Acts 19:32

Act_19:32-41

Some therefore cried one thing, and some another.

The excitement at Ephesus

I. What produced it.

1. Self-interest endangered.

2. Superstitious feelings aroused.

3. The unpopularity of the gospel.

4. The persuasive eloquence of one man.

II. What it produced. A display of the spirit of--

1. Enemies of truth.

2. True friends.

3. Eminent Christians. (Stems and Twigs for Sermon Framework.)

The tumult at Ephesus

I. Its causes.

1. The preaching of Paul.

2. The speech of Demetrius.

II. The tumult itself.

1. Pauls courageous demeanour.

2. The conduct of the populace.

III. The tumult stilled. The speech of the town clerk.

1. A model of worldly prudence.

2. An example of great moral courage.

Application:

1. Be not dismayed in times of danger.

2. Unite prudence with courage and justice. (J. H. Tasson.)

Popular disorders--their cause and cure

A depraved commonalty is the teeming source of all moral and political disorder, and the fearful presage, if not speedily averted by an efficient system of Christian instruction, of a sweeping anarchy and great national overthrow. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)

And when the town clerk had appeased the people.--

The conduct of the town clerk

When the tumult had gone on for about two hours down comes the town clerk. At the appearance of a well-known Roman official order is quickly restored, just as we have seen a crowd in the streets of London, assembled to witness a fight, quietly disperse on the appearance of one policeman, whilst the two excited combatants saunter off calmly in the opposite direction with their hands in their pockets. This sudden quieting of the city was a great tribute to the genius of Rome for good government. The Roman officials, indeed, usually appear to advantage in the New Testament, especially in the Acts. Gallio knew his business at Corinth, and the town clerk knew his business at Ephesus. His speech was brief and admirable--quite as good as Gallios, in its way, and to the point. He said in effect--Good people, what is this noise about? Great is Diana! We all know Diana is great. If a wretched, wandering Jew, half off his head, comes here and says otherwise, what can it matter? Every one in this assembly is aware that the famous image we adore came straight down from Jupiter. Nobody doubts that, so theres an end of the matter. You are not so simple as to suppose that our temple, celebrated throughout the world, can be in any danger from the windy chatter of this half-blind Paulus and his crew? Then, after all, poor deluded troublesome creatures as we know all the Jews are, yet these particular ones have committed no robbery. (Cries of Demetrius and all of us are being robbed. Heres the month of May, the place is full of visitors, the temple festival at its height, and we cant sell our shrines; theres a lot of dead stock on hand.) Well, well, if Demetrius and his friends have any grievance, the law is open; let him get his solicitor to prepare his case; both sides will then be heard, and you know that in a Roman law court justice will be done. Ill see to that. But this is not the way to get your rights. Go home quietly, and your business shall be attended to in a lawful manner. Remember, an uproar like this is a serious matter. You have special privileges, and you are in danger of forfeiting them by your unseemly behaviour. You are not under martial law with a propraetor and a legion to rule you, but you are a senatorial province, with a proconsul, and your humble servant in office, who is likely to be called to account for this disturbance, and in what a ridiculous, if not criminal light will Demetrius and his followers have to appear then! I fear they, and not Paulus and Alexander, will have to stand as prisoners in the dock. And beneath this mixture of flattery, irony, and menace, the excited crowd melted away. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)

The conduct of the town clerk as an example

Cotton Mather used to say that there was a gentleman mentioned in Act_19:1-41, to whom he was often and greatly indebted--viz., the town clerk of Ephesus, whose counsel was, Do nothing rashly. And on any proposal of consequence he would say, Let us consult a little with the town clerk of Ephesus.

The address of the town clerk

Observe here:--

I. Conciliation. As if he had said, These poor Jews cannot in any way weaken the authority, limit the influence, or dim the glory of Diana. You may as well be anxious about the radiance of the quenchless stars as about Diana (Act_19:36). As there is not the slightest occasion for all this tumult, be quiet; act as men, not as children.

