19:23-27
We have seen that the gospel had a great effect, with the burning of many scrolls. However, this would eventually produce a backlash, for people were losing money! We need to recognise that there are many people who make money out of evil. So a “disturbance” arises. Demetrius made silver shrines for Artemis, and so made money out of this. However, now that people were turning away from the false gods, he was losing trade. And it wasn’t just one man who was losing money, So he called together the craftsmen and other workers in related trades and got them to organise against Paul. The real cause of their grievance was that they were losing money, but he also sought to add a veneer of virtue to their cause by saying the “great temple of Artemis” would be discredited. She (for this was a female god, Diana was the Roman equivalent) would “be robbed of her majesty”. This “great” god was utterly dependent on man for her existence. Luke is mocking the false god here.
19:28,29
The people were whipped up into a frenzy, offended that their “great” god Artemis was being insulted. We see a similar phenomena when some Muslims are whipped up into a frenzy when Mohammed is supposedly insulted. We need to be aware of the deep hold that idols and false gods can have on people. So the crowds shouted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians”. So the whole city was in uproar.
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