Acts 19:35 - Exposition

Quieted the multitude ( τὸν ὄχλον ) for appeased the people, A.V.; saith for said, A.V.; who for that, A.V.; temple-keeper for a worshipper, A.V.; Diana for goddess Dann, A.V. and T.R. The town clerk (6 γραμματεὺς ); i.e. the scribe, is the city secre tary. ὁ γραμματεὺς τῆς πόλεως , Thucyd., 7.19 (Meyer); τοῦ γραμματέως τοῦ δήμου , inscription quoted by Howson. His office, as appears from the passage in Thucydides, was to read public documents to the people. According to some, it was not a post of much dignity at Athens (Becket, on Thucyd., 7.10); but according to Kuinoel it was an office of first-rate influence in the senate in the Greek cities of Asia, seeing the scribe was the chief registrar, had the drafting of the laws, and the custody of the archives. As there were three orders of scribes, there may have been a great difference in the political rank of each. Had quieted ( καταστείλας , and κατεσταλμένους , Acts 19:36 ). καταστέλλω means to "arrange," "put in order, " the hair, the dress, or the like; hence "to restrain," "quiet;" found only in these two places in the New Testament, but not uncommon in the Maccabees and in Josephus. In classical Greek, ὁ κατεσταλμένος is a man of calm, quiet demeanor, as opposed to ὁ τολμηρός , one who is bold and violent. In medical language, καταστέλλω is to soothe, calm, etc., and φάρμακα κατασταλτικά and ἀνασταλτικά are medicines which check the growth of diseases, ulcers, eruptions, and the like. Temple-keeper , in R.V. and margin of A.V. ( νωκόρος ) ; literally, temple-sweeper, from νεώς , a temple, and κορέω , to sweep. The word Neoceros was a peculiar title, assumed first by persons and then by such cities, in Asia especially, as had the special charge of the temple and sacred rites of any particular god. It first appears on coins of Ephesus, in the reign of Nero, and was deemed a title of great honor. One inscription speaks of ὁ νεωκόρος ( ἐφεσίων ) δῆμος as making a certain dedication. But another use of the term sprang up about this time. Among the vile flatteries of those corrupt times, it became usual with cities to dedicate temples and altars to the emperors, and they received in return the title, meant to be an honor, of νεωκόρος of the emperor. Some extant coins exhibit the city of Ephesus as νεωκόρος both of Diana and the emperor. The image which fell down from Jupiter , διοπετὲς λαβεῖν ἄγαλμα ; which is described in verse 88 of the same play as "the image ( ἄγαλμα ) of the goddess Diana, which they say fell down from heaven ( οὐρανοῦ πεσεῖν ἀπὸ ) into her temple in Tauris;" and in line 1349 it is called οὐρανοῦ πέσημα , τῆς διὸς κόρης ἄγαλμα , " The image of the daughter of Jove which fell from heaven," brought away from Tauris by Iphigenia and Orestes into Attica. But it does not appear that there was any tradition that the identical image brought from Tauris was carried to Ephesus. There are several representations of the Ephesian Diana, or Artemis, on coins, of which one or two are given by Lewin and by Howson. The image was of rude form and execution, mummy-shaped, or like an inverted pyramid; πολυμαστὴ (rendered by St. Jerome multi-mammia, and explained as intending to represent her as the nourisher of all living things: Preface to Ephesians); made of wood variously described as ebony, cedar, and vine wood. Pliny says that, though the temple itself had been restored seven times, the image had never been altered (quoted by Kuinoel).