In our last couple of posts we were watching a mob grow as some guy named Demetrius was egging them on, saying that Paul and company were hurting his business (which was his real concern) but since that didn’t mean anything to the crowd, he switched to saying they would also damage the temple of Artemis, the goddess they worshiped—which certainly upset the crowds. Luke continues his account of the mob and its actions in Verse 28:
“The crowd goes wild with rage. They start chanting: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
“Soon the whole city is filled with confusion and a mob forms. The find Paul’s Macedonian travel companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, and drag them to the theater.Paul wants to go confront the crowd and protect his friends, but the disciples hold him back. Even some provincial officials of Asia who are friendly to Paul send him an urgent message, warning him to stay away from the theater.
“Enraged voices are shouting on top of each other, some saying one thing, some saying something else. The crowd is completely out of control. Most of the people don’t even know whatcaused the commotion in the first place.” —Acts 19:28-32
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? How little human nature has changed in two thousand years! Here was a crowd, excited by a false emotional issue, which surged together into the theater. If you visit the site of Ephesus today you will find that this theater has been excavated. It’s the only sizable part of the city which still stands. It was a huge theater, able to seat about twenty thousand people, so this was a huge crowd. These people were very responsive to this appeal, although there were many who didn’t know what it was all about.
Recently there was a protest march in Wisconsin by some teachers who were complaining about their contract with the school board. Some of them convinced their students to march with them, but when they were interviewed on TV they had no idea what they were marching for: “I don’t know, something about the teachers. I just wanted the day out of school . . .” Profound. By the way, the idea of “Public Servants,” no longer exists.
Paul wanted to go and speak to them. What an insight into the fearless bravery of this man of God who didn’t hesitate a moment to take on a crowd like this. But his friends recognized that the mood of the crowd was ugly. Even the Asiarchs, the political rulers of the province of Asia, responsible to the Romans, and friends of Paul, were concerned and sent word to him not to venture into the theater. That’s very revealing. Paul had made friends among these rulers. They understood and were impressed by the message of Christ. Though Luke doesn’t say they were Christians, nevertheless they were favorably inclined and tried to protect Paul from this wild and raging mob. Luke then goes on to show how impossible it would have been for Paul to have done anything to quiet them:
“Some of the Jewish people push a man name Alexander to the front of the crowd, hoping he can calm the disturbance. He raises his hands to silence the crowd and gets a few sentences out; but then the crowd realizes he is a Jew, and once again they start chanting: ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ For two solid hours they keep the chant going. ” —Acts 19:33-34
Again that sounds familiar. Here’s a wild mob that has no argument other than simply to chant, over and over again, this slogan which aroused their pride and fed their egos and ministered to their emotions. Even today ful-scale riots can result from gatherings like this. Chanting their slogans; yelling at the top of their lungs. Some of the mobs we see on TV are actually planned with paid rabble-rousers trying to incite the crowds. What a way to make a living. Once you have the crowd, it is easy to push them into irrational behavior, what psychologist call a “Mob Mentality.”
The crowd keeps growing and the Jews in the city were concerned, probably because they had lived in this city for many years and were known to be opposed to the worship of idols. They had a synagogue there and had made it clear that they weren’t idol worshipers and didn’t approve of the practice, but they had no effect on the followers. They stood for the right cause, but without any power to affect a change. Nevertheless they were afraid that they might be implicated in this disturbance so they prompted one of their own named Alexander, to stand up and explain their attitude and to make clear that they weren’t the ones who had prompted the riot.
This very likely is the same Alexander who Paul refers to in his letter to Timothy, who had become, by the time Paul wrote the letter, the bishop of the church at Ephesus. Paul said, “Beware of Alexander the coppersmith who did me great harm” (II Timothy 4:14).
