Acts 19:24

For a certain man, named Demetrius, a silversmith,.... Who worked in silver, not in coining silver money, but in making silver vessels, in melting silver, and casting it into moulds, and forming it

For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver

These shrines were only, either; 1. Portraits of the temple of Diana, in which was graven, or by any other art represented, that famous structure, which was afterwards burnt by Erostratus: or: 2. they were medals in which their idol Diana was expressed according to her image, spoken of, . And they are called here, temples, or shrines, because they did resemble and represent that shrine or temple. And these the superstitious people carried home to their houses and friends; not only to evidence what a pilgrimage they had performed, but to incite the more their devotions towards this idol.

24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; Ver. 24. Which made silver shrines] Gr. temples, Templa portatilia, small portable temples, resembling that greater temple of Diana; as now the Agnus Dei (lamb of God) among the Papists. (Beza.) Some say they were little houses or caskets to put the idols in. (Casaubon.) Others, small coins stamped with the image of that famous temple. (Piscator.) Idolatrous trinkets they were, such as brought no small gain to the craftsmen, to whom gain was godliness.

(24) Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana.—The worship of Artemis (to give the Greek name of the goddess whom the Romans identified with their Diana) had from a very early period been connected with the city of Ephesus. The first temple owed much of its magnificence to Croesus. This was burnt down, in B.C. 335, by Herostratus, who was impelled by an insane desire thus to secure an immortality of renown. Under Alexander the Great, it was rebuilt with more stateliness than ever, and was looked upon as one of the seven wonders of the world. Its porticos were adorned with paintings and sculptures by the great masters of Greek art, Phidias and Polycletus, Calliphron and Apelles. It had an establishment of priests, attendants, and boys, which reminds us of the organisation of a great cathedral or abbey in Mediaeval Europe. Provision was made for the education of the children employed in the temple services, and retiring pensions given to priests and priestesses (reminding us, in the latter instance, of the rule of 1 Timothy 5:9, which it may indeed have suggested) after the age of sixty. Among the former were one class known as Theologi, interpreters of the mysteries of the goddess; a name which apparently suggested the application of that title (the Divine, the Theologus) to St. John in his character as an apocalyptic seer, as seen in the superscription of the Revelation. Large gifts and bequests were made for the maintenance of its fabric and ritual, and the city conferred its highest honours upon those who thus enrolled themselves among its illustrious benefactors. Pilgrims came from all parts of the world to worship or to gaze, and carried away with them memorials in silver or bronze, generally models of the sacellum, or sanctuary, in which the image of the goddess stood, and of the image itself. That image, however, was very unlike the sculptured beauty with which Greek and Roman art loved to represent the form of Artemis, and would seem to have been the survival of an older cultus of the powers of nature, like the Phrygian worship of Cybele, modified and renamed by the Greek settlers who took the place of the original inhabitants. A four-fold many-breasted female figure, ending, below the breasts, in a square column, with mysterious symbolic ornamentation, in which bees, and ears of corn, and flowers were strangely mingled, carved in wood, black with age, and with no form or beauty, this was the centre of the adoration of that never-ceasing stream of worshippers. As we look to the more elaborate reproductions of that type in marble, of which one may be seen in the Vatican Museum, we seem to be gazing on a Hindoo idol rather than on a Greek statue. Its ugliness was, perhaps, the secret of its power. When art clothes idolatry with beauty, man feels at liberty to criticise the artist and his work, and the feeling of reverence becomes gradually weaker.

