21 After these things were ended, Paul purposed 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 So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season. 23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; 25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. 26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: 27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. 28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. 29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre. (Acts 19:21-29 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Observe here, 1. How angry the devil grows at the success of the gospel, mentioned in the foregoing verses: there we read how the whole college of diabolical conjurors was brought over, by the apostles’ preaching at Ephesus, to burn their books, and leave their wicked course of life.
Hereupon the devil bestirs him and raises persecution against the apostle. Those that will disturb Satan in the quiet and peaceable possession of his kingdom, shall be sure to meet with trouble and disquiet from him. Let not any of the saints of God in general, nor any of the faithful and zealous ministers of Christ in particular, expect any long continuance of their outward tranquillity and peace in this world, where they are every day up in arms against Satan, and meditating the ruin of him and his kingdom; for which he will certainly seek revenge.
Observe, 1. The instruments which the devil employs to raise the storm of persecution against the apostle, namely, Demetrius the silversmith, and his craftsmen; they looking upon St. Paul as one that impaired their profit, and spoiled their trade of making silver shrines for Diana’s temple, by his crying down the worship of idols.
“But what were their silver shrines, made for Diana’s temple?”
Answer, The temple of Diana was at that time one of the seven famous structures of the world; and the silver shrines made by these silversmiths were certain models or images of this temple, wherein their idol goddess Diana was set forth; which shrines or portable temples, all the people of Asia carried about with them, to stir up the more their own devotions towards this idol.
So that this shrine-making must needs be a very gainful trade, when all of Asia was addicted to this superstition. No wonder then that Demetrius, upon the sight of the loss of his gain, made a horrible outcry, and set the city in an uproar: for carnal men, whose gain is in their god and their godliness, account themselves undone when their god Mammon is in danger. If you take away their gods, what have they more?
Learn hence, That gain-getting, and maintaining of men’s livelihood, are mighty temptations to carnal men, to use impious means for supporting superstition and idolatry.
Observe, 3. The arguments which Demetrius used to stir up the people against the apostle; and they are three,
1. The plea of profit, By this craft we get our gain: if this man’s doctrine obtains, our trade will quickly fall under disgrace, and die. This was the most cogent, the most pungent argument, that could be used; for, though an argument drawn from our own interest is not the most weighty, yet usually it is the most persuasive.
2. The pretence of piety: not only are we like to lose our livelihood, but our religion too; Our goddess Diana will be despised, her temple profaned, and her worshippers scorned. This easily heated the rabble’s blood, put the multitude into a ferment, and caused a hideous outcry for two hours together, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
3. The plea of the antiquity and universality, and the common consent of all worshippers: Diana, whom all Asia, and the world worshippeth. As if Demetrius had said, “What! shall we suffer the temple of Diana to be set at nought by the preachments of this babbler Paul; a place so magnificent for structure, being some say one hundred, others two hundred and twenty years, a building; so renowned for the oracles of the gods, so magnified for the image that fell down from Jupiter, so honoured by the oblations of the Asiatic potentates, and crowded with the devotions of the Ephesians, and admired throughout the whole world?”
Lord! What danger was the life of the great apostle now in! how did this popular tumult threaten the present destruction of him and his companions, Gaius and Aristarchus! Now is supposed to be the time when the apostle says, That after the manner of men he had fought with beasts at Ephesus; and this is probably the deliverance which he gratefully commemorates in Who hath delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. 2Co 1:10