A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS
PART XIX - VIII
"I, Demetrius looked around the room where all the silversmiths and others workers had gathered.... I could see that they had become very angry... That did not surprise me too much... It simply meant that my words to them about this man Paul had the desired effect... After all, it was because of him that our businesses were suffering loss... It is hard to imagine that one man could do so much damage to our city.... And that only by preaching a message about a Man named Jesus... He supposedly had died on a Cross for everyone in the world... Including us, citizens of Ephesus..... How could anyone want to follow that Man rather than our goddess Artemis?.... None of it made sense to me... It was time to put a stop to the message of this man Paul... And have people go back to worshipping our goddess Artemis.... And we must act now.... Otherwise our prosperous lifestyle will very rapidly come to an end..... That must never happen.... My fellow silversmiths and other workers completely agreed with me...They realised it was time for action... So they left the meeting and went among the crowd.... However, some of my fellow silversmiths came back to me some time later.... They told me that some of this man Paul's companions have been seized... But Paul could not be apprehended.... Because he did not appear..... What a pity!!...They told me as well that another Jew, named Alexander, tried to calm things down....However, that did not happen... I decided to join the other silversmiths... We could hear the crowd shouting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians."... That was music to my ears....And it should be enough to send this man Paul out of town.... For surely he must realise that we in Ephesus are not interested in what he has to say... Let him take his message somewhere else.".... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn about the uproar in Ephesus...
ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS
PART XIX - VIII
Demetrius knowing what his fellow silversmiths and other workers are like, will not at all have been surprised by their sudden outburst of anger, nor will he have been surprised by what happens next as you can read in Acts 19:29
Soon the whole city was in uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul' travelling companions into Macedonia and all of them rushed into the theatre together.
No doubt, he will have been waiting for the main culprit, the man Paul, to appear in the theatre as well. But that did not happen as you can read in Acts 19:30-31
Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theatre.
However, there was great confusion for there were those among the crowd who had no idea what was going on as you can read in Acts 9:32
The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing; some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.
One of the Jews, a man named Alexander, was selected to try and bring peace. But, instead, there was more chaos as you can read in Acts 19:33-34
The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realised he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians."
Obviously, someone else was needed to bring calmness to the situation.
Read Part Thirteen HERE
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