29 The whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Luke setteth down in this place the nature of the people, as if it were depainted in a table. [1] Like as if a thousand houses should be set on fire at a sudden, so all the city was on an uproar in one moment; and when such a tempest is once raised, it is not easily stayed. And forasmuch as the servants of Christ cannot avoid this mischief, they must be armed with invincible constancy, that they may boldly suffer the tumults raised among the people, and that they may not be troubled as with some new and strange matter, when they see that the people is unquiet. So Paul himself doth elsewhere triumph that he went valiantly through the midst of sedition (2-Corinthians 6:5). Nevertheless, the Lord doth uphold the ministers of his word with an excellent comfort, when as they be tossed amidst diverse storms and garboils, and with excellent boldness doth he establish them, when he doth testify that he holdeth the helm of his Church; and not that only, but that he is the governor and moderator of all tumults and storms, so that he can stay the same so soon as it seemeth good to him. Therefore, let us know that we must sail as it were in a tempestuous sea; yet that we must suffer this infamy, as if we ourselves were the procurers of trouble? [2] neither may anything lead us away from the right course of our duty. So that in sailing we shall be sore troubled; yet will not the Lord suffer us to suffer shipwreck. Furthermore, we see that though sedition be confused, yet doth the people always take the worse part; as the men of Ephesus do now catch Gains and Aristarchus, and they drive back Alexander with their furious outcries. Whence cometh this, save only because Satan doth reign in their hearts, so that they rather favor an evil cause? There is also another reason, because a prejudice conceived upon a false report doth possess their minds, so that they cannot abide to sift the cause any farther.
1 - "In tabula," in a picture
2 - "Quasi turbas ipsi concitemus," as if we ourselves excited the disturbance.
Confusion - Tumult; disorder.
Gaius - He had lived at Corinth, and had kinky entertained Paul at his house, 1-Corinthians 1:14; Romans 16:23.
Aristarchus - He attended Paul to Rome, and was there a prisoner with him, Colossians 4:10.
With one accord - Tumultuously; or with one mind or purpose.
Into the theatre - The theaters of the Greeks were not only places for public exhibitions, but also for holding assemblies, and often for courts, elections, etc. The people, therefore, naturally rushed there, as being a suitable place to decide this matter.
The whole city was filled with confusion - Thus we find the peace of the whole city was disturbed, not by an apostle preaching the Gospel of Christ, but by one interested, unprincipled knave, who did not even plead conscience for what he was doing; but that it was by this craft he and his fellows got their wealth, and he was afraid to lose it.
Rushed - into the theater - The theatres, being very spacious and convenient places, were often used for popular assemblies and public deliberation, especially in matters which regarded the safety of the state. There are several proofs of this in ancient authors. So Tacitus, Hist. ii. 80, speaking concerning Vespasian, says: Antiochensium theatrum ingressus, ubi illis consultare mos est, concurrentes et in adulationem effusos alloquitur. "Having entered into the theater of the Antiochians, where it was the custom to hold consultations, the people running together, and being profuse in flattery, he addressed them." Frontinus, in Stratagem lib. iii. cap. 2, speaking of a public meeting at the theater at Agrigentum, observes, ubi ex more Graecorum locus consultationi praebebatur; which, according to the custom of the Greeks, is the place for public deliberation. See several examples in Kypke.
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.
having caught Gaius and Aristarchus--disappointed of Paul, as at Thessalonica (Acts 17:5-6). They are mentioned in Acts 20:4; Acts 27:2; Romans 16:23; 1-Corinthians 1:14; and probably 3-John 1:1. If it was in the house of Aquila and Priscilla that he found an asylum (see 1-Corinthians 16:9), that would explain Romans 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].
They rushed with one accord - Demetrius and his company, into the theatre - Where criminals were wont to be thrown to the wild beasts, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus - When they could not find Paul. Probably they hoped to oblige them to fight with the wild beasts, as some think St. Paul had done before.
*More commentary available at chapter level.