Bible Study Lesson for Acts 19:23-41: the Riot in Ephesus

In the second half of this chapter Paul starts yet another riot, this one in Ephesus, the center of the worship of Artemis.

Read Acts 19:23-24. From my commentary: "Each trade had its guild, and Demetrius was probably a responsible leader of the guild for the manufacture of silver shrines and images. Artemis. The Greek name for the Roman goddess Diana. The Ephesian Artemis, however, was very different from the Greco-Roman goddess. She had taken on the characteristics of Cybele, the mother goddess of fertility worshiped in Asia Minor and served by many prostitute priestesses. A meteorite may be the basis of the many-breasted image of heavenly workmanship claimed for Artemis (v. 35). (Some have identified the objects that cover the torso of the image as ostrich eggs.) Reproductions of the original image from the time of the emperor Domitian (A.D. 81-96) have been found in Ephesus." { Show picture of Artemis from "Great Events of Bible times" page 176 }

Read Acts 19:25. From my commentary: "Since the temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, people came from far and wide to view it. Their purchase of silver shrines and images produced a lucrative business for the craftsmen." So, you'll note that Demetrius wasn't primarily upset because his goddess was being "disrespected", nope, he was upset because Christianity was beginning to affect his finances!

But as we will see, as we read on in his speech, he is shrewd and plays on the religious feelings of others toward Artemis, even if he is primarily money motivated.

Read Acts 19:26-27. The temple itself was considered the glory of Ephesus: 425 feet long and 220 feet wide, having 127 white marble columns 62 feet high and less than 4 feet apart. In the inner sanctuary was the many-breasted image supposedly dropped from heaven.

Short rabbit trail: The temple Paul would have seen was built around 333 BC (there were other temples on the site that had been destroyed). What happened to the temple? I found this information online: "It was Paul's Christianity that won out in the end, though. By the time the great Temple of Artemis was destroyed during a raid by the Goths in 262 A.D., both the city and the religion of Artemis were in decline. When the Roman Emperor Constantine rebuilt much of Ephesus a century later, he declined to restore the temple. He had become a Christian and had little interest in pagan temples. Today the site of the temple is a marshy field. A single column is erect to remind visitors that once there stood in that place one of the wonders of the ancient world. " { Put up temple symbol on flannel board }

Read Acts 19:28. Tied up with this religious fervor there was a very human pride in their goddess and the thought of someone "disrespecting" her made many of the Ephesians angry. It reminds me somewhat how certain sports fans can get quite angry if someone "disses" their team.

Read Acts 19:29. Gaius was a common Roman name, so we are not exactly sure who this is. A good guess is that this is the same Gaius of Corinth that Paul baptized, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:14. As for Aristarchus, we know from other scriptures that he was from Thessalonica (which is in Macedonia), and traveled with Paul on other occasions into Greece, and later to Rome. Read Acts 27:2. As we read through Acts, I'm beginning to realize that, Paul had a wide varieties of companions that shared in his ministry with him. It was definitely not a "one-man-show". Back to Acts 19:29 is says that the mob rushed Gaius and Aristarchus to the theater. You can still see the theatre at Ephesus today. { Show picture from "Great Events of Bible times" page 177 }

Read Acts 19:30-31. I think it is clear that Paul's friends were afraid that if Paul were to appear before the crowd, the crowd would not hesitate to tear him to pieces. It sounds like a very ugly scene.

Read Acts 19:32. This verse does such an excellent job of describing the mob mentality! Once a riot gets going, people get caught up, join the crowd, go in the direction that the crowd is going, and not even know why! Some of the Jews in Thessalonica used a similar tactic to get rid of Paul. Read Acts 17:5-9. Even earlier, during Jesus' trial, the chief priests manipulated the crowd to get them to force Pilate to crucify Jesus. Read Mark 15:9-15. These examples show us how dangerous a crowd can be, easily lead, mislead, and manipulated to meet someone else's desires.

Read Acts 19:33. We don't know who this Alexander is, but we can see here that he is a Jew. The Jews mentioned here probably wanted him to speak before the crowd to either demonstrated that they were not followers of Paul either and/or to accuse the Christians of further offenses toward the Greeks. They were clearly not stepping up in defense of Paul or this new religion.

Read Acts 19:34. But the crowd doesn't let Alexander speak at all, because they recognized that he was a Jew, and therefore not a follower of Artemis either. The crowd is so hyped up and energized that they shout "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" for two full hours! I doubt many others tried to speak in front of the crowd during this uproar.

Read Acts 19:35. From my commentary: "The secretary of the city who published the decisions of the civic assembly. He was the most important local official and the chief executive officer of the assembly, acting as go-between for Ephesus and the Roman authorities. " This man, clearly, was well-known and respected in the city and was therefore able to get the crowd to quiet down long enough to listen to him. It says here that Artemis' image fell from heaven - it is possible that it was associated with a meteorite in some way.

Read Acts 19:36-37. So the city clerk basically says: "OK, guys, everyone KNOWS that Ephesus is Artemis' city - you don't have to continually shout & repeat it over & over!" He also calms them down and points out that doing any sort of harm to Gaius and Aristarchus would be wrong. There isn't any proof that these two men had done anything criminal or even spoken disrespectfully of Artemis.

Read Acts 19:38. The city clerk, obviously, knew who had started the riot for he specifically names Demetrius. I found that interesting and wise, because he makes it clear who is responsible for starting the riot. He makes it clear that there are legal procedures that Demetrius can follow if he has a true case of being wronged by Paul or his followers. All very logical, all very legal, and calm.
Read Acts 19:39. My notes tell me that there was a regular civil legal assembly that was held three times a month.

Read Acts 19:40. When the clerk says "we are in danger of being charged with rioting" I think he means they are in danger of being charged by the Romans, since this was part of the Roman empire. I'm assuming there was some sort of fine involved or some strict penalty that the Romans could enact on the city if the riot became violent. As we said earlier, part of the city clerk's job was to be an intermediary between Ephesus and the Roman authorities.

Read Acts 19:41. Apparently the crowd calmed down, listened to him, released the two Christians, and went home peacefully. We don't hear anything more about Demetrius, but I bet he wasn't too happy!
Just to wrap up this chapter, it was during his stay at Ephesus, or close soon after that it is believed that Paul wrote his epistle to the Galatians, and his first & second epistles to the Corinthians. { Put up letter symbols on flannel board }

Blessings!

Sources
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version
Editors. Great Events of Bible Times