In this study, we investigate the dynamics of surface motion of a penetrable spherical body subjected to an incident plane acoustic wave. The results should be valid for objects of rather general internal consistency since they are based on quite basic physical considerations, but they are illustrated here by the example of a gas bubble in a fluid. It is shown that surface waves generated in the scattering process circumnavigate the target sphere and, by a process of in‐phase “resonant reinforcement,” excite its multipole resonances at those eigenfrequencies at which n + 12 wavelengths (n being an integer) span the circumference. Phase matching is achieved here due to the fact that the surface wave suffers a phase jump of π/2 at each of the two “caustic points” on the sphere at which the surface waves converge. Surface motions and circumferential waves on the bubble are graphically demonstrated, both on and off resonance. This work was supported by the Office of Marine Technology, Engineering Development Laboratory, NOAA, and by the Office of Naval Research, Code 421.]