Two Sauls

Acts 9:3-4English Standard Version (ESV)

3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him,“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

1 Samuel 26:18English Standard Version (ESV)

18 And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands?

"When he heard that voice of reproach, Saul immediately recognized the irony of his name, an irony enunciated in Jesus’ very question. He recognized that voice. It was the voice of David wandering in the desert, during that period when he was pursued by Israel’s first king."

-- Patrick Henry Reardon, "Once Saul, always Saul"