II. Conscience. He speaks out the just as well as the politic (Act_19:37). There is a high testimony from a learned and dignified pagan to the conduct of the apostles as the promoters of a new faith. It shows--

1. That they exhibited a respectful deference to the feelings of the errorists.

2. That they set forth Gods truth rather than battled with mens opinions.

3. That their language was kind and not reproachful. Would that all promoters of truth had imitated the example of the apostles in this respect.

III. Counsel. He administers wise advice (Act_19:38). This assembly is an unlawful one. Let there be an assembly of men lawfully called together to settle the matter in dispute.

IV. Caution. In conclusion, he gives them a word of warning (Act_19:40). (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The speech of the town clerk

is the model of a popular harangue. Such excitement was--

I. Undignified, as they stood above all suspicion in religious matters (Act_19:35-36).

II. Unjustifiable, as they could establish nothing against the men (Act_19:37).

III. Unnecessary, as other means of redress were open to them (Act_19:38-39).

IV. Dangerous; if neither pride nor justice availed anything, fear of the Roman power should restrain them (Act_19:40). (W. Hackett.)

The image which fell down from Jupiter.--

The image of Diana

A many-breasted idol of wood, rude as an African fetich, was worshipped in its shrine, in some portion of which a meteoric stone may have been inserted, the token of its being the image that fell down from Jupiter. Similar superstitions belong to various countries, such as the Palladium of Troy, the Ceres of Sicily, the Minerva Polias of Athens, and the Diana of Tauris. Somewhat of the same nature were the shield of Mars at Rome, the black stone in the Caabah at Mecca, that in the temple of the Sun at Baalbec, and the Lia Fail, or stone of destiny, on which the Scottish kings were for many centuries crowned at Scone. Popularly supposed in those ancient times to be a portion of Jacobs pillar, it was thought to be so connected with the destiny of the kingdom, that wherever it happened to be, there should reign the Scottish race, and though it was removed by Edward to Westminster Abbey, where it now forms the support of the coronation chair of the British sovereign, the old prophecy was fondly believed to be verified when James VI ascended the English throne on the death of Elizabeth. (Prof. Eadie.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 19:32. Οὐκ ᾔδεισαν, knew not) An apt and characteristic description of a people in a tumult. [This is a matter of usual occurrence to senseless zealots.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_19:32-33. Οὖν] joins on, by way of inference, the description of the concourse (Act_19:29), interrupted by Act_19:30-31.

ἄλλο … ἄλλο] Comp. Charit. i. 5 : ὁ δῆμος ἅπας εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν συνέτρεχεν ἄλλων ἄλλα κεκραγότων, Plat. Charm. p. 153 D: ἠρώτων δὲ ἄλλος ἄλλο. The following τί might have been left out (Kühner, § 836, note 5), but it is only wanting in D (Bornemann).

ἡ ἐκκλησία] It was no ἔννομος ἐκκλ., Act_19:39, and accordingly no legal popular assembly, neither an ordinary one (νόμιμος), nor an extraordinary (σύγκλητος), but simply an assemblage of the people, who had flocked together of their own accord,a concio plebis exlex et abusiva.

συγκεχυμ.] confused, in an uproar. Comp. Act_19:29. It lacked all order, guidance, self-restraint, discipline, etc.

προεβ. Ἀλεξ. προβαλλ. αὐτ. τ. Ἰουδ.] a vivid description of its tumultuary character. The Jews shoved (pushed) him forward from behind (προβαλλ.), and others, standing in front, brought or drew him out of the crowd (ἐκ τ. ὄχλου προεβ.). Grotius, Wetstein, Heinrichs, Kuinoel, and others take προβάλλειν as to propose (see Xen. Anab. vi. 1. 25, vi. 2. 6; Dem. 519. 16; Kypke, II. p. 101 f.), but this does not at all suffice for the lively picture of the tumult. Alexander, otherwise entirely unknown, was certainly a Christian, since only to such a one is the subsequent ἀπολογεῖσθαι suitable, not a Jew (Beza, Grotius, Ewald, and others). He is commonly, but arbitrarily, especially considering the frequency of the name, considered as identical with the Alexander mentioned in 1Ti_1:20, 2Ti_4:14, in which case it is in its turn presupposed that the name occurring at those two passages denotes one person. Such completely indemonstrable assumptions cannot serve to prove the genuineness and time of the composition of the Epistles to Timothy (in opposition to Otto). The Alexander in our passage had, in the Christian interest, mixed among the crowd, and was pushed forward by the malicious Jews that he might make a public address and, if possible, become a sacrifice to the fury of the multitude. If we hold him to be a non-Christian Jew (which does not result from Act_19:34), it is to be supposed that the Jews would be afraid that, on this occasion, they also might be attacked, and therefore pushed forward Alexander, an eloquent man and hostile to Paul, that he might maintain the innocence of the Jews to the destruction of the Christians. But Luke must have called attention to such a connection,[102] and that the more as the simple ἀπολογεῖσθαι, to make a defence, points quite naturally to the accusation of the Christians referred to.

