Charles Ellicott 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 townclerk had appeased the people . . .—The Greek word is the same as the “scribe” of the Gospels, and the familiar English term expresses his function with sufficient accuracy. He was the keeper of the records and archives of the city. This title appears in many of the inscriptions in Mr. Wood’s volume, often in conjunction with those of the Asiarchs and the proconsul.

If, as is probable, his office was a permanent one, he was likely to have more weight with the people than the Asiarchs, who were elected only for a year and were not all from Ephesus. The language of the public officer is as characteristic in its grave caution as that of Demetrius had been in its brutal frankness. He, like the Asiarchs, obviously regards St. Paul and his companions with respect.

He has no feeling of fanaticism and would not willingly be a persecutor. He dares not oppose the multitude, but he will try to soothe them with the loud profession of his attachment to the religion of his country. He was, if we may so speak, the Gamaliel of Ephesus, not without parallels among the princes, statesmen, and prelates who have lived in the critical times of political and religious changes and have endeavored to hold the balance between contending parties.

A worshipper of the great goddess Diana.—The substantive, as well as the adjective, belonged to the local vocabulary. Its literal meaning is “temple sweeper” or “sacristan”—one consecrated to the service of the goddess. The Greek word (neôkoros) is found on coins and inscriptions of Ephesus as applied to the inhabitants, sometimes in relation to the Emperor, sometimes to the goddess.

They looked to her as their guardian and protector. One inscription claims for the city the honour of being the “nurse” of the great goddess (Boeckh. 2954, ut supra). She was, as it were, to borrow a phraseology that presents an all too painful analogy, “Our Lady of Ephesus.” It is a curious fact that the same month was consecrated to Flora in Rome and is now the “Mois de Marie” in France and Italy.

The omission of the word “goddess” in nearly all the best manuscripts is significant. She was, even without that word, emphatically “Artemis the Great.” In some of the inscriptions of Ephesus, she is described as “the greatest,” the “most High.”

The image which fell down from Jupiter.—This name was often given to old, prehistoric images—as, e.g., to that of Athenè Polias at Athens. It may have been merely a legendary way of stating that no one knew what artist had sculpted the image or when it was first worshipped. Possibly, however, the word may have had a more literal meaning, as applied to a meteoric stone that had been employed by the sculptor or was worshipped in its original form. The many-breasted image of Artemis described in the Note on Acts 19:24 is, however, reported to have been made of olive wood. The word image is not in the Greek, and one familiar word (diopetes) was sufficient to express what requires seven words in the English paraphrase.