And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
The outcry took place at Ephesus after more than three years with that city as the center of work that raised up a flourishing church and spread the gospel throughout the province of Asia among both Jews and Gentiles. It hastened departure at the time when the plan was to pass through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem and then to see Rome, with Timothy and Erastus sent on into Macedonia and with the decision to remain at Ephesus until after Pentecost.
The setting was a city where Diana was widely and popularly worshiped and her magnificent temple was a source of civic and national pride. The idol was traditionally said to have fallen from the sky, and its symbolic markings and inscriptions were believed to have power, while superstition surrounding her shaped the city. Books explaining the symbols attracted magicians who influenced the temple's superstitious worshipers.
The outcry occurred during the yearly festival season in her honor, a May month-long celebration that drew great crowds from all parts of the province and across Asia. It was conducted with utmost pomp and splendor through grand processions, sacrifices, libations, performances, and lavish public festivities. That gala season was a trying time for the newly converted believers meeting in the school of Tyrannus, who were an inharmonious note in the festive chorus and faced freely heaped ridicule, reproach, and insult.
The work had given heathen worship a telling blow, causing a perceptible falling off in attendance at the national festival and in the enthusiasm of the worshipers. Its influence extended far beyond actual converts, as many who had not openly accepted the new doctrines became enlightened enough to lose all confidence in their heathen gods.
The wrathful cry was stirred up by Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen warning that the preaching and teaching threatened the shrine-making trade in silver shrines and the image-making business. The income of pagan priests and artisans was at stake, as well as the honor, worship, and temple of Diana, and they turned the people against Paul after his teaching turned people away from handmade gods. The angry and repeated shout in praise of Diana defended both idolatrous worship and economic interests and arose from religious superstition stirred by fear of economic loss. The furious response came from fear that the teaching would diminish Diana's worship and the city's pride in her temple, and the shout proclaiming her greatness expressed public devotion to the goddess and the civic interests bound up with her cult.
Those who angrily acclaimed Diana perished along with the goddess and her temple, and their religion was forgotten or came to seem like an idle tale. The temple and its worship were built on a false foundation and proved worthless when tested.
The outcry took place at Ephesus after more than three years with that city as the center of work that raised up a flourishing church and spread the gospel throughout the province of Asia among both Jews and Gentiles. It hastened departure at the time when the plan was to pass through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem and then to see Rome, with Timothy and Erastus sent on into Macedonia and with the decision to remain at Ephesus until after Pentecost.
The setting was a city where Diana was widely and popularly worshiped and her magnificent temple was a source of civic and national pride. The idol was traditionally said to have fallen from the sky, and its symbolic markings and inscriptions were believed to have power, while superstition surrounding her shaped the city. Books explaining the symbols attracted magicians who influenced the temple's superstitious worshipers.
The outcry occurred during the yearly festival season in her honor, a May month-long celebration that drew great crowds from all parts of the province and across Asia. It was conducted with utmost pomp and splendor through grand processions, sacrifices, libations, performances, and lavish public festivities. That gala season was a trying time for the newly converted believers meeting in the school of Tyrannus, who were an inharmonious note in the festive chorus and faced freely heaped ridicule, reproach, and insult.
The work had given heathen worship a telling blow, causing a perceptible falling off in attendance at the national festival and in the enthusiasm of the worshipers. Its influence extended far beyond actual converts, as many who had not openly accepted the new doctrines became enlightened enough to lose all confidence in their heathen gods.
The wrathful cry was stirred up by Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen warning that the preaching and teaching threatened the shrine-making trade in silver shrines and the image-making business. The income of pagan priests and artisans was at stake, as well as the honor, worship, and temple of Diana, and they turned the people against Paul after his teaching turned people away from handmade gods. The angry and repeated shout in praise of Diana defended both idolatrous worship and economic interests and arose from religious superstition stirred by fear of economic loss. The furious response came from fear that the teaching would diminish Diana's worship and the city's pride in her temple, and the shout proclaiming her greatness expressed public devotion to the goddess and the civic interests bound up with her cult.
Those who angrily acclaimed Diana perished along with the goddess and her temple, and their religion was forgotten or came to seem like an idle tale. The temple and its worship were built on a false foundation and proved worthless when tested.