Riot In Ephesus; Acts 19:23 – 41 Part 5

Church History: Date: A.D. 53–57

The prosecutors decided to drop the prosecution of Paul's friends, and to turn it into acclamations in honor of their goddess When they knew that he was a Jew, and, as such, an enemy to the worship of Diana (for the Jews had now an implacable hatred to idols and idolatry), whatever Alexander had to say either for Paul or against him, they were resolved not to hear him, and therefore set the mob a shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Diana made the Ephesians great, for the town was enriched by the vast concourse of people from all parts to Diana's temple there, and therefore they are concerned by all means possible to keep up her sinking reputation with, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

The crowd was suppressed and quieted by the prudence and vigilance of the town-clerk. He humors them with an acknowledgment that Diana was the celebrated goddess of the Ephesians. There was no reason for them to be so loud and boisterous in asserting a truth which nobody denied, or could be ignorant of. Everyone knows that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana. No one knew when this image of Diana had been set up and no one knew who made it. The people were led to believe it fell down from Jupiter. "Now these things," says the town-clerk very gravely (we can’t be sure if he even believed it himself or not), "cannot be spoken against; they have obtained such universal credit that you need not fear contradiction, it can do you no harm." "Since the image of Diana fell down from Jupiter, as we all believe, then what is said against gods made with hands does not at all affect us."

He cautions them against all violent and tumultuous proceedings, which their religion did not need, nor could receive any real advantage from: You ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly. He ignores the hatred that had been building toward Paul and his associates, and tells them, they were not the men that they were represented to be: "You have brought to me these men, and are ready to pull them to pieces; but have you considered what it is they have done? Can you prove these accusations? They are not robbers of churches, you cannot charge them with sacrilege, or the taking away of any dedicated thing. They have done any damage to Diana's temple or the treasures in it; nor are they blasphemers of your goddess; they have not given any offensive language to the worshippers of Diana, nor spoken out against her or her temple. Why should you prosecute those with all this violence who, though they are not of your mind, yet do not invoke any bitterness against you? Since they are calm, why should you be hot?"