Paul had been teaching at Ephesus for three years and had seen the successful evangelization of the city and hinterland. The word of God had been magnified and, thanks to a foolish attempt by unbelieving Jewish magicians to usurp the authority of Jesus as demonstrated through Paul, Christ had been well-shown to be supreme. Success breeds jealousy, which Paul had experienced before.

“And about that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen; these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. And not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship should even be dethroned from her magnificence.” And when they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ And the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.” Acts 19:23-32

Paul was a victim of his own success. In convincing people to turn aside from their idol worship, he cut into the idol-makers’ profits and, as they say, it’s all about the benjamines. Ephesus was known for its large temple to Diana (Artemis) and probably a good deal of the city made its living off making little statues of Artemis for people to carry home for private worship. When the people of Ephesus came to see the futility of magic, they have also come to see the futility of idolatry. Paul’s preaching was a threat, but the practices of the Christians had a huge impact on the entire city – an impact that demanded a response. Demetrius, a silversmith, called the craftsmen together in a guild meeting and told them: 1) our prosperity depends upon the business of making idols of Artemis; 2) Paul’s preaching is endangering our business; and, 3) people are going to quit coming to the temple of Artemis and the city will be left destitute.

Upon hearing this, they, like all good trade unions, rioted. The masses who joined in seem to have been confused about the “cause”, but the desired effect of social disruption was achieved, though in the end, they arrested Gaius and Aristarchus – two local Christians -- rather than Paul. Hey, having someone to stone is necessary if you’re going to hold a stoning! You can’t have a stoning without a victim!

“And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him. And also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater. So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority did not know for what cause they had come together. And some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Acts 19:30-34

I’m not sure what Alexander’s purpose was here, but his Jewishness seems to have further aggravated the Ephesians and sent them into a chant. I’m personally having visions of Ramadan here. Paul wanted to address the crowd, but the disciples refused to allow it, probably fearing for his safety. I think the crowd’s response to Alexander shows how little effect Paul would have had on this angry mob.

I think there are some modern lessons we can learn here. These people, in their pagan city, felt what was precious to them being attacked and they sought to protect it. What Paul taught had a keen double edge. The religious nature of Ephesus was changing from pagan to Christian – eventually it would be a major seat of Christianity and Demetrius would be proved right. The temple of Diana would be abandoned. The commercial nature of Ephesus was also changing, because it relied on the religion of Diana for so much of its trade. If Diana was no longer being worshipped, what were the tradesmen going to do for a living? Nobody had come up with bumper decals yet. We see this in communities today when some groups protest the building of churches or place stringent regulations upon such buildings, designed to prevent their building. Often, if you research the history of such efforts you find out that someone feels their business will be threatened. Several years ago, when our church wanted to pave a field we were already using as a parking lot the liquor store owner down the street launched a bunch of environmental challenges that drove up the expense of paving by so much that the field is still a dust bowl. Why would the owner of a liquor store not want a Baptist church (that has been in the same location for 60 years to his 20 and was three blocks away from his business) to have the ability to expand? Well, I think he thinks we might seek to close him down for license violations and the more of us who are able to sign petitions (a larger less-dusty parking lot might encourage more people to attend, maybe), the less safe he feels in his business practices (btw, we have never sought to do so, though we do pray for bad business decisions on his part to be discovered by the alcohol board).

“And after quieting the multitude, the town clerk said, “Men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, and of the image which fell down from heaven? Since then these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against any man, the courts are in session and proconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another. But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly. For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s affair, since there is no real cause for it; and in this connection we shall be unable to account for this disorderly gathering.” And after saying this he dismissed the assembly.” Acts 19:35-41

Paul and Alexander would not be heard by the crowd, but the city clerk, who was a politician after all, bided his time and allowed the crowd to calm a bit before he spoke. Demetrius emphasized profits and self-interest ending with the worship of Artemis, while the clerk emphasized the worship of Artemis and the related economic benefits. The clerk pointed out that if Artemis is real, which they all believed she was, they didn’t need to worry about some foreigner coming in and upsetting the “faith. The clerk was apparently familiar with Paul’s teachings and knew Paul and his colleagues had not broken any laws. They hadn’t desecrated Artemis’ temple or spoke blasphemy concerning her. They taught against idolatry, but not by attacking the idols. There were courts to handle things if laws were broken and they’d likely find the mob guilty of causing upheaval, so “go home and relax, people!” Persuaded, the crowd went home and Paul, seeing the effects of his presence, moved on.

The city clerk reminds me of Gallio, the Corinthian official who defended Paul’s right to preach even though he himself didn’t believe. God used pure heathens in both instances to advance His gospel.  While Gallio seems to have just wanted to return to whatever pressing business occupied a Roman proconsul and seemed annoyed by the Jews’ rabble-rousing, the city clerk was aware of what Paul preached and confident that he hadn’t violated any laws. The faith of the Christians in the power of God enabled them to live within the laws of the land. If they differed with the worship of the Ephesians, they made their differences clear in a way that was within the law. In Acts the laws of the land are only disobeyed when they directly contradict God’s law (Acts 5:29). That’s another subject that I might address sometime other than this.

Paul’s deliverance was not wrought by him, by having the right method or a clever argument. He was never allowed to speak. God used a pagan politician to rescue Paul. That should speak volumes to us on God’s ability to work sovereignly to carry out His plans. Does He really need us or is He giving us the privilege of working for Him? I think the latter rather than the former.

So why do we continually turn to the world for answers that only God can give? Why do we seek worldly solutions to worldly problems when God has demonstrated that He is more than capable to dealing with worldly problems in ways that will surprise us? Humans are always and will ever be enamored of our own intelligence. We still believe the lie that the serpent told Eve – “You can be as gods.”  We honestly believe that we possess the ability to reason with the world and make them understand our position. This is folly! Paul understood that every breath he took belonged to God and therefore, he dedicated every word he taught to God as well. If he achieved any success in preaching the gospel at the school of Tyrannus, it was the Lord’s doing, not Paul’s. In Ephesus, he was not given an opportunity to speak, but God spoke volumes through the words of a pagan politician. What does that tell us about our reliance upon God?