19:21-31 Persons who came from afar to pay their devotions at the temple of Ephesus, bought little silver shrines, or models of the temple, to carry home with them. See how craftsmen make advantage to themselves of people's superstition, and serve their worldly ends by it. Men are jealous for that by which they get their wealth; and many set themselves against the gospel of Christ, because it calls men from all unlawful crafts, however much wealth is to be gotten by them. There are persons who will stickle for what is most grossly absurd, unreasonable, and false; as this, that those are gods which are made with hands, if it has but worldly interest on its side. The whole city was full of confusion, the common and natural effect of zeal for false religion. Zeal for the honour of Christ, and love to the brethren, encourage zealous believers to venture into danger. Friends will often be raised up among those who are strangers to true religion, but have observed the honest and consistent behaviour of Christians.

Verse 29. - The city for the whole city, and the confusion for confusion, A.V. and T.R. (τῆς for ὅλη); they rushed, etc., having seized for having caught, etc., they rushed, etc., A.V. With one accord (ὁμοθυμαδὸν); see Acts 1:14; Acts 2:1; Acts 4:24, etc., and for ὥρμησαν ὁμοθυμαδὸν, see Acts 7:57. Into the theatre. The common place of resort for all great meetings. So Tacitus, 'Hist.,' 2:80 (quoted by Alford), says that at Antioch the people were wont to hold their public debates in the theatre, and that a crowded meeting was held there to forward the interests of Vespasian, then aspiring to the empire. So Josephus speaks of the people of Antioch holding a public assembly (ἐκκλησίαζοντος) in the theatre ('Bell. Jud.,' 7. 3:3). The people of the Greek city of Tarentum received the ambassadors from Rome in the theatre, "according to the Greek custom," Val. Max., 2:2, 5 (Kuinoel, on Acts 19:29). The theatre at Ephesus, of which "ruins of immense grandeur" still remain, is said to be the largest of which we have any account (Howson, 2. p. 68). Having seized (συναρπάσαντες); a favorite word with Luke(Acts 6:12; Acts 27:12; Luke 8:29); and found also in the LXX, of Proverbs 6:25; 2 Macc. 3:27 2Macc. 4:41; but not elsewhere in the New Testament. It is a common medical word of sudden seizures. The force of the συν is that they hurried Gaius and Aristarchus along with them to the theatre, no doubt intending there to accuse them to the people. Gaius and Aristarchus. In Acts 20:4 there is mention of a certain Gains who was one of Paul's companions in travel, but who is described as "of Derbe." Again in 1 Corinthians 1:14 a Gains is mentioned as one of St. Paul's converts on his first visit to Corinth, whom he baptized himself; and in Romans 16:23 (written from Corinth) we have mention of Gains as St. Paul's host, and of the whole Church, likely, therefore, to be the same person. Then we have the Gains to whom St. John's Third Epistle is addressed, and whose hospitality to the brethren was a conspicuous feature in his character, and one tending to identify him with the Gaius of Romans 16:23. We seem, therefore, to have, in immediate connection with St, Paul, Gaius of Corinth, Gains of Macedonia, and Gains of Derbe. But Gaius (or Caius, as it is written in Latin) was such a common name, and the Jews so often shifted their residence from one city to another, that it is not safe either to infer identity from identity of name, or diversity from diversity of description. Aristarchus, here described as of Macedonia, is more precisely spoken of in Acts 20:4 as a Thessalonian. In Acts 27:2, where we find him accompanying St. Paul from Caesarea to Rome, he is described as "a Macedonian of Thessalonica." In Colossians 4:10 he is St. Paul's "fellow-prisoner,' as voluntarily sharing his prison (Alford, on Colossians 4:10), and in Philemon 1:24 he is his fellow-laborer. His history, therefore, is that, having been converted on St Paul's visit to Thessalonica, he attached himself to him as one of his missionary staff, and continued with him through good report and evil report, through persecution, violence, imprisonment, shipwreck, and bonds, to the latest moment on which the light of Bible history shines. Blessed servant of Christ! blessed fellow-servant of his chief apostle!

