Acts 16:16

‘And it came about that, as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain maid having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by the giving of oracles.’

We may assume here that some weeks had passed, with the ministry continuing by the riverside, and no doubt steadily growing. And then one week they were met by a woman possessed by a ‘divining spirit’, literally the ‘Python spirit’. The Python was a mythical serpent who was said to have guarded the Delphian oracle and to have been slain by Apollo, and the name had come to be used of those through whom the spirit of Apollo was supposed to speak. Such people generally spoke with the mouth closed, uttering words completely out of their control and were known as ‘ventriloquists’. This ‘gift’ resulted in her bringing much gain to her masters by her fortune-telling. She was one of many people who were seen as having contact with the gods and as being able to foresee the future.

No doubt she was fairly well known, and feared. Here was one who was a portal to the unseen world. Thus when she began to follow Paul and his companions about many would take notice. And they would know that these men whom she was following were Jews. Thus when she began to cry out they would probably interpret it in that light.

‘The giving of oracles.’ A word only here in the New Testament and referring to demonically inspired oracular utterances.