Acts Chapter 19 verse 31 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 31. - Certain also for certain, A.V. (the more natural order would be, and certain of the chief officers of Asia also); chief officers for chief, A.V.; being for which were, A.V.; and besought him not to for desiring him that he would not, A.V. Chief Officers of Asia. The Greek word is Asiarchs (Ἀσιάρχαι). The Asiarchs, ten in number, were officers annually chosen from all the cities of Proconsular Asia, to preside over all sacred rites, and to provide at their own expense the pub-lie games in honor of the gods and of the deity of the emperor. This necessitated their being men of high rank and great wealth, and Schleusner adds that they were priests. The name Asiarch is formed like Luciarchai, Syriarchai, Phoenicharchai, etc. We have here another striking proof of the enormous influence of Paul's preaching in Asia, that some of these very officers who were chosen to preside over the sacred rites of the gods, and to advance their honor by public games, were now on Paul's side.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(31) And certain of the chiefs of Asia, which were his friends.--Better, Asiarchs. The title was an official one, applied to the presidents of the games, who were selected from the chief cities of the province. The office was an annual one. They were ten in number, and the proconsul nominated one of them as president. Their duties led them now to one city, now to another, according as games or festivals were held, now at Ephesus, now at Colophon, or Smyrna. As connected both with the theatre and with the worship of Artemis, they were probably officially informed of the occasion of the tumult. If, as seems probable from 1Corinthians 5:6-8, that Epistle was written at, or about, the time of the Passover, we may place the tumult at some period in the spring, when the people were keeping or expecting the great festival in honour of Artemis, in the month, named after the goddess, Artemision, spreading over parts of April and May (Boeckh. Corp. Inscript. Graec. 2954), and were therefore more than usually open to excited appeals like that of Demetrius. This would also account for the presence of the Asiarchs at Ephesus.There is something significant in the fact that the Asiarchs were St. Paul's friends. The manliness, tact, and courtesy which tempered his zeal and boldness, seem always to have gained for him the respect of men in authority: Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:7), Gallio (Acts 18:14-17), Festus and Agrippa (Acts 25:9; Acts 26:28; Acts 26:32), the centurion Julius (Acts 27:3; Acts 27:43). The Asiarchs, too, from different motives, took the same course as the disciples. They knew that his appearance would only excite the passions of the crowd, be perilous to himself, and increase the disturbance in the city. . . .