scriptures where the sound of the wind or trumpet is considered a phon. (John 3:8; 1 Corinthians 14:8) In the kjv there are 131 places where it is translated voice and 9 places where it is translated sound of something.
In Acts 9, the people who were traveling together heard a voice, but in chapter 22, they did not. This is actually related to understanding the meaning of the original word, and also to the fact that the identity of the hired attendants on the journey in red letters and those who were with them in blue letters are different types: the original word to journey in chapter 9:7 is συνοδεύω (snaduo), which in the above link is "to journey with, travel in company with". The original word in chapter 26:13 is πορεύω (paluō), which means "to lead over, carry over, transfer, to follow one", that is: become his adherent to lead or order one's life. In light of the fact that the Torah permits Jews to hire Gentiles as slaves, these non-Hebrew hired hands would be those who are to serve as traveling companions and watch over them while following them from behind.
The men who were with me in blue are translated “the men who were with me,” which has the connotation of “ to agree with” in English, if we check the English text and the original; in verse 9, with is σύν (sun), and in verse 11 it is σύνειμι ( snamy) and especially in the latter, the original word used for “Jesus' disciples were with him” in Luke 9:18. In other words, we can assume that they were strictly fellow Jews who were more closely related to Paul and who also agreed to persecute Christians. Interestingly, Jesus made his words to Paul inaudible and unintelligible for Jews who were in favor of persecuting Christians, so that they would not realize that Paul had been given a revelation by the Lord Jesus, a Christian with whom they had bitter feelings. In other words, He must have arranged the timing of the appearance in the vision so that they would not be divided by the time they reached their destination.
As evidence, the people in blue, even though they could not hear or understand the voice, took the initiative to help Paul when he was blinded by the light in chapter 22 and took him to Damascus. At that time, those in red who were his traveling companions would have been responsible for getting him to his destination, so they would have followed from behind and watched over his fellow Jews in blue who were leading the blind Paul.
Quite an important point, but at noontime, strict Jews like Saul (Paul) would quiet down and devote themselves to a time of prayer. In Judaism, there are three times of prayer per day, not only on the Sabbath, but also on weekdays. The morning prayer is called Shacharit, the afternoon prayer is called Minhaar, and the evening prayer is called Maariv. At these times, the hired servants on Paul's journey dismount from their horses with their luggage and watch over Paul while he rests. Meanwhile, his fellow Jews, who are described as being with him in blue, would also dismount from their horses and devote themselves to prayer and meditation, each taking a short distance from the others.
The explanation under these conditions is approximately understandable.
Explanation of Chapter 9
In Acts 9, Paul's traveling attendants were near him, so they must have seen the light and heard the voice together. (It is not certain that they understood the content of the voice speaking to him. Perhaps they heard the voices, but, as in chapter 22, even the attendants did not clearly understand the content.) The attendants would have sat on the ground together and watched Paul and the other Jews as they rested and prayed. In chapter 26, Paul and the others, including the attendants, were so overwhelmed by the light that they fell to the ground and Paul heard a voice. The point is that Paul himself was so overwhelmed by the miracle that he could not get up from the ground, but the attendants around him said, “What's that light but there is no one there, we think we heard 'Saul' in Hebrew.” They must have stood up, thinking, ‘It's okay that we weren't the target,’ and then stood still in shock as they continued to hear the voice speaking to them. It was a bit awkward, but once they fell down, and after that stood up and froze.
Explanation of Chapter 22
The next chapter, Acts 22, says that Paul's Jewish companions could not hear him. They were spending the important midday prayer time, or rest time, at a distance from each other for refreshment, rather than getting off their horses and huddling in a group of men during a break, so they saw something shining but could not fully hear the voices. The Greek word for “hear” is akouo, which is often used in the Bible to mean “understand.” The point is that they could hear the vocalizations themselves, but they could not “understand” them because they were at a distance from each other.
In chapter 22, Paul is evangelizing “to the Jews” while reminiscing about his past. It seems that he is speaking to the Jewish masses, “My fellow Jews at that time were not my attendants, but were a little far away, so they could not understand what the voice said, so they cannot be witnesses, but it is a true story” Or, perhaps the brethren were too far away to actually hear the voice. (There is also a clear distinction in Scripture between traveling attendants who may not be Hebrews and fellow Jews, and here it says that there are no Jewish witnesses against their fellow Jews.)
Explanation of Chapter 26
In chapter 26, Paul explains his situation to the Gentiles including King Agrippa while he was in custody in Caesarea. It says that Paul, including his attendants, was hit by the light and fell to the ground, and that is when Paul heard the voice. We also know that Paul alone was blinded for three days. This suggests that the light was less shocking for the attendants, and unlike Paul, they were scared and fell to the ground when they saw the light, but they got up immediately while hearing the voice. This makes sense with the statement in chapter 9 that he froze standing up.
Even if they were traveling with one horse per person, as mentioned in chapter 22, the blind Paul would not have had to ride a horse, but would have been slowly guided on a horse with only his baggage on the horse while holding the horse's reins and he was sandwiched in the middle. And it's so close to Damascus. Paul's traveling attendants must have been surprised at Paul's blindness, but relieved that his compatriot was taking charge and leading the way, so they followed behind and watched.
They all heard the voices, but they didn't “ understand.”
If we understand the meaning of the original word like this, “hearing” means “understanding” in the first place, so it can be interpreted as “did not understand” even though they all heard the vocal sound (phon) itself in all the verses. In the first place, it is normal for decent people to keep their distance from each other, rather than to be in a group of people resting in one place, and since Jesus was speaking only to Paul, who was the vessel of choice to show his glory, neither the attendants nor the fellow Jews could see anyone, even though they could hear his vocalization, they could not “understand” the content of his words. Even though they could hear the voice of the speaker, they could not “understand” the content of the message.
I think that Paul's traveling attendants, who had no choice but to be very close to Paul to watch over him and the Jews, were a bit overwhelmed by the light and fell to the ground for a moment, but they quickly stood up and froze when they heard a voice from the luminous object. On the other hand, the fellow Jews were not so close to Paul in the first place, and although they heard something glowing speak to Paul when they were taking a break at noon (it is possible that they did not even hear the vocalization), they “did not understand” what was being said, as the original word “akouo” means.
Conclusion
Since the author Luke interviewed various people and wrote down their biographies, it is no wonder that certain events made a big impression on some people. All of them fell down when they were startled by the light←This is impressive, and it is certain that all of them except Paul got up because they were outsiders afterwards, but it must have been such a powerful experience that they all fell down at one point. They heard a voice, but “they could not understand it”.
Some church leaders call Paul a false apostle because there seems to be a discrepancy in his visionary experiences, yet by all accounts, although Paul is not one of the Twelve Apostles, he would be classified in the heavenly class of the 144,000 symbolic martyrs as a kind of apostle to the Gentiles.
If we check from the original language, there is no particular problem because it also makes sense.
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