The Book of Acts

The Riot in Ephesus

Acts 19:22-41 _NLT

“(Paul) sent two assistants, Timothy and Erastus, ahead to Macedonia while he stayed awhile longer in the province of Asia. About that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the Way.” - Acts 19:22-23

                  It seems that there’s always someone somewhere who for their own selfish reasons has a problem with the gospel message. The fact that the message preached said nothing of the Greek god Artemis yet proclaimed Jesus and what their message conveyed regarding love, peace, forgiveness, compassion and so on, infuriated the tradesmen of the city. Demetrius, a local silversmith who manufactured silver shrines to the Greek goddess Artemis, saw ‘red’ because the message was bringing about confusion with the city dwellers.

                  Artemis was the goddess of fertility, represented by a carved female figure with many breasts, which had been placed in a temple constructed solely for her in Ephesus. That temple was considered one of the great wonders of the ancient world. The gospel message would most definitely cut into the livelihood of the tradesmen, since Paul told his listeners that the “hand-made gods” were in fact not gods at all; therefore, Demetrius instigated a riot in the city to compel the Christians to leave and never come back. Even though Demetrius’ beef was solely monetary and as a result selfish, he portrayed the situation as the province-wide loss of respect and influence of Artemis, who now held great prestige. In other words, he misrepresented his reasoning for the anger he was exhibiting publicly.

                  Paul wasn’t there at that time, therefore the rioters took Paul’s traveling companions Gaius and Aristarchus, to the Amphitheatre, apparently where matters of this nature were taken to discuss. Paul had wanted to go stand up for his brothers, but the believers he was with beg him not to go for fear that something terrible would befall him. 

                  At the Amphitheatre, a Jew named Alexander was coerced into stating the case for the rioters, as the Jews were equally upset about the propagation of the Way. However, the cause of the Jews was far different than that of the tradesmen, so when Alexander attempted to speak, the crowd realizing he was a Jew, began to shout once again. For the next 2 hours the crowd shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

                  At last the mayor of the city quieted the masses down and began to reason with them. Since the Christians hadn’t spoken out against Artemis or stolen anything from the temple in her name, they should not riot, but rather file charges for the city officials to hear and make a judgment.  The mayor’s concern was that the Roman government would accuse those in attendance of rioting, which would not be good for anyone. Therefore, the mayor defused the situation and the crown dispersed. Notice how all three parties involved with this situation had their own selfish reasons for shutting down what was going on. One was over money, one over the message itself and the last to avoid problems with the government. All selfish motives, all missed the point of apostles message. Sadly, in many ways, their reaction was no different than the reaction of many today. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His name & for His glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Resource: The Life Application Study Bible