The riot in the city (19:23–41)

The riot in the city (Acts 19:23–41)

Stott:-

Luke gives his readers a graphic account of the riot which Demetrius the silversmith instigated and the town clerk skilfully quelled. Perhaps he obtained his information from Aristarchus and/or Gaius, who found themselves caught up in the uproar (29) and later became Paul’s and Luke’s travelling companions (20:4–6). Haenchen’s presuppositions lead him to find in the story ‘a regular tangle of difficulties’.53 He elaborates six of them. But Howard Marshall is right to say that Haenchen’s case ‘disappears under scrutiny’. He gives an adequate explanation of each supposed problem.54 Luke’s narrative divides itself naturally into three sections relating to the origin, course and termination of the riot.
    First, its origin. It was inevitable that sooner or later the kingly authority of Jesus would challenge Diana’s evil sway.

23About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. 25He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: ‘Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. 26And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. 27There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshipped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.’

Luke declares that the disturbance arose ‘about the Way’ (NEB, ‘the Christian movement’). At root its cause was neither doctrinal, nor ethical, but economic. Demetrius, whom Ramsay called ‘probably Master of the guild (sc. of silversmiths) for the year’,55 drew the [Acts, Page 309] attention of his and other craftsmen to Paul’s success in convincing people ‘that man-made gods are no gods at all’. In consequence, the sales of ‘silver shrines of Artemis’ (either miniature models of the temple or statuettes of the goddess) were dwindling and their affluent life-style was threatened. Not that Demetrius played directly on their covetousness, however. He was subtle enough to develop three more respectable motives for concern, namely the dangers that their trade would lose its good name, their temple its prestige, and their goddess her divine majesty (27). Thus ‘vested interests were disguised as local patriotism—in this case also under the cloak of religious zeal’.56
    Demetrius proved to be a skilled rabble-rouser, for the artisans’ response was immediate.

28When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ 29Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s travelling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theatre. 30Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theatre.
32The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. 33The Jews pushed Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defence before the people. 34But when they realised he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’

‘The most impressive ruins in Asia Minor …, Ephesus stands dignified and alone in its death’, wrote H. V. Morton.57 The excavated site is magnificent; it is easy to visualize the riot. According to the Bezan text of verse 28, the infuriated craftsmen went ‘running into the street’ before they started to shout for Diana. This was probably the Arcadian Way, the main thoroughfare of Ephesus, eleven metres wide, marble-paved and colonnaded, leading from the harbour to the theatre. The theatre itself, still in a fine state of preservation, nestling at the foot of Mount Pion and nearly 500 feet in diameter, could accommodate at least 25,000 people. Here the crowed dragged Gaius and Aristarchus. And here Paul (overconfident perhaps in the immunity he believed his Roman citizenship would give him) was prevented from coming by the pleas of both the disciples and by some ‘officials of the province’ who were [Acts, Page 310] his friends (31). Luke rightly calls them ‘Asiarchs’. These were leading citizens, who were prominent members of the provincial council of Asia, especially its ‘annual presidents and perhaps expresidents’, and/or the city’s deputies who served on it, and/or ‘the administrators of the various temples of the imperial cult, who were under the charge of high priests appointed by the provincial council’.58 Paul was fortunate to have the friendship and the advice of some of them. By now confusion reigned in the theatre. Some people were shouting this or that, but most of them had no idea why they were there. A diversion was caused when some Jews tried to put forward their spokesman, no doubt in order to disassociate Jews from Christians, but the crowd, who would not have comprehended the distinction, shouted him down and for two hours resumed their chanting of Diana’s name. Indeed, this section begins and ends with the hysterical screams ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ (28, 34). Haenchen is right to comment that ‘in final analysis the only thing heathenism can do against Paul is to shout itself hoarse’.59
    Luke now describes how the crowd’s frenzy was calmed by ‘the city clerk’ (grammateus, 35), who was ‘the elected head of the city executive’60 or ‘the chief administrative assistant, annually elected, of the magistrates; he had a staff of permanent clerks, responsible for the paper work of the city’.61

35The city clerk quietened the crowd and said: ‘Men of Ephesus, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? 36Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash. 37You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples not blasphemed our goddess. 38If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. 39If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. 40As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today’s events. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.’ 41After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

This city clerk was evidently a man of high intelligence and of great skill in crowd control. He made four points. First, the whole world knows that Ephesus is the guardian of Artemis’ temple and image. Since this is undeniable, no-one is going to deny it, and the [Acts, Page 311] cult of Artemis is in no danger (35–36). Secondly, ‘these men’ (Gaius and Aristarchus) are guilty of neither sacrilege (robbing the temple) nor blasphemy (reviling the goddess). They are innocent (37). Thirdly, Demetrius and his colleagues are familiar with statutory legal procedures. If they have a private grievance, they should bring their case to the proconsular assizes. If, on the other hand, their case is more serious and more public, they should refer it to ‘a legal assembly’, the correct technical term for the regular (three times a month) official meetings of the deœmos or city council (38–39). As Dr Sherwin-White comments, Luke ‘is very well informed about the finer points of municipal institutions at Ephesus in the first and second centuries AD’.62 Fourthly, the citizens of Ephesus are themselves in danger of being charged with civil disorder. If this were to happen, they would not be able to justify themselves. Each of these arguments was cogent; the four together were decisive. When the town clerk ‘dismissed the assembly’, they went home in a very chastened mood.

    Luke’s purpose in recounting this incident was clearly apologetic or political. He wanted to show that Rome had no case against Christianity in general or Paul in particular. In Corinth the proconsul Gallio had refused even to hear the Jews’ charge. In Ephesus the town clerk implied that the opposition was purely emotional and that the Christians, being innocent, had nothing to fear from duly constituted legal processes. Thus the impartiality of Gallio, the friendship of Asiarchs and the cool reasonableness of the city clerk combined to give the gospel freedom to continue on its victorious course.