35 And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter? 36 Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly. 37 For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. 38 Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another. 39 But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. 40 For we are in danger to be called in question for this day’s uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse. 41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. (Acts 19:35-41 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Observe here, 1. The instrument which God uses to stem the tide and to stop the stream of this hair-brained assembly; that is, the town clerk, who was always present at their public meetings, and registered all their city acts. His presence and eloquence God made use of, to appease this tumult, to preserve the apostle, and to dismiss the assembly.
Observe, 2. The town clerk’s oration was full of craft and policy, of fraud and fallacy; for he tells the multitude, that St. Paul and his friends are against images only that are made with hands; whereas theirs was not such, but one that fell from Jupiter. It was his duty, by office, to appease the rabble’s rage, with reason and authority; he ought not to have done it fallaciously. But we must consider he was a Pagan, and his design was only to still the people; accordingly, he encourages the credulous multitude to believe what the crafty priests had insinuated into them, that the image which they worshipped was not made with hands; but fell immediately down from heaven; hoping thereby to gain more veneration to their idols, and get more pounds into their purses. Thus God made use of the worldly and (somewhat) wicked eloquence of this heathen to preserve St. Paul.
Observe, 3. How God opens the mouth of this man to vindicate the apostle’s innocence and his companion’s also; These men, saith he, are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. It is very likely, that the apostle and the Christians in Ephesus had in wisdom asserted Christianity, without saying much against Diana, which would have but enraged the multitude; much less did they offer any violence to her temple or her image.
Here note, That although the apostles were great enemies to these men’s idolatry, yet did they offer no outward violence to their idol temples, neither to demolish them, nor deface any image on them: they well knew, that such a work of public reformation was not their business, but the magistrates’; therefore they endeavoured by preaching to cast idols out of the people’s hearts, but not by violence to throw them out of the temple.
Thus ends this chapter, with the account of St. Paul’s marvellous, if not miraculous preservation in the city of Ephesus; where, though he was surrounded by difficulties and dangers on all hands, was found in the way of his duty and in the work of his master and he escapes all perils. Safety evermore accompanies duty: when we are in God’s way, we are under God’s wing: preservation and protection we shall have, if God may thereby be glorified; but sometimes danger is better than safety, a storm more useful than a calm.
And blessed be God for the assurance of his promise, that all things, be they mercies or afflictions, comforts or corrections, dangers or deliverances, life or death, all shall work together for good to them that love God, and are found steadfast in their obedience to him. Ro 8:28