It began with a silversmith named Demetrius
The phrase introduces us to Demetrius, a key figure in the narrative. The name "Demetrius" is of Greek origin, meaning "belonging to Demeter," the Greek goddess of the harvest. This name reflects the Hellenistic culture prevalent in Ephesus, a city known for its devotion to various deities. As a silversmith, Demetrius was skilled in crafting items from silver, a precious metal often associated with wealth and status. His profession indicates a level of affluence and influence within the community, as silversmiths were integral to the economy, especially in a city like Ephesus, renowned for its religious and commercial activities.

who made silver shrines of Artemis
The creation of "silver shrines of Artemis" highlights the religious and economic significance of the goddess Artemis in Ephesus. Artemis, known as Diana in Roman mythology, was the goddess of the hunt, wilderness, and fertility. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, attracting pilgrims and tourists from across the region. These silver shrines were likely small replicas of the temple or the goddess, serving as souvenirs or objects of worship. The production of such items underscores the deep-rooted pagan practices in Ephesus and the challenge faced by early Christians in spreading the Gospel amidst such idolatry.

bringing in a great deal of business to the craftsmen
This phrase emphasizes the economic impact of the religious practices centered around Artemis. The "great deal of business" suggests that the crafting of these shrines was a lucrative trade, supporting not only Demetrius but also a network of craftsmen. This economic dependency on idolatry presents a backdrop for the conflict that arises later in the chapter, as the spread of Christianity threatens the livelihood of those involved in this trade. The craftsmen's reliance on the production of idolatrous items highlights the pervasive nature of pagan worship in Ephesus and the societal challenges faced by the early church in promoting a monotheistic faith that rejected such practices.

(24) Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana.--The worship of Artemis (to give the Greek name of the goddess whom the Romans identified with their Diana) had from a very early period been connected with the city of Ephesus. The first temple owed much of its magnificence to Croesus. This was burnt down, in B.C. 335, by Herostratus, who was impelled by an insane desire thus to secure an immortality of renown. Under Alexander the Great, it was rebuilt with more stateliness than ever, and was looked upon as one of the seven wonders of the world. Its porticos were adorned with paintings and sculptures by the great masters of Greek art, Phidias and Polycletus, Calliphron and Apelles. It had an establishment of priests, attendants, and boys, which reminds us of the organisation of a great cathedral or abbey in Mediaeval Europe. Provision was made for the education of the children employed in the temple services, and retiring pensions given to priests and priestesses (reminding us, in the latter instance, of the rule of 1Timothy 5:9, which it may indeed have suggested) after the age of sixty. Among the former were one class known as Theologi, interpreters of the mysteries of the goddess; a name which apparently suggested the application of that title (the Divine, the Theologus) to St. John in his character as an apocalyptic seer, as seen in the superscription of the Revelation. Large gifts and bequests were made for the maintenance of its fabric and ritual, and the city conferred its highest honours upon those who thus enrolled themselves among its illustrious benefactors. Pilgrims came from all parts of the world to worship or to gaze, and carried away with them memorials in silver or bronze, generally models of the sacellum, or sanctuary, in which the image of the goddess stood, and of the image itself. That image, however, was very unlike the sculptured beauty with which Greek and Roman art loved to represent the form of Artemis, and would seem to have been the survival of an older cultus of the powers of nature, like the Phrygian worship of Cybele, modified and renamed by the Greek settlers who took the place of the original inhabitants. A four-fold many-breasted female figure, ending, below the breasts, in a square column, with mysterious symbolic ornamentation, in which bees, and ears of corn, and flowers were strangely mingled, carved in wood, black with age, and with no form or beauty, this was the centre of the adoration of that never-ceasing stream of worshippers. As we look to the more elaborate reproductions of that type in marble, of which one may be seen in the Vatican Museum, we seem to be gazing on a Hindoo idol rather than on a Greek statue. Its ugliness was, perhaps, the secret of its power. When art clothes idolatry with beauty, man feels at liberty to criticise the artist and his work, and the feeling of reverence becomes gradually weaker. The savage bows before his fetiche with a blinder homage than that which Pericles gave to the Jupiter of Phidias. The first real blow to the worship which had lasted for so many ages was given by the two years of St. Paul's work of which we read here. As by the strange irony of history, the next stroke aimed at its magnificence came from the hand of Nero, who robbed it, as he robbed the temples of Delphi, and Pergamus, and Athens, not sparing even villages, of many of its art-treasures for the adornment of his Golden House at Rome (Tacit. Ann. xv. 45). Trajan sent its richly sculptured gates as an offering to a temple at Byzantium. As the Church of Christ advanced, its worship, of course, declined. Priests and priestesses ministered in deserted shrines. When the empire became Christian, the temple of Ephesus, in common with that of Delphi, supplied materials for the church, erected by Justinian, in honour of the Divine Wisdom, which is now the Mosque of St. Sophia. When the Goths devastated Asia Minor, in the reign of Gallienus (A.D. 263), they plundered it with a reckless hand, and the work which they began was completed centuries later by the Turks. The whole city, bearing the name of Aioslouk--in which some have traced the words Hagios Theologos, as applied to St. John as the patron saint--has fallen into such decay that the very site of the temple was till within the last few years a matter of dispute among archaeologists. Mr. George Wood, however, in 1869, commenced a series of excavations which have led to the discoveries of strata corresponding to the foundations of the three temples which had been erected on the same site, enabled him to trace out the ground-plan, and brought to light many inscriptions connected with the temple, one in particular, the trust-deed, so to speak, of a large sum given for its support, from which we learn more than was known before as to its priesthood and their organisation. (See Wood's Ephesus, pp. 4-45.)