Verse 24. Silver shrines for Diana] It is generally known that the temple of Diana at Ephesus was deemed one of the seven wonders of the world, and was a most superb building. It appears that the silver shrines mentioned here were small portable representations of this temple, which were bought by strangers as matters of curiosity, and probably of devotion. If we can suppose them to have been exact models of this famous temple, representing the whole exterior of its magnificent workmanship, which is possible, they would be held in high estimation, and probably become a sort of substitute for the temple itself, to worshippers of this goddess who lived in distant parts of Greece. The temple of Diana was raised at the expense of all Asia Minor, and yet was two hundred and twenty years in building, before it was brought to its sum of perfection. It was in length 425 feet, by 220 in breadth; and was beautified by 127 columns, which were made at the expense of so many kings; and was adorned with the most beautiful statues. To procure himself an everlasting fame, Erostratus burned it to the ground the same night on which Alexander the Great was born. It is reported that Alexander offered to make it as magnificent as it was before, provided he might put his name on the front; but this was refused. It was afterwards rebuilt and adorned, but Nero plundered it of all its riches. This grand building remains almost entire to the present day, and is now turned into a Turkish mosque. See an account of it in Montfaucon, Antiq. Expliq. vol. ii., with a beautiful drawing on plate vi., No. 20. See also Stuart's Athens. There were also pieces of silver struck with a representation of the temple of Minerva on one side: many coins occur in the reigns of the first Roman emperors, where temples, with idols in the porch, appear on the reverse; and several may be seen in Muselius, in the reigns of Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, c. A beautiful representation of the temple of Diana at Ephesus may be seen on a medal engraved by Montfaucon, in his Antiq. Expliq. Suppl. vol. ii. plate 33. It has eight Doric columns in front, which Pliny says were sixty feet in length. In the entrance, the figure of Diana is represented with a sort of tower upon her head her arms are supported by two staves; at her feet are represented two stags with their backs towards each other. The sun is represented on the right side of her head, and the moon as a crescent on the left. On each side and at the bottom of this temple are the words, πρωτωνΑσιαςΕφεσιων. Some think that the medals here referred to are the same that are meant by the silver shrines made by Demetrius and his craftsmen. See Clarke on Acts 19:27. Brought no small gain] There were many made, many sold, and probably at considerable prices.

24. For a certain man … shrines for Diana] Better, shrines of Diana. These appear to have been little models in silver either of the temple or of the shrine in which the image was preserved. We may be quite sure that the ingenuity of Greek artists devised forms enough and sizes enough to suit all needs. Smaller specimens might be carried about and worn as ornaments and amulets at the same time; the larger could be kept in the houses of their possessors, and would be a sign of wealth as well as of devotion.The Greek name rendered Diana is Artemis, but this Ephesian Artemis was totally distinct from Artemis the Greek goddess, the sister of Apollo. It is believed that the Ephesian worship was originally Asiatic, and that when the Greeks sent colonies to Asia Minor they found it already established there, and from some resemblance which they discovered in the worship they gave the Asian divinity the name of Artemis. The Ephesian Artemis was the personification of the fruitful and nurturing powers of nature, and so the image in the temple represented her with many breasts. Her whole figure is said to have been like a mummy, standing upright and tapering downwards to a point. Her crown and girdle and the pedestal on which the figure stood had engraved signs or letters, and the body was covered with figures of mystical animals. All these things would furnish abundant variety for the craft of the silversmiths.brought no small gain unto the craftsmen] The Rev. Ver. renders “no little business.” The word no doubt means primarily “employment” by which a living is made. But we have it used twice in chap. Acts 16:16; Acts 16:19 of the “gain” made by the Philippian masters from the ravings of the girl who was possessed. And here too “gain” seems the better sense. It was because their gains were going that the uproar was made, and probably Demetrius himself, the most fierce of all the rioters, did none of the work, but through employing many workmen had a large share of the gains. He calls the gain a business or craft (the same word) in Acts 19:25, that being, as has been said, the first sense of the word, but there is no need to cast aside the other sense of the word here.

A silversmith - The word used here denotes “one who works in silver” in any way, either in making money, in stamping silver, or in forming utensils from it.

24. Shrines—The shrines were portable images or models of the temple of Artemis, or rather of the central chapel enclosed by the temple, and in which the image of the goddess was encased.