Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 19]
our goddess} (\oute blasph•mountas t•n theon h•m•n\). Nor those
who blasphemed our goddess. That is to say, these men (Gaius and
Aristarchus) as Christians had so conducted themselves (Col
4:5) that no charge could be placed against them either in act
(temple-robbery) or word (blasphemy). They had done a rash thing
since these men are innocent. Paul had used tact in Ephesus as in
Athens in avoiding illegalities.
19:38 {Have a matter against any one} (\echousin pros tina
logon\). For this use of \ech• logon\ with \pros\ see Mt 5:32;
Col 3:13. The town-clerk names Demetrius and the craftsmen
(\technitai\) as the parties responsible for the riot. {The
courts are open} (\agoraioi agontai\). Supply \h•merai\ (days),
court days are kept, or \sunodoi\, court-meetings are now going
on, Vulgate _conventus forenses aguntur_. Old adjective from
\agora\ (forum) marketplace where trials were held. Cf. Ac
17:4. There were regular court days whether they were in session
then or not. {And there are proconsuls} (\kai anthupatoi eisin\).
Asia was a senatorial province and so had proconsuls (general
phrase) though only one at a time, "a rhetorical plural"
(Lightfoot). Page quotes from an inscription of the age of Trajan
on an aqueduct at Ephesus in which some of Luke's very words
occur (\ne•koros, anthupatos, grammateus, d•mos\). {Let them
accuse one another} (\egkaleit•san all•lois\). Present active
imperative of \egkale•\ (\en, kale•\), old verb to call in one's
case, to bring a charge against, with the dative. Luke uses the
verb six times in Acts for judicial proceedings (19:38,40;
23:28,29; 26:2,7). The town-clerk makes a definite appeal to the
mob for orderly legal procedure as opposed to mob violence in a
matter where money and religious prejudice unite, a striking
rebuke to so-called lynch-law proceedings in lands today where
Christianity is supposed to prevail.
19:39 {Anything about other matters} (\ti peraiter•\). Most MSS.
here have \ti peri heter•n\, but B b Vulgate read \ti peraiter•\
as in Plato's \Phaedo\. Several papyri examples of it also. It is
comparative \peraiteros\ of \pera\, beyond. Note also \epi\ in
\epiz•teite\. Charges of illegal conduct (Page) should be settled
in the regular legal way. But, if you wish to go further and pass
resolutions about the matter exciting you, "it shall be settled
in the regular assembly" (\en t•i ennom•i ekkl•si•i\). "In the
lawful assembly," not by a mob like this. Wood (_Ephesus_) quotes
an inscription there with this very phrase "at every lawful
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/AC19.RWP.html (19 of 21) [28/08/2004 09:07:12 a.m.]