κατασ. τ. χ.] moving his hand up and down[103] (for a sign that he wished to speak).

τῷ δημῷ] before the people, Herod. vii. 161; Plat. Prot. p. 359 A; Lucian. Gall. 3. See Bernhardy, p. 79.

δῆμος is as in Act_19:30, and the ἀπολογεῖσθαι, cannot therefore be meant to be a defence of the Jews (Bengel, Ewald) and of the ὄχλος (Otto).

[102] Otto, p. 108, makes up the scene more artificially, and that so as to make Alexander even the soul and secret spring of the whole uproar. According to Hausrath, the author gives designedly only a fragmentary account of the Jewish-Christian Alexander, because the conduct of the Jewish-Christians at that time did not suit the conciliatory object of his book.

[103] Comp. Act_12:17, Act_13:16, Act_21:40, where, however, the verb is joined with the dative, which, therefore, also D, al. (Bornemann) have here.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 19:32 . ἄλλοι μὲν οὖν : μὲν οὖν probably as often in Acts without any opposition expressed, but see Rendall, App. , p. 162; the antithesis may be in δέ of Act 19:33 . ἔκραζον : “kept on crying,” imperfect. ἐκκλησία , see below on Act 19:39 ; here of an unlawful tumultuous assembly. συγκεχ ., see above Act 19:29 . οἱ πλείους : “sensu vere comparativo” Blass = major pars .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 32. Some - cried one thing, and some another] This is an admirable description of a tumultuous mob, gathered together without law or reason; getting their passions inflamed, and looking for an opportunity to commit outrages, without why or wherefore-principle or object.

For the assembly was confused] Ἡ εκκλησια; The same word which we translate church; and thus we find that it signifies any assembly, good or bad, lawful, or unlawful; and that only the circumstances of the case can determine the precise nature of the assembly to which this word is applied.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(32) Some therefore cried one thing, and some another.—Better, kept on crying. The graphic character of the whole narrative makes it almost certain that it must have come from an eye-witness, or possibly from more than one. Aristarchus or Gaius, who travelled to Jerusalem with St. Luke (Luk_20:4), and were with him also at Rome, may have told him the whole tale of the scene in which they had borne so prominent a part. Possibly, also, following up the hint thrown out in the Note on Act_19:12, we may think of Tyrannus as having written a report of the tumult to St. Luke. The two conjunctions translated “therefore” (better, then) seem to carry the narrative back to what was passing in the theatre, after the parenthetical account of what had been going on between the Apostle, the disciples, and the Asiarchs outside it.

For the assembly was confused.—It is not without interest to note that the Greek word for assembly is the ecclesia, with which we are so familiar as applied to the Church of Christ. Strictly speaking, as the town-clerk is careful to point out (Act_19:39), this mob gathering was not an ecclesia, but the word had come to be used vaguely.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. Some therefore, &c.] As the craftsmen had not secured St Paul there was no central object to which attention could at once be called, and one general cry raised.

for the assembly was confused] The confusion in the city (Act_19:29) had become intensified by the rush to the theatre.

and the more part, &c.] All that would be heard by many would be the shouts of the mob, from which nothing could be gathered about St Paul as the offender. Amid cries of “Artemis for ever” or “Hurrah for Demetrius,” little would be learnt of how the tumult had begun.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against,.... This officer intimates, in order to quiet the mob, and make them easy, that these things were so certain, and well known, that nobody would pretend to contradict them, and therefore they must be mistaken in the men, whom they had hurried into the theatre; it was impossible that they, or any men, should be capable of saying any thing against the truth of these things: therefore

ye ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly; to these men, to their hurt, but sit down, and compose yourselves, and think again, and consider of this matter, and not go into any hasty measures, which may, in the issue, be prejudicial to yourselves.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.