But the crowd refuses to listen to Alexander and drowns out his words with a chant they continue for more than two hours, over and over, monotonously again and again, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” All you have to do is substitute, “Stop Global warming, Stop Global warming!” or “End the Tea-baggers,” and you brought that right up to date. When a crowd gets to the point where its emotions have been so short-circuited that its reasoning power is lost, it’s in a very dangerous state. These Asiarchs were quite correct in their concern for the apostle because, with just the slightest suggestion, this crowd could have been sent raging through the streets, demolishing everything in its path. We saw that happen in our day with Rodney King and when MSU lost against OSU. But this disturbance was finally quieted by the town clerk, which corresponds in our day to a mayor. Luke tells us what happened:
“After the town clerk quieted the crowd, he said, Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven? So because these facts are indisputable, you must keep quiet and not do anything reckless. For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. If then Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against someone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges against one another there. But if you want anything in addition, it will have to be settled in a legal assembly. For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause we can give to explain this disorderly gathering.” After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly” —Acts 19:35-41
This town clerk is an admirable politician and orator. He intervenes at precisely the right psychological moment. The crowd, having exhausted itself with its senseless roaring of the slogan for two hours now, is finally ready to listen. So he stands up to speak, gives three logical points.
These were his points “Yes, Artemis is great; therefore there is no need to shout. We can count on her to defend herself, so why worry? Nobody is going to be able to overthrow a goddess as great as ours, so we don’t need all this commotion. The men that you are charging have really done nothing provocative. They have not blasphemed the goddess; no such charge has been brought against them. They have not robbed the temple, nor been sacrilegious in any way; therefore why handle this matter any differently than through ordinary channels? The courts are open, and if that doesn’t satisfy you, the legislature is available. The normal channels of protest are open to you, so why don’t you use them? And “We are seriously in danger of losing the freedom of this city as a result of this indiscretion.” For he well knew that the Romans would tolerate anything—except civil disorder. If an unexplained riot occurred they were in danger of losing their status as a free city, unencumbered by Roman rule. This is the telling point. You can see that this town clerk has nothing more in mind than that which would normally concern a politician — keeping the peace. He really doesn’t care about the issues. He doesn’t want to examine them. He wants only to keep everything orderly. So he puts a suppressing hand on the unruliness. Now, that’s the way men think. But, in that, God was overruling the wildness of this mob, calming the emotional passions which were surging in the hearts of so many people and were creating this uncontrollable situation. God quieted all this through the use of governmental channels.
If interested, you can download the entire study of The Story of Acts
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The Book of Acts Chapter 19: (pt 15 of 16)
In our last couple of posts we were watching a mob grow as some guy named Demetrius was egging them on, saying that Paul and company were hurting his business (which was his real concern) but since that didn’t mean anything to the crowd, he switched to saying they would also damage the temple of Artemis, the goddess they worshiped—which certainly upset the crowds. Luke continues his account of the mob and its actions in Verse 28:
“The crowd goes wild with rage. They start chanting: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
“Soon the whole city is filled with confusion and a mob forms. The find Paul’s Macedonian travel companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, and drag them to the theater.Paul wants to go confront the crowd and protect his friends, but the disciples hold him back. Even some provincial officials of Asia who are friendly to Paul send him an urgent message, warning him to stay away from the theater.
“Enraged voices are shouting on top of each other, some saying one thing, some saying something else. The crowd is completely out of control. Most of the people don’t even know whatcaused the commotion in the first place.” —Acts 19:28-32
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? How little human nature has changed in two thousand years! Here was a crowd, excited by a false emotional issue, which surged together into the theater. If you visit the site of Ephesus today you will find that this theater has been excavated. It’s the only sizable part of the city which still stands. It was a huge theater, able to seat about twenty thousand people, so this was a huge crowd. These people were very responsive to this appeal, although there were many who didn’t know what it was all about.
Recently there was a protest march in Wisconsin by some teachers who were complaining about their contract with the school board. Some of them convinced their students to march with them, but when they were interviewed on TV they had no idea what they were marching for: “I don’t know, something about the teachers. I just wanted the day out of school . . .” Profound. By the way, the idea of “Public Servants,” no longer exists.
