3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

But the major thrust of the term τὰ περίεργα centers on sorcery practices containing
written out rituals and incantations as συνενέγκαντες τὰς βίβλους, after having gathered up the
books, makes clear.
Page 399
76 Interestingly, a number of such documents have survived from the first
century so that by examining their contents a much more thorough understanding of what is
in them can be now determined. 77 The new Christian converts who had dabled in the occult
seriously enough to have collected books with incantations gathered them up and meeting
together publicly (ἐνώπιον πάντων, lit., before everybody) they burned all these documents in
one pile: τὰς βίβλους κατέκαιον ἐνώπιον πάντων. 78
Luke indicates the calculated value of all these documents was some 50,000 silver
coins: καὶ συνεψήφισαν τὰς τιμὰς αὐτῶν καὶ εὗρον ἀργυρίου μυριάδας πέντε, when the value
of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins. Every translation
of this statement in Greek must fill in some gaps with Luke’s rather vague expression. The
verb συνεψήφισαν, counted up, has no stated subject. It’s not clear whether those burning
the books, or the crowd watching them being burned did the counting; thus the passive voice
translation of the NRSV that avoids having to express a subject. Neither does Luke specify
which kind of monetary coin the calculation was made in. A more precise value depends
on whether these silver coins were Roman denarii or Greek drachmas. 79 But regardless of
which coinage Luke intended, the sum is a huge amount of money. A large gap in the collection
of books on magic was created that day in Ephesus!
One should note that the burning of the books here in Ephesus was voluntary from
the owners who gladly disposed on the books. Often in ancient book burnings -- as in modern
times as well -- the books were seized by the authorities and burned against the wishes
of the owners. 80
Scholars believe that the
books gathered for burning
at Ephesus may have
resembled the Coptic magical
texts that archaeologists
have recovered in Egypt.
Depicted is P.Duk.inv. 256,
which mentions “Sabaoth”
and contains magical symbols.
From Mikeal C. Parsons,
Acts, Paideia Commentaries
on The New Testament
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2008), 272.
76 “Like πράξεις (v. 18), περίεργα is a semi-technical term for magical practices. The meaning originates with ‘things better left
alone, not meddled with’; cf. Plato, Apology 19b, Σωκράτης ἀδικεῖ καὶ περιεργάζεται ζητῶν τά τε ὑπὸ γῆς καὶ τὰ ἐπουράνια. So too
Ecclesiasticus 3:23 (Page 206). Cf. Xenophon, Memorabilia 1:3:1. For περίεργα itself see MM 505; BA 1303. πράσσειν derives meaning
from its object, but the use (v. 18) of πρᾶξις gives it added force and direction.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary
on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 912-13.]
77 “τὰς βίβλους, the books in which the spells were written down and thus kept ready for use. They would no doubt resemble the
papyri edited and published by K. Preisendanz in Papyri Graecae Magicae (1928, 1931). There is an example in Background 34–7. See
also Betz (154, n. 4, quoting Lucian, Philopseudes 12, … ἐπειπὼν ἱερατικά τινα ἐκ βίβλου παλαιᾶς ὀνόματα ἑπτά …). Ephesus was
noted for such products, and the term Ἐφέσια γράμματα was current. Thus Plutarch, Symposium 7:5:4 (706D), ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ Μάγοι
τοὺς δαιμονιζομένους κελεύουσι τὰ Ἐφέσια γράμματα πρὸς ἀυτοὺς καταλέγειν καὶ ὀνομάζειν …; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata
5:8:45:2, τὰ Ἐφέσια καλούμενα γράμματα ἐν πολλοῖς δὴ πολυθρύλητα ὄντα. Magic was officially discouraged (see probably
Tabula VIII, Qui malum carmen incantassit …) but almost universally believed in. Only sceptics such as Lucian (not Christians, who
disapproved but did not disbelieve) denied its power. For the burning of the books cf. Suetonius, Octavian 31, … quicquid fatidicorum
librorum Graeci Latinique generis, nullis vel parum idoneis auctoribus, vulgo ferebatur, supra duo millia contracta undique cremavit.
But here the owners were not consulted and Augustus’s motive was different. Cf. Livy 40:29, Libri in comitio, igne a victimariis facto,
in conspectu populi cremati sunt; Diogenes Laertius 9:52; Lucian, Alexander 47.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary
on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 913.]
78 “Book burning was a fairly common event in antiquity (see Josephus, Ant. 10.6.2; Diogenes Laertius, Vit. phil. 9.52; Livy,
Hist. 39.16.8; Augustine, Bapt. 5.1; cf. Talbert 2005, 169; Pease 1946, 145–60). In this case, the burning of the magical books is to be
viewed as the act of believers who, as a result of this incident, forsook their belief in and practice of magic and became believers (cf.
Diogenes Laertius, Vit. phil. 6.95; ps.-John of Damascus, Vit. Barl. 32.302; Talbert 2005, 170). Rather than perish with their silver (as
Peter had warned, Acts 8:20), the Ephesian magicians ‘make the better choice from a Lukan perspective, giving up their profitable trade
to save their lives and secure their place in the kingdom of God’ (Spencer 2004, 197).” [Mikeal C. Parsons, Acts, Paideia Commentaries
on The New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 272-73.]
79 “If the silver refers to denarii, then fifty thousand of them would equal a single worker’s wages for 137 years without a day
off, since a denarius was an average worker’s wage for a day (so BDAG 128 §2c; BAGD 105 §2c, but counting denarii, not drachmas,
which the BDAG note mentions). Ehling (2003) argues that denarii were more common in Ephesus than drachmas, noting that we have
forty-seven inscriptions of the former but only six of the latter. She places the sum at equal to eight hundred thousand small pieces of
bread, or enough to allow one hundred families to live for five hundred days. It is a large sum of money and reflects the city’s commercial
commitment to such trade and practice, as this is only a portion of the community’s holdings of such material.” [Darrell L. Bock, Acts,
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007), 605.]
80 “The act is not so much a protest against others as a public renunciation of the believer’s former practice, since books are not
seized but voluntarily destroyed (on the practice of burning books, see Jer. 36:20–27; 1 Macc. 1:56; Suetonius, Augustus 31; Livy, Hist.
Rom. 40.29; Diogenes Laertius, Lives 9.52; Lucian, Alexander the False Prophet 47; on the expression ‘Ephesian writings’ for such
works, see Plutarch, Symposium 7.5.4 [= Moralia 706E]; Witherington 1998: 582; esp. Arnold 1989).” [Darrell L. Bock, Acts, Baker