Raymond L. Cox<\/b><\/p>\n
[Raymond L. Cox, a frequent contributor to BIBLE AND SPADE, is pastor of the Salem, Oregon Foursquare Church. He has traveled extensively in Bible lands and has written over 1650 articles on biblical and archaeological subjects. In addition, he is the author of four books.]<\/i><\/p>\n
It is not easy to locate the exact sites where most biblical events unfolded. Of very few incidents can it be said, \u201cThis is exactly where it happened\u201d \u2014 competing shrines vie as the locality of historic occurrences. There are, for example, two areas called \u201cCalvary,\u201d two empty tombs, several Gethsemanes, and three Shepherds\u2019 Fields.<\/p>\n
Of course, the cities sprawl over the same sites in most cases. Old Jerusalem\u2019s layer cake of history offers strata which correspond with the times of David, Solomon, Jesus, and others. The Mount of Olives is definitely the Mount of Olives of Zechariah and the Gospels. The Sea of Galilee is the very lake on which Christ walked and where he stilled the storm. But where on that body of water those and other events occurred no one can say for sure.<\/p>\n
There are other sites that have the scholars\u2019 nod as being authentic. The shaft called Jacob\u2019s well near Nablus in Samaria is certainly the place where Jesus ministered to the woman of Sychar, as reported in John 4. The grotto of the nativity beneath Bethlehem\u2019s Church of the Nativity is very likely the birthplace of Christ.<\/p>\n
Of very few other sites, however, can it be said with assurance that they witnessed the incidents which tradition attaches to them. But present day Turkey boasts a structure which definitely was the place of an important biblical occurrence.<\/p>\n
The Theater at Ephesus<\/b><\/p>\n
This structure is the Hellenistic theater at Ephesus. I had the pleasure of visiting it in 1964 and again in 1973. When I first climbed to the top of the cavea (auditorium) and sat on the topmost bench, looking down upon the orchestra area in front of the stage building, I felt time-machined back to the period of the apostle Paul. It seemed as if momentarily the raucous crowd Acts 19 describes was thronging the theater, shouting at the top of their voices, \u201cGreat is Artemis of the Ephesians.\u201d (Diana, as translated in the KJV, is the Roman name for the Greek goddess Artemis.)<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 4:1 (Winter 1975) p. 11<\/p>\n
Why did the mob choose the theater for their riotous assembly?<\/p>\n
In ancient times theaters served not only for entertainment but also to host what the Greeks called the Ekklesia<\/i> of the community, the General Assembly of the town. The New Testament writers took that term ekklesia<\/i> and attached it to the body of believers in Jesus Christ. Translators render it \u201cchurch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Almost every town of significant size in New Testament times had a sizeable edifice which served as a town hall. Usually these structures included an indoor auditorium in the shape of a small theater, with a seating capacity of less than fifteen hundred. So for large gatherings other accommodations had to be found. Most major cities also boasted a semi-circular outdoor theater and a horse-shoe shaped stadium. But the theater proved more conducive to deliberations than the stadiums which were primarily for sporting events.<\/p>\n
Ephesus had both a theater and a stadium. They were carved into Mount Pion, almost side by side. On my most recent visit I found the stadium in a similar condition to that of the theater when first I saw it nine years earlier. Extensive restorations, however, have made the theater almost intact again. It seats now \u2014 as it did in Paul\u2019s time \u2014 about twenty-five thousand people.<\/p>\n
View from the theater, looking out toward the area where the harbor once was<\/i><\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 4:1 (Winter 1975) p. 12<\/p>\n
Perhaps Ephesus\u2019 theater was at about the same stage of construction that it now displays in restoration when the citizens rioted against Christianity, as recorded by Luke. Although construction of the edifice commenced before the birth of Christ, it was not finished until the time of Trajan (A.D. 98-117). So work remained in progress when Paul ministered in Ephesus for almost three years, beginning about A.D. 55.<\/p>\n
The Coming of the Gospel<\/b><\/p>\n
What an impressive sight this monumental landmark must have proved to voyagers arriving at Ephesus\u2019 harbor a short distance to the west, especially when crowded with citizens. It is now about six miles to the sea, but in New Testament times the harbor lay hardly a half-mile from the theater. Several hundred years earlier the waters lapped at the foot of the hill into which the theater was built. Silting by the river Cayster keeps pushing the shoreline farther west \u2014 the loss of her harbor is what doomed Ephesus as a great maritime city. From the upper parts of the theater you get a tremendous view of the area at the end of Arcadian Avenue where ships once docked. Now lush fields of grain flourish in the former harbor area.<\/p>\n
Paul and his company could hardly have missed sighting the theater when they first sailed into the harbor at Ephesus. The missionaries, of course, had no idea that the best known event in the history of that famous city would be a reaction against their evangelism and would come to a head in that very monument!<\/p>\n
