Gary Pollard
Afterward Paul felt compelled by the Spirit to go over to Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem. “And after that,” he said, “I must go on to Rome!” He sent his two assistants, Timothy and Erastus, ahead to Macedonia while he stayed awhile longer in the province of Asia. About that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the Way. It began with Demetrius, a silversmith who had a large business manufacturing silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis. He kept many craftsmen busy. He called them together, along with others employed in similar trades, and addressed them as follows: “Gentlemen, you know that our wealth comes from this business. But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren’t really gods at all. And he’s done this not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province! Of course, I’m not just talking about the loss of public respect for our business. I’m also concerned that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will lose its influence and that Artemis—this magnificent goddess worshiped throughout the province of Asia and all around the world—will be robbed of her great prestige!”1
At this their anger boiled, and they began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Soon the whole city was filled with confusion. Everyone rushed to the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, who were Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia. Paul wanted to go in, too, but the believers wouldn’t let him. Some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, also sent a message to him, begging him not to risk his life by entering the amphitheater. Inside, the people were all shouting, some one thing and some another. Everything was in confusion. In fact, most of them didn’t even know why they were there. The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward and told him to explain the situation. He motioned for silence and tried to speak. But when the crowd realized he was a Jew, they started shouting again and kept it up for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
At last the mayor was able to quiet them down enough to speak. “Citizens of Ephesus,” he said. “Everyone knows that Ephesus is the official guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, whose image fell down to us from heaven.2 Since this is an undeniable fact, you should stay calm and not do anything rash. You have brought these men here, but they have stolen nothing from the temple and have not spoken against our goddess. If Demetrius and the craftsmen have a case against them, the courts are in session and the officials can hear the case at once. Let them make formal charges. And if there are complaints about other matters, they can be settled in a legal assembly. I am afraid we are in danger of being charged with rioting by the Roman government, since there is no cause for all this commotion. And if Rome demands an explanation, we won’t know what to say.” Then he dismissed them, and they dispersed.
1 The planet Venus was worshiped as Artemis, and many, many other names all over the world. Demetrius clearly had financial motives, but he knew the people were sincere (sincerely wrong) in their belief in Artemis. The peoples’ anger was not over the threat to Demetrius’s business — they were likely afraid of the “consequences” of disrespecting or abandoning this universally deified planet. This was the same false goddess worshiped by the Israelites as the Queen of Heaven. When Aaron made the golden calf, they “celebrated with feasting and drinking, and indulged in pagan revelry” (Ex 32.6). The image he chose and the way they worshiped it strongly suggest it was Hathor. Herodotus, Plutarch, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus all identified Hathor with Aphrodite/Venus. This is a very small sample of the long list of false deities associated with Venus. Whether they were worshipping personified representations of the planet or were using the beautiful morning star as an excuse to do naughty things is not crystal clear. The universal nature of this false deity’s worship makes the typical explanation (syncretism alone) seem inadequate. No one will argue that it wasn’t done at all (c.f. interpretatio graeca), but this does not explain why the same false deity was worshiped in the Americas or China or anywhere else too far from Greek and Roman culture to have been influenced by them or by each other.
2 Διοπετης, i.e. Jupiter/Zeus. The image of Artemis was a meteorite. These were often worshiped as images of the planetary false gods, a practice as ancient as writing itself. Moses strictly warned against this practice in Deut 4.19 and 17.3 and in Ex 20.4.
