Hechos 19:33

33 Los judíos de la multitud empujaron a Alejandro hacia adelante y le dijeron que explicara la situación. Él hizo señas para pedir silencio e intentó hablar;

Hechos 19:33 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 19:33

And they drew Alexander out of the multitude
Or "some of the multitude brought forth Alexander"; into the theatre, in order to kill him, by casting him to the wild beasts. Some think this is the same with Alexander the coppersmith, who apostatized upon this danger he was exposed to, and became a blasphemer, and a great enemy of the apostle, and did him much evil, ( 1 Timothy 1:20 ) ( 2 Timothy 4:14 ) . This man, though his name was a Greek name, yet was a Jew, as is expressed in ( Acts 19:34 ) and from the times of Alexander the great, who was at Jerusalem, this name became common among the Jews; (See Gill on Acts 4:6).

The Jews putting him forward;
being equally enemies to him, as being under a profession of Christianity, as the Heathens were; or as the Syriac version reads, "the people of the Jews", that were there, out of themselves, pitched upon him as a proper person to still the uproar; and they brought him out of the multitude, to a convenient place, where he might be heard; and they the rather were forward to this, that he might lay all the blame of this confusion and uproar upon Paul and his companions, whom the Jews had an aversion to, as well as the Gentiles:

and Alexander beckoned with the hand;
for silence, that he might be heard:

and would have made his defence unto the people;
which looks as if he was a Christian, or at least was charged with being one, and was in danger of his life on that account; and therefore was desirous of being heard, that he might make an apology for the Christians, or remove such an imputation from himself, if he was not.

Hechos 19:33 In-Context

31 Algunos de los funcionarios de la provincia, amigos de Pablo, también le enviaron un mensaje para suplicarle que no arriesgara su vida por entrar en el anfiteatro.

32 Adentro era un griterío; algunos gritaban una cosa, y otros otra. Todo era confusión. De hecho, la mayoría ni siquiera sabía por qué estaba allí.

33 Los judíos de la multitud empujaron a Alejandro hacia adelante y le dijeron que explicara la situación. Él hizo señas para pedir silencio e intentó hablar;

34 pero cuando la multitud se dio cuenta de que era judío, empezaron a gritar de nuevo y siguieron sin parar como por dos horas: «¡Grande es Artemisa de los efesios! ¡Grande es Artemisa de los efesios!».

35 Por fin, el alcalde logró callarlos lo suficiente para poder hablar. «Ciudadanos de Éfeso —les dijo—, todos saben que la ciudad de Éfeso es la guardiana oficial del templo de la gran Artemisa, cuya imagen nos cayó del cielo.