Acts 19:23-29 (NIV)
About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: “Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”
When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater.
People are notoriously easy to manipulate and to rouse into a mob, as most politicians can tell you. In this case, it wasn’t a politician doing the inciting, but a craftsman.
Demetrius was a worker in precious metals (silver, gold, and copper, as opposed to iron or bronze), who had made a good living from crafting miniature replicas of the temple of Artemis for which the city of Ephesus was famous. But since Paul had arrived in the city, and since his preaching of the gospel had turned people’s hearts away from Artemis to the true God, not only in Ephesus, but in cities throughout Asia, his business, and that of others in the same line of work, had fallen off.
If Demetrius had focused only on the impact that this had on the “god trade” in the city, he could have stirred up the craftsmen. But in order to broaden the outrage, he pointed out how the gospel Paul incessantly preached was causing a lessening of the worship of Artemis herself, and thus lessening the importance of Ephesus as a noted city.
That was enough to whip that whole segment of the city into a rage, and from there it was a short journey to inciting them to action. The crowd grew as it moved to the amphitheater, shouting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” as they went.
Some of them even turned aside to grab Gaius and Aristarchus, who were known to be traveling companions of Paul. The people in the mob had no idea what they were going to do with them once they got to the amphitheater, but they were quite angry, and felt that they simply had to do something.
Father, we haven’t changed much in 2,000 years (sadly). We can still be easily manipulated into rash action if the right buttons are pushed. And there are plenty of people out there pushing them on a daily basis. Help us, Lord, as Your people, to not be gullible, to be governed by reason instead of emotion, and to look to You and Your word to see what needs to be done, so that our every thought, word, and deed will glorify You every day. Amen.
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