The silversmiths of Ephesus
21 Now after these things had ended, Paul determined in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” 22 Having sent into Macedonia two of those who served him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. 23 About that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen, 25 whom he gathered together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, “Sirs, you know that by this business we have our wealth. 26 You see and hear that not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods that are made with hands. 27 Not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be counted as nothing and her majesty destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worships.” 28 When they heard this they were filled with anger, and cried out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 The whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel. 30 When Paul wanted to enter in to the people, the disciples didn’t allow him. 31 Certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent to him and begged him not to venture into the theater.
Paul turns his face toward Rome, and the city's response to the gospel is organized by a trade association that has done the arithmetic.
Paul determined in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome." The sentence sets the plot of the remaining ten chapters. Everything from here is a journey to Jerusalem and then, by a route nobody would have chosen, to Rome. And the word must is the same one used throughout the book for what God has determined.
The disturbance is introduced with the writer's usual understatement — no small disturbance — and its cause is a business meeting. Demetrius, a silversmith making shrines of Artemis, gathers the workmen of like occupation, and his opening line is admirably honest: Sirs, you know that by this business we have our wealth.
The grievance is then presented in the correct order and the order is the confession. First the money. Second the reputation of the trade. Third, and last, the goddess. Demetrius knows what will move a room of craftsmen and what will move a city, and he supplies both in sequence.
His summary of Paul's preaching is unintentionally the best evidence in the chapter of how effective it had been. Not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods that are made with hands. An enemy testifies to the reach — a whole province — and states the doctrine accurately. The phrase about hands is the same one Stephen used before the council and Paul used at Athens.
The crowd's response is a chant rather than an argument: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. The temple there was one of the wonders of the world, the city's chief employer and its principal source of pride, and a threat to it was a threat to everybody's living.
What follows is a riot described by someone who has seen one. The city fills with confusion, the crowd rushes into the theater — a structure holding perhaps twenty-four thousand — dragging two of Paul's Macedonian companions with them. And the driest observation in the book: Most of them didn't know why they had come together.
Paul wants to go in. Of course he does; there is a crowd and he is a preacher. Two groups stop him, and the second is the surprise. The disciples didn't allow him — the congregation physically restrains its apostle. And certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, send word begging him not to venture in. The Asiarchs were the leading men of the province, responsible for the imperial cult and the public games — the civic and religious establishment. Some of them are Paul's friends, and they are the ones who keep him alive.
He listens. A man who walked back into Lystra the day after being stoned accepts advice here, and the writer records the restraint with the same evenness he records the courage.
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