Greek theaters, in contrast to their later Roman counterparts, had a curvature extending well beyond a semi-circle. The width of Ephesus\u2019 theater extends almost 500 feet, while the top row of the auditorium soars almost 100 feet above the orchestra area. The first time I saw this structure, hardly any of the stone seats were in place. The site struck me as a huge hollow gouged into a hill. Weeds were growing over much of it. Vague outlines in the hillside were the only reminders of masonry long ago looted for re-use in rude structures erected by nearby villagers and peasants.<\/p>\n
I felt more at home with the account in Acts then than I did on my last visit \u2014 the present structure looks much too modern. A great deal of new material has been pieced in to supplement the scanty vestiges that Austrian archaeologists were able to unearth. The modernization has been beneficial, however, for it is now possible to use the theater again. Occasional performances of ancient classics attract capacity audiences from miles around. But nothing has <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 4:1 (Winter 1975) p. 13<\/p>\n
Many-breasted Artemis of the Ephesians<\/i><\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n
happened comparable to the historic drama which unfolded here at the end of Paul\u2019s three year ministry in Ephesus.<\/p>\n
The Impact of the Gospel<\/b><\/p>\n
We know the name of the agitator who sparked the commotion. Demetrius may well have been the leader of the local guild of silversmiths, whose main employment apparently was the crafting of silver shrines for Artemis. These sold well as souvenirs or votive offerings to the hordes of travellers who flocked to the city. They came to visit the famed Temple of Artemis of the Ephesians, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and one of the most popular monuments of antiquity.<\/p>\n
The coming of Christianity threatened the silversmiths\u2019 business. As believers multiplied, sales fell off. The gospel hit Demetrius where <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 4:1 (Winter 1975) p. 14<\/p>\n
it hurt most \u2014 in the pocketbook! But were there enough converts to Christianity in the Ephesus area to damage Demetrius\u2019 business?<\/p>\n
This city and the surrounding Roman province called Asia were proving among the most hospitable areas to the gospel in all the empire. The apostle and his converts literally saturated the city and its surroundings with their witnessing. Peter and the Jerusalem believers managed to fill the whole city with the gospel, but Paul and his Ephesians filled a whole province. \u201cAll they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks\u201d (Acts 19:10), and that in a two year span. No wonder Demetrius reeled under the sales slump caused by such aggressive evangelism!<\/p>\n
To stem the tide of this dynamic new faith, Demetrius rallied his fellow craftsmen. He worked them up to such a fever pitch that they were full of anger and they went about shouting, \u201cGreat is Artemis of the Ephesians.\u201d So great was the uproar that the whole city was filled with confusion! Then, when two of the missionaries, Gaius and Aristarchus, were caught, the townspeople \u201crushed with one accord into the theater\u201d (Acts 19:29). There, they kept up their chant to Artemis for two solid hours. It took the intervention of civic officials to quell the demonstration. The town-clerk warned the people that they were in danger of being called in question by the Roman authorities for the uproar. He defended Paul and his party, reminding the mob that they were \u201cneither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess\u201d (Acts 19:37). By churches he meant ekklesias<\/i> in the then accepted Greek sense of the body politic, not in the subsequently predominant Christian sense of congregations of believers.<\/p>\n
Often overlooked is the statement that Paul was not a blasphemer of Artemis. He did not attack the goddess. He did not need to. The positive witness which won pagans to Jesus Christ automatically divorced them from Artemis without the apostle\u2019s assault against the idolatry.<\/p>\n
What happened at Ephesus that day represents the high water mark of Paul\u2019s freedom to minister Christ in the Roman Empire. At Corinth, and now at Ephesus especially, civic officials had refused to interfere with his liberty. For a season the gospel enjoyed unrestrained opportunity. Apparently Christians made the most of it, for within a few years churches thrived in at least nine other cities in the province, and probably in many more.<\/p>\n
This is the type of evangelism we need today!<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 4:1 (Winter 1975) p. 15<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Raymond L. Cox [Raymond L. Cox, a frequent contributor to BIBLE AND SPADE, is pastor of the Salem, Oregon Foursquare Church. He has traveled extensively in Bible lands and has written over 1650 articles on biblical and archaeological subjects. In addition, he is the author of four books.] It is not easy to locate the … Continue reading “A
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