Reading chapter 19 this week, one thing that jumped out at me was the opening phrase, "While Apollos was at Corinth...". It's these types of seemingly insignificant details that help convince me that this account is reliable. The original readers might say, "Oh yeah, I remember when Apollos was in Corinth", and it provides context for them. I look at it and think that if the book were unreliable, it would do the author no good to include details like, "While Apollos was at Corinth".
Moving on, we see Paul again suffering persecution at the hands of the synagogue leaders, and consequently setting up daily lectures elsewhere in Ephesus for two years. I've covered this in other posts, but I have always tended to think of Paul as a traveler, which he certainly was. But I don't often picture him setting up and spending 2 years anywhere. That's a long time to shut down one's travels and invest in one particular group of people. I marvel at the way Paul is led by the Spirit from place to place for such varying lengths of time.
Finally, Demetrius the silversmith gets his mention in Scripture, albeit not an especially flattering one as he stirs up his fellow craftsmen with the fear of losing their livelihood. "Soon the whole city was in an uproar" (v. 29). The riot builds from there, "Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there" (v. 33).
And for two hours the people shouted "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" Two hours is a very long time to chant anything. I can't even imagine. Apparently the riot leads to not much due to some quick thinking by the city clerk (v. 35-41). Good job, city clerk. Way to diffuse the situation.
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