But from among the crowd they put forward Alexander, the Jews pushing him forward. And Alexander, beckoning with his hand, would have made a defence to the people.
A packed theatre in Ephesus is roaring, and most of the crowd cannot say why they came. Into that noise the Jews push a man named Alexander, who lifts his hand to speak and gets two hours of chanting instead.
Acts has already shown religious excitement among the Jews. One writer sees this riot as the matching scene among the heathen.
In this book we have already had the Holy Spirit's account of religious excitement among the Jews... It was fitting that we should also see a living picture of a half-religious riot among the heathen themselves. It happened in the largest theatre whose remains still survive today. The Gentiles were certainly a little more senseless than the Jews, though their convictions were nowhere near as deep.
Alexander did not step out on his own; the Jews pushed him. They had reason to fear where the mob's anger would land next.
The Jews clearly began to fear that the persecution might turn against them, since most of the people did not know why they had come together. So they put forward a man named Alexander, probably to shift the blame from themselves onto the Christians. But the moment the heathen found out he was a Jew, their fury grew.
Commentators differ on his aim. One takes it as a move to shift blame onto the Christians; another, as a defence of the one true God.
Acts records more than one raised hand before a crowd. One writer separates Alexander's motion from the apostle's own gesture, made while he wore a chain.
It is well to avoid the mistake of confusing the apostle's act here with what he did in the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia, or what Alexander did in the tumultuous assembly at Ephesus. This was "beckoning with the hand", quite different in character and aim from stretching it out, here too with a chain.
Alexander never got past his opening move. The crowd saw one thing about him and stopped listening.
It was useless, then, for Alexander to beckon with his hand in the desire to make a defence to the people. It was enough that they saw he was a Jew, and therefore hostile to their idolatry. There was one voice from all, for about two hours, as they cried out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" What a true picture of a world governed by prejudice and feeling in what matters most — for this life, and for the life to come! God, the true God, is not in their thoughts, which are therefore open to any and every delusion.
The Jews held the right belief about God being one. It bought them nothing in that theatre.
Once again the poor Jews prove themselves without light. Walking in darkness in their own errors, they put forward one of their countrymen to defend the doctrine of the one God. But this only stirred up the fury of the people even more... Without God no one can oppose the devil or uphold the truth. The truth of the one God had no power without faith and truth in the heart, and neither did the name of Jesus, linked with Paul who announced Him.
Paul later warns Timothy about a coppersmith named Alexander who "did me great harm" (2 Timothy 4:14).
The Apostle then refers to "Alexander the coppersmith." Whether he is the same man mentioned in Acts 19:33 we cannot now tell. Here he carries the unenviable reputation of an uncompromising opponent of the truth, and of the Apostle in particular.
Paul came out of the riot safely. One writer traces that deliverance to a chain of unlikely helpers.
From the account in Acts we can see how God used one person and then another to work the deliverance. He used certain of the chiefs of Asia; Alexander, who drew attention away from Paul; and the town clerk with his diplomatic talk. Most of the wild demonstrators had no idea exactly why they were demonstrating.
One writer sees God at work in the advice those men of rank gave Paul.
Kind feeling, if not conscience, made these men of high station give Paul the wise advice not to venture into the theatre. God used them to shelter His servant, where zeal and courage would have been useless, and might have exposed him to danger.
- Confusion — Religious excitement filled the assembly, but it had no idea of its own cause. Most of those present could not say why they had come.
- Calculation — Alexander did not step out on his own. The Jews pushed him, likely to move the blame onto the Christians.
- Gesture — His motion of the hand asked the crowd for a hearing. That differed in aim from Paul's own gesture of address.
- Contempt — One fact ended his defence before it began: he was a Jew. That is a world ruled by prejudice and feeling, with no place for God in its thoughts.
- Control — Right doctrine without God carried no power that day. Yet God used the whole uproar — Alexander included — to shelter His servant Paul.
But, recognising that he was a Jew, there was one cry from all, shouting for about two hours, Great [is] Artemis of the Ephesians.
Paul's preaching in Ephesus had hurt the trade in silver shrines. A silversmith's complaint swept the city into the theatre, and for two hours the crowd did not argue — it chanted.
The ESV calls her Artemis. Older English translations call her Diana, and some quotes below use that older name. One reference work describes her, and the city that shouted for her:
Diana is the Latin name of one of the main goddesses of the Greeks and Romans; the Greek name is Artemis. People said an image of her had fallen from heaven. All Asia worshipped it. Her temple was at Ephesus, built of choice marble... Ephesus was an enlightened city in other ways, but it was dark when it came to religion. The excited people could shout for two hours, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians."
Kelly sees in this crowd a picture of how the world settles the questions that matter most:
There was one voice from all, for about two hours, as they cried out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians." What a true picture of a world ruled by prejudice and feeling in the thing that matters most — not only for this life, but also for the life to come! God, the true God, is not in their thoughts, and so their thoughts lie open to any and every delusion.
Most of the crowd could not have said what the quarrel was about:
A popular cry is easily started and taken up, as it was here. Everyone could shout out "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" But why were they shouting this? What was it all about? Most of that huge crowd could not tell.
The crowd does not just praise the goddess. They praise their goddess, and Darby notes that their own standing rises with hers:
They do not say, "Great is Diana," but "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." Knowing the true God makes us feel our own nothingness, and it judges the state of the heart. A false religion, by contrast, joins hands with the passions of the heart. Worshippers are great in the measure of their religion, and of what they worship... To look down on Diana was to take away from the greatness of her followers.
Underneath the devotion lay a threatened income. The religious cry gave that interest a respectable voice:
The story of this outbreak shows us the power of the prince of this world, held up by worldly interests that love to hide under the cover of religion. Men must have a religion; yet how thin a coat of it is enough for the crowd, while the crowd in turn is enough for the religion.
The Jews of the city pushed Alexander forward to speak for them. It backfired the moment the crowd saw he was a Jew:
Here again we find the Jews putting Alexander forward. However clever the plan, it did them no good. It only inflamed the crowd all the more. The idol-worshippers instinctively resented a defender like this. Could anyone honestly think that the Jews had more respect for their great goddess than the Christians had?
Darby draws a further lesson from the failure. These men held a true belief — that God is one — yet could do nothing with it:
Without God no one can stand against the devil or hold up the truth. Neither the truth of the one God, nor the name of Jesus joined with the name of Paul who preached Him, had any power without faith and truth in the heart.
Outside the shouting, God was at work. Kelly sees His hand in the advice that kept Paul out of the theatre:
God worked through wiser men of high standing among them... Kind feeling, if not conscience, made them give Paul the wise advice not to risk himself in the theatre. God used them to shelter His servant, where zeal and courage would have done no good, and might have put him in danger.
Darby sets the struggle at Ephesus in a longer view, reaching to Christ's return:
Until the Lord comes, this conflict must go on. Miracles have ceased, but the care of His servants never grows weaker in the heart of Jesus. He works as truly as ever, and God's government orders everything for the good of His work. He may allow Satan's rage to break out, but He never forgets His own.
- Cause. The uproar started with threatened profits. Religion supplied the slogan that made greed sound noble.
- Cry. "Of the Ephesians" is the giveaway. A false god makes worshippers feel great; the true God shows them their nothingness.
- Crowd. Two hours of one voice, and most could not say what it was all about. Where God is left out of people's thoughts, feeling and prejudice take charge.
- Collapse. Alexander held a true belief about God and still could not be heard. Truth without faith in the heart carries no power.
- Care. God sheltered His servant through the men who kept Paul out of the theatre — and He works as truly today.