Acts 19

21-22 Paul remained in Ephesus for two and a half years. His ministry there bore much fruit. During that period in Ephesus Paul faced many dangers, which Luke does not tell us about (see Acts 20:19; 1 Corinthians 15:30-32; 2 Corinthians 1:8-10). Also during his stay in Ephesus, Paul wrote the first and second New Testament letters to the Corinthians.

Paul decided to go to Jerusalem in order to take to the poor Christians there the collection that had been raised by the churches in Macedonia and Achaia⁸⁶ (see Romans 15:25-26; 1 Corinthians 16:3-5). After that Paul hoped to go to Spain by way of Rome (Romans 15:23-24). Spain was the westernmost region of the Roman Empire.

Timothy was also in Ephesus with Paul at that time, so Paul sent Timothy and Erastus on to Macedonia ahead of him. On a previous occasion Paul had sent Timothy from Ephesus to Corinth (1 Corinthians 4:17).

23 Toward the end of Paul’s stay in Eph-esus a great disturbance arose in connection with the Way—that is, the Christian religion (see Acts 9:2 and comment).

24 The Ephesians had built a huge temple in honor of the goddess Artemis, which measured 130 by 60 meters. Throughout the province of Asia,⁸⁷ people considered Artemis to be the greatest goddess of all. She was thought to be the mother of all other gods, and the mother of all men as well. Inside the temple was an image of Artemis, which actually was a meteorite that had fallen from the sky (verse 35). The surface of the meteorite was covered with bumps resembling breasts. Therefore, the Ephesians believed that this image of Artemis represented a many-breasted woman.

The silversmiths made little silver images of Artemis and sold them for a big prof it. But when increasing numbers of people stopped worshiping Artemis and began turning to Christ, the sale of these images fell of f and the income of the silversmiths dropped. Therefore, the silversmiths had two reasons for being angry with Paul: the first was religious, and the second was financial. Thus their opposition to Paul was doubly great.

25-27 The silversmiths made their living by making man-made gods (verse 26). But Paul was teaching everyone that these gods weren’t gods at all; they were worthless. Naturally the silversmiths were angry at Paul!

28-29 The theater at Ephesus could seat twenty-five thousand people. The ruins of that theater still remain today. Public assemblies to settle legal matters were held regularly in the theater (verse 39).

Gaius and Aristarchus were from Macedonia. Aristarchus was a Thessalonian (Acts 20:4; 27:2; Colossians 4:21). Gaius could be the same person as the Gaius from Derbe mentioned in Acts 20:4; but it is not likely, because the city of Derbe was not in Macedonia but in Galatia. Gaius and Aristarchus, having been dragged into the theater, were probably the ones who later gave Luke a firsthand account of what happened.

30-31 Paul wanted to appear before the crowd. Paul never feared men. He was always ready to defend the Gospel of Christ at every opportunity. On this occasion, however, Paul’s colleagues did not think it advisable for him to speak before such an angry mob. It was too great a risk. Christians may be called to lay down their lives, but they are never called to throw them away.

32-34 Although the crowd was angry mainly with Paul and the Christians, they were also mad at the Jews, who didn’t worship Artemis either. Thus when the Jews saw this riot, they began to get worried. They forced Alexander,⁸⁸ one of their fellow Jews, to go forward and tell the crowd that the Jews had no connection with Christians and that therefore the people didn’t need to blame the Jews for what the Christians were doing. But since Alexander was a Jew himself, no one listened to him.

35-37 Ephesus was a free city within the Roman Empire, and it had its own government. The chief official of the city was called the city clerk (verse 35). But even though Ephesus itself was a free city, the surrounding province of Asia was under the control of the Roman Empire, and the Roman governor of the province had his residence in Ephesus. If news of such a riot came to his ears, he would surely punish the people of Ephesus, and possibly take away their freedom. Therefore, the city clerk tried very hard to persuade the crowd to quiet down.

38-41 The city clerk reminded the people that if anyone had a complaint against someone else, the matter should be brought up in a court. Or if a dispute arose involving the laws of the city, that should be settled in one of the legal assemblies, which met regularly. But a riot like this was totally unsuitable, and must be ended at once.