Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 19:35

"And when the townclerk had quieted the multitude, he saith, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there who knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Diana, and of the [image] which fell down from Jupiter?" — Acts 19:35 (ASV)

And when the town-clerk. o grammateuv. The scribe; the secretary. The word is often used in the New Testament and is commonly translated scribe. It is applied to public notaries in the synagogues, to clerks, and to those who transcribed books, and thus to men skilled in the law or any kind of learning. Compare 2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Kings 12:11; Ezra 7:6, 11, 12; Matthew 5:20; 12:38; 13:52; 15:1; 23:34.

1 Corinthians 1:20. It is, however, nowhere else applied to a heathen magistrate. It probably denoted a recorder, a transcriber of the laws, or a chancellor.—Kuinoel; Doddridge. This officer had a seat in their deliberative assemblies, and it seems to have fallen to him to keep the peace. The Syriac: "Prince of the city." The Vulgate and Arabic: "Scribe."

Had appeased the people. katasteilav. Having restrained, quieted, or tranquillized them, so as to be able to address them.

What man is there. Who is there that can deny this? It is universally known and admitted. This is the language of strong confidence, of reproof, and of indignation. It implied that the worship of Diana was so well established that there was no danger it could be destroyed by a few Jews, and he therefore reproved them for what he deemed their unreasonable alarms. But he little knew the power of that religion which had been the innocent cause of all this tumult, nor did he know that, at no very distant period, this then-despised religion would overturn not only the worship of Diana at Ephesus but also the splendid idolatry of the mighty Roman empire.

Is a worshipper. newkoron. Margin: Temple-keeper. The word used here does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It is derived from newv (for naov), a temple, and korew, to sweep or to cleanse. But among the ancients, the office of keeping their temples was by no means as humble as that of a sexton is with us.

It was esteemed an office of honour and dignity to have charge of the temples of the gods and to keep them in order. The name was also given to the cities that were regarded as the peculiar patrons or worshippers of certain gods and goddesses. They esteemed it an honour to be regarded as the peculiar keepers of their temples and images, and as having adopted them as their tutelary divinities. Such was Ephesus in regard to Diana. It was esteemed a high honour that the city was known and everywhere regarded as being entrusted with the worship of Diana, or with keeping the temple regarded by the whole world as peculiarly her own. See Schleusner on this word.

And of the image. A special guardian of the image, or statue, of Diana.

Which fell down, etc. This refers to what was feigned or believed to have been sent down from heaven. What this image was made of is not known. Pliny says (Hist. Nat. xvi. 79) that it was made of a vine. Mucian (commenting on Pliny) says that the image was never changed, though the temple had been rebuilt seven times.

It is probable that the image was so ancient that its maker was unknown, and it was therefore feigned to have fallen from heaven. It was in the interest of the priests to keep up this impression. Many cities pretended to have been favoured in a similar manner with images or statues of the gods, sent directly from heaven.

The safety of Troy was supposed to depend on the Palladium, or image of Pallas Minerva, which was believed to have fallen from heaven. Numa pretended that the ancilia, or sacred shields, had descended from heaven. Thus Herodian expressly affirms that "the Phoenicians had no statue of the sun polished by hand, but only a certain large stone, circular below, and terminated acutely above in the figure of a cone, of a black colour, and that they believe it to have fallen from heaven." It has been supposed that this image at Ephesus was merely a conical or pyramidal stone that fell from the clouds—a meteorite—and that it was regarded with superstitious reverence as having been sent from heaven. See the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, article Meteorites.

From Jupiter. See Barnes on Acts 14:12.