以弗所的大騷動 - The Great Riot at Ephesus

7/27/2019 - The Great Riot at Ephesus

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After his trial before Governor Gallio in

the city of Corinth, Paul travelled farand wide in his missionary journeys.

Many months later, he and other fellow-

Christians journeyed down the Roman

Imperial highway through the interior of

Turkey. Finally they arrived at the city

of Ephesus which was on the seacoast in

western Turkey in what was then calledthe Roman province of Asia.

With a population of 225,000 people,

Ephesus was the commercial and

religious center of Asia. It was, in fact,

the world center for the worship of

Diana, a pagan Roman goddess. The

Temple of Diana, built out of the finestmarble, and with 127 Grecian pillars

each 6O feet high, was the most

magnificent building ever constructed

by the Greeks and was considered one

of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient

World!

The Great Riot at Ephesus

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Much of the commercial life of

Ephesus centered around Diana-

worship, because worshippers, pilgrims

and curious tourists from all over the

Roman World came to see the famous

Temple, and to carry away some

talisman or souvenir. So there was aprosperous guild of silversmiths who

had a lucrative business manufacturing

and selling idols and miniature silver

images of the Diana. There was a large

population of Jews in Ephesus, many of

them, despite their professed faith in

God, were engaged in the lucrative

silversmith guild.

During his first three months in

Ephesus, Paul went to the Jewish

synagogue every Sabbath day and tried

to convince the Jews that Jesus was the

Messiah, the Son of God. But many of

them simply refused to believe it, so

Paul merely left them and took his newconverts with him. But none of them

had a house large enough for them to all

gather and meet in.

In the center of Ephesus was a giant

public square called the Agora, and

Paul was standing by the great sun-dial

in the center of the square one day,

preaching to a crowd, when a Roman

nobleman stopped to listen. After the

crowd had left, he came up to Paul and

said, I find your message very

interesting and you are quite a

convincing speaker. But tell me, why do

you teach in the public marketplace?

Paul smiled, and wiping his brow,said, I have no other place tospeak.

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Then perhaps I can help you, the

nobleman said. My name is

Tyrannus and I have a lecture hall here

in Ephesus where the most brilliant

minds in the entire Province of Asia

come to study. If you need a place to

teach, I would be very pleased to have

you teach in my school every day.

Paul and Tyrannus became close

friends, and soon the little group of

believers was meeting daily in the most

famous hall of learning in the entire

Province of Asia, where philosophers,

poets, law-makers and sons of the richRoman rulers either studied or came

to lecture. Several of them sat in to

hear what this new Jewish teacher had

to say, and as the weeks and months

went by, many leading government

officials of the city were converted to

faith in Jesus!


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Students, Roman officials, city

fathers and common citizens

began coming, not only from

Ephesus, but from faraway cities

to listen!And thousands of them

joyfully received Jesus into theirhearts and dedicated their lives

to Him!

Paul went on to dramatically

convert many of the worst citizens

of the city! Men who had

formerly been into witchcraft and

black magic came forth and

confessed their evil deeds, and, ina spectacular display of

repentance, burned $1O,OOO

worth of their strange occult

books in a great bonfire in the

public square one night!

By the end of two years, the

Word of the Lord had grown insuch power and influence that all

the inhabitants who lived in the

Province of Asia, Jews, Romans

and Greeks alike, had heard the

message of Salvation!

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Up until this time, the thriving sale of

shrines and idols had kept the many

craftsmen in Ephesus busily employed.

But as more and more Ephesians turned

to Christianity, the silversmiths began to

feel a noticeable drop in their sales.

The leader of the silversmithswhoemployed many craftsmen in his guild

was a man named Demetrius, and he

began to view the influence of Pauls

teachings with increasing jealousy and

alarm!

Finally, he called together all his

craftsmenalong with the workmen inrelated trades and craftsand when they

had assembled in his shop, he said,

Men, you know we receive a good and

prosperous income from our silverwork!

But as you see and hear, this fellow Paul

has led astray large numbers of people

here in Ephesusand in practically

the whole province of Asia!andpersuaded them to change theirreligion!

Gesturing to his shelves full of

intricately-made little shrines and idols,

he said angrily, He preaches to

everyone, saying that man-made gods are

no gods at all! Why, our entire trade is in

danger of losing its good name if hepersists!

Of course, I am not only talking

about our loss of income, but that the

magnificent Temple of our great goddess

Diana will be discredited!And the

goddess herself, who is worshipped

throughout the entire Roman World, will

be forgotten!

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When the assembled craftsmen heard

this speech, they were overcome with fury

and religious rage, and began shouting in

unison, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!

The confusion soon spilled out into the

streets and before long the entire city of

Ephesus was in an absolute uproar! Downthrough the broad marble-paved streets of

the city the mob surged, and soon arrived

at the house where Paul and his friends

were staying! Bursting into the house,

they discovered that Paul was not there

and only two of his Christian friends,

Gaius and Aristarchus from Greece, were

there!

Seizing them, the frenzied mob

dragged them down the streets toward the

great Roman amphitheatre in the northeast

corner of the city! By this time all the

officials and government heads of

Ephesus had heard that the city was in an

uproar over Paul and that the mob hadseized his two friends! Paul was with a

small group of believers, teaching at the

home of a prosperous Christian merchant

named Onesiphorus when the news

reached him. The roar of the chanting

mob was now echoing across the city with

deafening volume!

Immediately he decided to appear

before them in the amphitheatre and try to

talk to them, but Onesiphorus and the

other brethren would not let him, for they

knew that it could very likely cost him

his life!

For two hours the crowd chanted, and

the entire city shook with the deafeningroar of nearly 25,OOO voices!


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At the palace of the city mayor,

General Fortunatus paced rapidly back

and forth, then shook his finger in the

mayors face. You get in there

and stop that mob or Im sending

my troops in!And you will be

responsible for whoever gets hurt! Not

only that, but Ill demand an official

accounting from you for this riot!

Silvanus winced and said, General,

you know Im favorable to these

Christians, and I think that Paul has

done a great work in our city, but I

cantVery well, then. Fortunatus

answered, and headed for the door.

No, no, wait! Silvanus cried,

Illgo in! And he did.

It was several long minutes before

the mob recognized their mayor

standing up on the rostrum, waving his

hands frantically. By now they were

hoarse and exhausted from their

shouting, and a weary hush fell over the

crowd.

Men of Ephesus, he pleaded, all

the World knows that the city of

Ephesus is the custodian of the Temple

of the great Diana and of her image, themeteorite which fell down from heaven!

Now, since these facts are beyond

question, you ought to be quiet and not

do anything rash!


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Motioning towards Gaius and

Aristarchus who stood there tied with

cords, he said, Look! You have brought

these two men here, but they havent

done anything wrong, and you know it!

They havent robbed our great Temple

or blasphemed our goddess! All they

have done is speak of their faith in

Jesus.

His tone became more stern: If

Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have

a grievance against anybody and want to

press charges, the courts are open and in

session and there are judges who willhear their case. If they have any

accusations to bring up, then they ought

to settle them through legal channels in

a lawful assembly!In court!

After he had said this, he dismissed

the assembly, and sent them all home.

Paul and his two friends were safe, and

the Christian community in Ephesus

continued to prosper!

以弗所的大騷動 - The Great Riot at Ephesus

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