Paul wanted to go and speak to them. What an insight into the fearless bravery of this man of God who didn’t hesitate a moment to take on a crowd like this. But his friends recognized that the mood of the crowd was ugly. Even the Asiarchs, the political rulers of the province of Asia, responsible to the Romans, and friends of Paul, were concerned and sent word to him not to venture into the theater. That’s very revealing. Paul had made friends among these rulers. They understood and were impressed by the message of Christ. Though Luke doesn’t say they were Christians, nevertheless they were favorably inclined and tried to protect Paul from this wild and raging mob. Luke then goes on to show how impossible it would have been for Paul to have done anything to quiet them:
“Some of the Jewish people push a man name Alexander to the front of the crowd, hoping he can calm the disturbance. He raises his hands to silence the crowd and gets a few sentences out; but then the crowd realizes he is a Jew, and once again they start chanting: ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ For two solid hours they keep the chant going. ” —Acts 19:33-34
Again that sounds familiar. Here’s a wild mob that has no argument other than simply to chant, over and over again, this slogan which aroused their pride and fed their egos and ministered to their emotions. Even today ful-scale riots can result from gatherings like this. Chanting their slogans; yelling at the top of their lungs. Some of the mobs we see on TV are actually planned with paid rabble-rousers trying to incite the crowds. What a way to make a living. Once you have the crowd, it is easy to push them into irrational behavior, what psychologist call a “Mob Mentality.”
The crowd keeps growing and the Jews in the city were concerned, probably because they had lived in this city for many years and were known to be opposed to the worship of idols. They had a synagogue there and had made it clear that they weren’t idol worshipers and didn’t approve of the practice, but they had no effect on the followers. They stood for the right cause, but without any power to affect a change. Nevertheless they were afraid that they might be implicated in this disturbance so they prompted one of their own named Alexander, to stand up and explain their attitude and to make clear that they weren’t the ones who had prompted the riot.
This very likely is the same Alexander who Paul refers to in his letter to Timothy, who had become, by the time Paul wrote the letter, the bishop of the church at Ephesus. Paul said, “Beware of Alexander the coppersmith who did me great harm” (II Timothy 4:14).
But the crowd refuses to listen to Alexander and drowns out his words with a chant they continue for more than two hours, over and over, monotonously again and again, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” All you have to do is substitute, “Stop Global warming, Stop Global warming!” or “End the Tea-baggers,” and you brought that right up to date. When a crowd gets to the point where its emotions have been so short-circuited that its reasoning power is lost, it’s in a very dangerous state. These Asiarchs were quite correct in their concern for the apostle because, with just the slightest suggestion, this crowd could have been sent raging through the streets, demolishing everything in its path. We saw that happen in our day with Rodney King and when MSU lost against OSU. But this disturbance was finally quieted by the town clerk, which corresponds in our day to a mayor. Luke tells us what happened:
“After the town clerk quieted the crowd, he said, Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven? So because these facts are indisputable, you must keep quiet and not do anything reckless. For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. If then Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against someone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges against one another there. But if you want anything in addition, it will have to be settled in a legal assembly. For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause we can give to explain this disorderly gathering.” After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly” —Acts 19:35-41
This town clerk is an admirable politician and orator. He intervenes at precisely the right psychological moment. The crowd, having exhausted itself with its senseless roaring of the slogan for two hours now, is finally ready to listen. So he stands up to speak, gives three logical points.
These were his points “Yes, Artemis is great; therefore there is no need to shout. We can count on her to defend herself, so why worry? Nobody is going to be able to overthrow a goddess as great as ours, so we don’t need all this commotion. The men that you are charging have really done nothing provocative. They have not blasphemed the goddess; no such charge has been brought against them. They have not robbed the temple, nor been sacrilegious in any way; therefore why handle this matter any differently than through ordinary channels? The courts are open, and if that doesn’t satisfy you, the legislature is available. The normal channels of protest are open to you, so why don’t you use them? And “We are seriously in danger of losing the freedom of this city as a result of this indiscretion.” For he well knew that the Romans would tolerate anything—except civil disorder. If an unexplained riot occurred they were in danger of losing their status as a free city, unencumbered by Roman rule. This is the telling point. You can see that this town clerk has nothing more in mind than that which would normally concern a politician — keeping the peace. He really doesn’t care about the issues. He doesn’t want to examine them. He wants only to keep everything orderly. So he puts a suppressing hand on the unruliness. Now, that’s the way men think. But, in that, God was overruling the wildness of this mob, calming the emotional passions which were surging in the hearts of so many people and were creating this uncontrollable situation. God quieted all this through the use of governmental channels.
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The Book of Acts Chapter 19: (pt 14 of 16)
The Book of Acts Chapter 19: (pt 16 of 16)