3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

(1) ἦν γὰρ ἡ ἐκκλησία συγκεχυμένη, for the assembly was confused. The state of confusion stated generally about
the city (ἐπλήσθη ἡ πόλις τῆς συγχύσεως, v. 29) is now continued after some of the residents have gathered in
the theater. (2) The confusion centered on why they had come together: καὶ οἱ πλείους οὐκ ᾔδεισαν τίνος ἕνεκα
συνεληλύθεισαν, and most of them did not know why they had come together. That is, the majority (οἱ πλείους) of the
people had no idea of the reason.
Chaos always opens the door to mischievousness: ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ὄχλου συνεβίβασαν Ἀλέξανδρον,
προβαλόντων αὐτὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων· ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος κατασείσας τὴν χεῖρα ἤθελεν ἀπολογεῖσθαι τῷ δήμῳ, Some
of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and
tried to make a defense before the people. Considerable uncertainty over the precise meaning of this statement
exists, and early on led to a number of alternative readings by copyists in order to try to clarify the meaning. 122
What seems to be depicted here by Luke is that a Jewish man named Alexander 123 was appointed to speak for
the Jewish community, most likely in order to distance the Jewish synagogue from Paul and the Christians. What
is not clear is whether the crowd tried to take him down or whether the Jews in the crowd were shouting instructions
to him before he tried to speak to the assembly: ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ὄχλου συνεβίβασαν Ἀλέξανδρον. Which ever this
was, the point remains the same. When he tried to speak the assembly recognized him as a Jew and drowned
out anything he sought to say with their chant: μεγάλη ἡ Ἄρτεμις Ἐφεσίων, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
Despite the fact of a large community of Jewish residents in the city (cf. v. 8), they were not popular or
largely accepted by the rest of the people. This was generally true throughout the Roman empire. 124 Luke alludes
to this several times in Acts: 16:20; 18:17; 19:34. The usual reason assumed by modern commentators is
that it was because of their monotheistic theology and disdain for idols. In the ancient world they generally were
considered to be an inferior people not just because of their religion but because of their lack of hygiene and
other cultural traits, which meant their body odors were considerably repulsive. Plus they came out of the eastern
part of the empire where Semitic people generally were considered to be inferior. Added to this is the special
privileges they had gained with the Romans through manipulation of officials, which Josephus describes. 125 This
most likely generated substantial resentment against them by the locals here in Ephesus.
stands. Thus people shouting this or that in the stands would tend toward confusion more than anything else.
122 “Vv. 33–34 are not at all clear. What was Alexander trying to accomplish? First, we should note the use of οθλος here and in
v. 35. Though the Ephesians may have thought they were holding a popular assembly, Luke emphasizes that it was just a crowd in vv. 33
and 35.
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157 Second, a clear sign of confusion about the meaning of this text on the part of some early Christians is the fact that the Western
text has κατεβιβασαν instead of the probably more primitive reading συνεβιβασαν. The former means ‘they pulled him down,’ the latter
‘they instructed or shouted instructions to him.’ In other words, the Western text suggests that while the Jews put Alexander up to speak,
the crowd pulled him down, perhaps because they knew he was a Jew. 158 It is a plausible conjecture that the Jews put Alexander forward
as spokesman to make clear to the crowd that true Jews had nothing to do with Paul’s activities and did not endorse them. 159 Can sense
be made out of the more difficult reading συνεβιβασαν? Yes, if we note that the δε may be contrastive and thus v. 33 may be contrasted
with v. 32 in some respect. Alexander may have been one of those who did not know why the crowd had come together, but when some
of the crowd instructed him on what this was all about he then was prepared to stand up before the crowd, representing the Jewish constituency
there, and speak to it.” [Ben Witherington, III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI:
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998), 596.]
123Ἀλέξανδρος, ου, ὁ Alexander a favorite name w. Jews as well as gentiles (on the origin of this name s. DELG s.v. ἀνήρ p.
88; cp. pap and ins; CPJ I 29; Joseph.—ET 10, 1899, 527).
1. son of Simon of Cyrene Mk 15:21.
2. a member of Jerusalem’s high priestly family Ac 4:6.
3. a Judean of Ephesus 19:33.
4. an apostate 1 Ti 1:20, presumably the smith of 2 Ti 4:14.
[William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 42.]
The Alexander in Ephesus in Acts 19:33 from all accounts is a different person from the apostate Alexander mentioned in 1 & 2
Timothy, who also lived in Ephesus but had some kind of connection to the Christian community. This would have been very easy since
this Greek name was very common among Jews, particularly Diaspora Jews, as well as among Gentiles.
124 “To the crowd, at this point in time, there was no major difference between an Alexander the Jew and a Paul the Jewish
Christian. Both were monotheists who did not endorse the worship of Artemis, and thereby would be seen as suspect by local pagans,
not least because of the always latent and widespread anti-Semitism in Greco-Roman culture.160” [Ben Witherington, III, The Acts of
the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998), 597.]
125 “It is probable that there was resentment by many pagans that past proconsuls of this province had granted Jews special
privileges and exemptions from the cultic activities of the dominant religion in the city. See Josephus, Ant. 14.227, 263–64, who speaks
of the large Jewish community in Ephesus and their exemptions.” [Ben Witherington, III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical
Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998).]