Act 19:23-41 | Burkitt

‏ Acts 19:23-41

Observe here, 1. The undaunted courage of St. Paul in the cause of Christ: he resolves to adventure his life, by going into the theatre, there to make an apology for himself and his companions, and in defence of the Christian religion. He did not account his life dear unto him, but was willing not only to be bound, but to die for the name of Jesus.

Observe, 2. How the divine Providence is to be admired, and awfully adored, in directing to ways and means for the Apostle's preservation in this time of imminent danger. God now made use of the advice, not only of the apostle's fast friends or by foes; for he can make enemies become benefactors at his pleasure, and command deliverance for his people, sometimes by opposite and contrary means.

Lord! who would not trust thee in a time of imminent or impending danger, who hast all created nature at thy back, the hearts of all in thy hands, the tongues and hands of the most unruly and outrageous in thy power; and wilt deliver thine in six troubles, and in seven, and there shall no evil touch them! Thou canst and wilt deliver as often as thy children need deliverance, and save them from evil, even when they are in the midst of trouble!

Observe, 3. How the rabble at Ephesus treated Alexander being in the theatre, (the place where they judged offenders, and cast them to the wild beasts:) they would not suffer him to make any defence for himself, or the people of the Jews. This Alexander is supposed by many to be that Alexander, who St. Paul afterwards told Timothy did him much evil: if so, we find here he was first a proselyte, then a professor, next a confessor, almost a martyr; yet, after all, an apostate; making shipwreck of the faith, for which he was excommunicated by the apostle, Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan. 1Tim 1:19,20

This excommunication of the apostle probably was the provocation that occasioned him to do so much mischief to the apostle, of which he complains, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil; of whom be thou ware also. 2Tim 4:14

Learn thence, 1. That it was possible for a glorious professor to turn a furious persecutor. This Alexander did not only withstand the apostle's person, but his doctrine also; for which being excommunicated, he sought revenge.

Learn, 2. That excommunication not only angers but enrages wicked and impenitent men; so that, instead of being reformed, they seek revenge: yet must the censures of the church be executed and inflicted without either fear or favour.

Observe here, 1. The instrument which God stirs up to stem the tide, and to stop the stream, of this hair-brained assembly; and that is, the town-clerk, who was always present at their public meetings, and registered all their city acts. His presence and eloquence God made use of, to appease this tumult, to preserve the apostle, and to dismiss the assembly.

Observe, 2. The town-clerk's oration was full of craft and policy, of fraud and fallacy; for he tells the multitude, that St. Paul and his friends are against images only that are made with hands; whereas theirs was not such, but one that fell down from Jupiter. It was his duty, by office, to appease the rabble's rage, with reason and authority; he ought not to have done it fallaciously. But we must consider he was a Pagan, and his design was only to still the people; accordingly, he encourages the credulous multitude to believe what the crafty priests had insinuated into them, that the image which they worshipped was not made with hands; but fell immediately down from heaven; hoping thereby to gain more veneration to their idols, and get more pounds into their own purses. Thus God made use of the worldly and (somewhat) wicked eloquence of this heathen to preserve St. Paul.

Observe, 3. How God opens the mouth of this man to vindicate the apostle's innocency and his companion's also; These men, saith he, are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. It is very likely, that the apostle and the Christians in Ephesus had in wisdom asserted Christianity, without saying much against Diana, which would have but enraged the multitude; much less did they offer any violence to her temple or her image.

Here note, That although the apostles were great enemies to these men's idolatry, yet did they offer no outward violence ot their idol-temples, neither to demolish them, or deface any image on them: they well knew, that such a work of public reformation was not their business, but the magistrates'; therefore they endeavoured by preaching to cast idols out of the people's hearts, but not by violence to throw them out of the temple.

Thus ends this chapter, with the account of St. Paul's marvellous, if not miraculous preservation at the city of Ephesus; where being surrounded with difficulties and dangers on all hands, yet being found in the way of his duty, and in the work of his master, he escapes all perils. Safety evermore accompanies duty: when we are in God's way, we are under God's wing: preservation and protection we shall have, if God may thereby be glorified; but sometimes danger is better than safety, a storm more useful than a calm.

And blessed be God for the assurance of his promise, that all things, be they mercies or afflictions, comforts or corrections, dangers or deliverances, life or death, all shall work together for good to them that love God, and are found steadfast in their obedience to him. Rom 8:28