Acts 19 Footnotes

19:9 Perhaps Tyrannus owned the hall or regularly taught there. The name Tyrannus is known in inscriptions from Ephesus during this time.

19:10 After three months of regularly speaking in the Ephesian synagogue (v. 8), Paul spent another two years teaching there; this had a significant impact throughout the Asian province. Some believe many events unrecorded here but taking place during this time may be referred to elsewhere in Paul’s letters, including his temporary imprisonments and beatings (2Co 1:8-10; 11:23-25).

19:11-12 God’s power through faith was at work in these healings, even if physical devices were a part of the process (see note on 5:15).

19:13-14 The magical tradition of the ancient world often involved invoking names of divine figures (as magical papyri and amulets indicate). Numerous Jewish magical texts attest to the interplay of magic and Judaism. Here some itinerant Jewish exorcists, apparently traveling around the countryside in search of money for performing magical acts, attempted a mechanical and faithless use of Jesus’s name.

19:19 Ephesus had a reputation for magical practices so notable that magical texts were called “Ephesian letters” (Athenagoras). When these magicians became believers, they burned theirs.

19:21 As in Rm 15:23-29, Paul believed his missionary work in the East was done—and after taking the collection to Jerusalem, he proceeded to Rome and possibly went as far west as Spain.

19:24,27 The Artemis cult here was part of a larger Greek Artemis cult; the goddess was called “the great mother.” Small silver artifacts honoring Artemis have been found in Ephesus. In the 1950s, several large Artemis statues—with clear fertility associations—were also discovered here. Typical in the ancient world, money was to be made or lost by those associated with the cult, and Paul’s preaching clearly jeopardized their practices (vv. 25-26). This temple of Artemis (its foundations dating to the eighth century BC) was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The temple eventually fell into disrepute and ruin, despite the concerns of these Ephesians (v. 27). It was rediscovered in the nineteenth century; its altar was uncovered in 1965.

19:29 The Ephesian amphitheater (seating twenty-four thousand) was thoroughly remodeled in the first century AD. It was a suitable place for a large crowd.

19:33-34 Wanting to distance themselves from the controversy Paul and his followers caused, the Jews shoved forward one of their own, Alexander (a Hellenistic Jew, as indicated by his name), to offer an apology on their behalf. Since the Jews would have had the same view of the Artemis cult as Paul and his followers, the Ephesian crowd clearly rejected him when it was recognized that he was a Jew.

19:35 Perhaps the Artemis cult in Ephesus was started when a meteorite fell there, or maybe the reference to falling from heaven included any divine cult thought to originate with the gods.

19:40 The city clerk (v. 35) urged the disbanding of the disorderly gathering, appealing to Rome’s decisive response to riots. No mention of further legal action indicates that Paul and his followers did anything unlawful; they simply upset those profiting from the Artemis cult.