The Ephesian Riot in Acts 19

 

The Bible details in Acts 19:23-41 an exciting event that occurred in ancient Ephesus. In this passage, the Apostle Paul’s preaching began to disrupt the local economy. The merchants made shrines of the goddess Athena; however, when Paul began preaching about Jesus being the only God incarnate, sales of the Athena statues diminished. Consequently, a riot ensued with shouts of protests from the local merchants among the Ephesians.

It is important to understand how significant the worship of Artemis was to the Ephesians in order to grasp the intensity of this riot. Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and fertility. She was the most important female deity in Ephesus and was part of the culture of Ephesus as well as their religion. The Ephesians built a temple many times larger than the Pantheon in honor of Artemis that attracted a lot of attention; it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Thus, local businesses capitalized from Artemis’ popularity in Ephesus. Because the temple of Artemis was in Ephesus, it gave the Ephesians a sense of pride and was good for attracting business. Many silversmiths therefore began to craft small shrines of the goddess to sell as souvenirs to pilgrims coming to the city to celebrate and worship Artemis.

                                      

Paul spent three years in Ephesus trying to persuade the people to turn away from worshiping pagan deities such as Artemis. Paul convinced many that Artemis and the Greek deities were false gods and goddesses. Instead, he told of Jesus being the only true God, both divine and human. As Paul neared the end of his stay in Ephesus, many of the Ephesians converted from their belief in Artemis and started to follow the teachings of Jesus. As a result, the silversmith’s sales greatly depleted.  Naturally, the artisans reacted to their loss of business. One such silversmith Demetrius grew very angry at the loss of business after Paul began to preach about Jesus being the only way for people to get to heaven. Demetrius understood correctly that following Jesus demanded followers to give up believing their other deities in total devotion to Jesus as the only true God.

With Demetrius’ protests, the crowd became more enraged and began to protest. They called out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians” and dragged some of Paul’s companions into the theater. The theater could seat up to 25,000 people, at least the whole population of the city. The silversmiths wanted to have a public trial against Paul and his companions. Paul’s friends outside the theater detained him from entering and defending his associates inside the theater because of the chaos and danger.


                      

 

 

Many of the members of the crowd did not even realize why they gathered, but they shouted anyway: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” As a Jew named Alexander rose to separate himself from Paul and the Christians, the crowd grew so loud with their chant forcing him to sit down. The city clerk rose and quieted the crowd by saying that Paul and his companions were not threats to Ephesus, and he told Demetrius and the silversmiths to bring a lawful suit against them. The clerk wanted to maintain order in Ephesus and not arouse the Romans. Therefore, Paul and his associates were safe from the rioting silversmiths.

From this passage, it is clear that because the silversmith’s faced an economic setback from Paul’s preaching of the gospel, a great riot developed that could have been disastrous for Paul and his companions. However, God protected their lives and Paul was able to continue with his missionary travels.

                      


                                            Recommended Readings

Brinks, C.L. “‘Great Is Artemis of the Ephesians’: Acts 19:23-41 in Light
     of Goddess Worship in Ephesus.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 71:4
     (October 2009): 776-794.

Hooker, Morna D. “Artemis of Ephesus.” The Journal of Theological Studies
     64:1 (April 2013):37-46.

Hughes, J. Donald. “Artemis: Goddess of Conservation.” Forest and Conservation
     History 34:4 (October 1990): 191-197.

Seltman, Charles Theodore. Riot in Ephesus: Writings on the Heritage of Greece.
      London: M. Parrish, 1958.