The word for "shrine" is that which, though translated "temple" in John 2:19 (where see Note) and elsewhere, is always applied to the inner sanctuary, in which the Divine Presence was supposed to dwell, and therefore, here, to the chapel or shrine in which the statue of the goddess stood. It was to the rest of the building what the Confession and the Tribune are in Italian churches.

Verse 24. - Of for for, A.V.; little business for small gain, A.V. Shrines of Diana, or Artemis. They were silver models of the famous temple of Diana at Ephesus, and were carried as charms on journeys and placed in people's houses to ensure to them the protection of the goddess (Meyer). These gold or silver shrines contained within them an image of Artemis (Lewin, vol. 1. p. 408), as similar ones, which have been found made of terracotta, do of Cybele (Lewin, p. 414). Repeated mention is made in Diodorus Siculus, Ammianus Marcellinus, and elsewhere, of gold or silver shrines (ναόι), which were offered to different gods as propitiatory gifts, or carried about by the owners as charms, Business; ἐργασία, here and ver. 25 (see Acts 16:16, note).

Parallel Commentaries ...


[ It began with]
γάρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

a
τις (tis)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5100: Any one, some one, a certain one or thing. An enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object.

silversmith
ἀργυροκόπος (argyrokopos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 695: (lit: silver-cutter), a silversmith. From arguros and kopto; a beater of silver.

named
ὀνόματι (onomati)
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3686: Name, character, fame, reputation. From a presumed derivative of the base of ginosko; a 'name'.

Demetrius,
Δημήτριος (Dēmētrios)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1216: Demetrius, a silversmith of Ephesus. From Demeter; Demetrius, the name of an Ephesian and of a Christian.

who had brought
παρείχετο (pareicheto)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 3930: From para and echo; to hold near, i.e. Present, afford, exhibit, furnish occasion.

much
ὀλίγην (oligēn)
Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3641: Puny; especially neuter somewhat.

business
ἐργασίαν (ergasian)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2039: From ergates; occupation; by implication, profit, pains.

to the
τοῖς (tois)
Article - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

craftsmen
τεχνίταις (technitais)
Noun - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 5079: A craftsman, artisan, architect, builder. From techne; an artisan; figuratively, a founder.

making
ποιῶν (poiōn)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4160: (a) I make, manufacture, construct, (b) I do, act, cause. Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do.

silver
ἀργυροῦς (argyrous)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 693: Made of silver. From arguros; made of silver.

shrines
ναοὺς (naous)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3485: A temple, a shrine, that part of the temple where God himself resides. From a primary naio; a fane, shrine, temple.

of Artemis.
Ἀρτέμιδος (Artemidos)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 735: Probably from the same as artemon; prompt; Artemis, the name of a Grecian goddess borrowed by the Asiatics for one of their deities.


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NT Apostles: Acts 19:24 For a certain man named Demetrius (Acts of the Apostles Ac)