And the whole city was filled with confusion,.... For the workmen that made the silver shrines very likely ran up and down in the city, crying out, great is Diana of the Ephesians, which brought the people out of their houses to inquire what was the matter; and the mob gathering and increasing, as they went along, threw the whole city into confusion and disorder:

and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia; the latter of these was of Thessalonica in Macedonia, as appears from Acts 20:4 but of what place the former was, is not certain; however, being a Macedonian, he could not be the Gaius of Derbe, mentioned in the same place, nor the Gaius of Corinth, 1 Corinthians 1:14 but some third person. They are both Greek names; Aristarchus signifies the chief of princes, or the prince of chiefs; and Gaius is a name taken from the joy of parents, and is the same with the Roman name, Caius; they are both reckoned among the seventy disciples; the former is said to be bishop of Apamea in Phrygia, and the latter Bishop of Ephesus; See Gill on Luke 10:1.

Paul's companions in travel; whom he brought with him out of Macedonia, and who had been with him to Jerusalem and Antioch, and were now returned with him to Ephesus, where they had been with him for the space of two years, or more: it is very much that this mob had not seized on Paul himself: it may be Paul was within doors, and these were without in the streets, and so were laid hold upon and carried away in a most forcible and violent manner by them: who having got them,

they rushed with one accord into the theatre; where the public plays were acted in honour of the goddess Diana, and where, among other things, men were set to fight with wild beasts; and very likely the intention of the mob, in hurrying Paul's companions thither, was to throw them to the wild beasts. A theatre is a spectacle or show, so called, because in them fights were shown, plays were acted, games exercised, and battles fought between men and men, and between men and beasts, and between beasts and beasts; concerning which, take the following account (x):

"Theatre, among the ancients, is a public edifice for the exhibiting of scenic spectacles, or shows to the people--under the word theatre was comprehended not only the eminence, whereon the actors appeared, and the action passed, but also the whole area, or extent of the place common to the actors and spectators: in this sense the theatre was a building encompassed with porticos, and furnished with seats of stone, disposed in semicircles, and ascending gradually over one another, which encompassed a space called the "orchestra"; in the front whereof was the "proscenium" or "pulpitum", whereon the actors performed the "scena", a large front adorned with orders of architecture; behind which was "postscenium", or the place where the actors made themselves ready, retired, &c. so that the "scena", in its full extent, comprehended all the part belonging to the actors. In the Greek theatres, the "orchestra" made a part of the "scena"; but in the Roman theatres, none of the actors ever descended into the "orchestra", which was taken up by the seats of the senators.''

For the better understanding the terms used, and the several parts of the theatre, let it be observed, that the "scena", according to others (y) was the place from whence the actors first went out; and it reached from one corner of the theatre to the other, and was threefold; "tragical", which was adorned in a royal manner with pillars and signs; "comical", which represented private buildings; and "satirical", which exhibited trees, caves, mountains, &c. Likewise, the "scena" was either "versile", when on a sudden the whole scene was turned by some machines; or "ductile", when by drawing away the boards the inward face of the scene appeared, or by drawing curtains. The "proscenium" was a place lower than the scene, in which the actors chiefly spoke and acted: the "postscenium" was a place in which these things were done, which could not be done fitly, and with decorum in the scenes: the "pulpitum" was a higher place in the "proscenium", in which those that recited stood: the "orchestra" was the last place, in which they danced, and near which the senators sat. Tarquinius Priscus was the first who introduced plays among the Romans; and the temple of Bacchus at Athens was the first theatre in the world, the remains of which are still to be seen. Of this theatre at Ephesus I have not met with any account; whether it was in the temple, or without, is not certain; very likely it might be a part of it, or adjoin unto it.

(x) Chamber's Cyclopaedia in the word "Theatre". (y) Nieupoort. Compend. Antiqu. Roman. p. 285, 286. Yid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Diet. l. 5. c. 16.

29. having caught Gaius and Aristarchus—disappointed of Paul, as at Thessalonica (Ac 17:5, 6). They are mentioned in Ac 20:4; 27:2; Ro 16:23; 1Co 1:14; and probably 3Jo 1. If it was in the house of Aquila and Priscilla that he found an asylum (see 1Co 16:9), that would explain Ro 16:3, 4, where he says of them that "for his life they laid down their own necks" [Howson].

rushed … into the theatre—a vast pile, whose ruins are even now a wreck of immense grandeur [Sir C. Fellowes, Asia Minor, 1839].

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