Ver. 32. Knew not wherefore, &c.] No more do the most of our common hearers. They follow the drove, and believe as the Church believeth. They will say, they come to Church to serve God; but who that God is, how to be served, wherein, and in whom to be served, they know not. Si ventri bene sit, si lateri, as Epicurus in Horace, if the belly may be filled, the back fitted, it sufficeth them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Some therefore cried one thing ... - This is an admirable description of a mob, assembled for what purpose they knew not; but agitated by passions, and strifes, and tumults.

And the more part knew not ... - The greater part did not know. They had been drawn together by the noise and excitement, and but a small part would know the real cause of the commotion. This is usually the case in tumultuous meetings.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

An excellent description of a popular tumult. Whether this

assembly was afterwards made legal by the magistrates resorting thither, (though it was not called by their authority), and is therefore called here, εκκλησια, is not so useful to inquire.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

32. Cried one thing… confused—The embarrassment of the leaders against Paul was now complete. Could their mob have caught him in the street they could have easily murdered him. Had he entered the theatre, he might have been summarily dispatched. But as the crowd unconsciously moving into the theatre has assumed something of a deliberative form, then coolly to propose and debate any measure to make way with him would have brought the Roman government to say something about it. Nothing takes place now but incoherent and contradictory exclamations. At last a movement is made to put forth a single speaker, namely, Alexander.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In confusion for confused, A.V. (sugkecumenh: comp. sugcusewv, ver. 29). The more part, etc. A graphic picture of an excited mob led by interested and designing agitators.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The greater part did not know for what they were come together - Which is commonly the case in such an assembly.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

32-34. Leaving the apostle, for a time, in the cloud of sorrow which we will find still enveloping him when we meet him again, we turn to witness the proceedings within the theater. (32) " Now some were crying one thing and some another; for the assembly was confused, and the greater part knew not on what account they had come together. (33) And they put forward Alexander out of the crowd, the Jews urging him forward. And Alexander, waving his hand, wished to make a defense to the people. (34) But knowing that he was a Jew, all with one voice, for about two hours, cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. " There were two reasons why the Jews should feel some anxiety to defend themselves before this mob. First, It was well known in Ephesus that they were as much opposed to idols and idol worship as were the disciples. Second, The fact that the apostle and many of his brethren were Jews, naturally attracted toward all the Jews the hatred which had been aroused against them. A courageous and manly adherence to their own principles would have prompted them to share with the disciples the obloquy of their common position; but they were endeavoring to persuade the multitude that Paul and his party should not be identified with themselves. The cowardly trick was perceived by the multitude, as soon as they perceived that it was a Jew who was trying to address them, and they gave it the rebuke it deserved by refusing to hear him.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

32. ἄλλοι μὲν οὖν ἄλλο τι ἔκραζον, some therefore cried one thing and some another. As the craftsmen had not secured Paul, against whom Demetrius had directed their rage, there was no central object to arrest the general attention. Hence no settled cry was raised.

ἦν γὰρ ἡ ἐκκλησία συγκεχυμένη, for the assembly was confused. The σύγχυσις in the city (see Act 19:29) had become intensified by the rush into the theatre.

καὶ οἱ πλείους οὐκ ᾔδεισαν κ.τ.λ., and the greater part did not know, &c. All that would be heard by many would be the shouts of the mob, from which nothing could be gathered about St Paul as the offender. Amid cries of ‘Artemis for ever’ or ‘Hurrah for Demetrius,’ little would be learnt of how the tumult had begun.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.