The Town Clerk at Ephesus

GOLDEN TEXT: “To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”—Proverbs 21:3

RARE are the cases in literature when all sides of a subject are stated in a single sentence, or even in an entire treatise. This is true also of the Bible, hence the necessity for taking its entire testimony into account before reaching a decision on any point of truth. Our Golden Text is a good example of this need. If this text were all that the Bible said on the subject, we might well conclude that sacrifice in the service of God is not very important. Another text quite similar to this is the statement made by the Prophet Samuel to King Saul—“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.”—I Samuel 15:22

In neither of these texts, however, is the Lord minimizing the importance of sacrifice. It was by Jesus’ sacrifice that redemption was provided for the whole world of mankind; and there is no other way in which we can follow in his steps except by laying down our lives in sacrifice. Romans 12:1,2 makes it very clear that the good and acceptable and perfect will of God for us is that we present our bodies “a living sacrifice”—the church, in fact is developed under a covenant by sacrifice.—Psalm 50:5

The principle set forth by Samuel that to obey is better than sacrifice does not imply that if we do obey we will not need to sacrifice. Indeed, during this age perfect obedience leads to sacrifice. Nor does our Golden Text imply that if we practice justice and judgment we will not offer ourselves in sacrifice to God. These texts are simply telling us that sacrifice alone, apart from all other considerations, will not make us acceptable to God. We are first to be just, and to make sure that the sacrifice we offer is one that God will be pleased to accept.

ACTS 19:29-41—The lesson for today is designed to deal with the subject of temperance, and if we think of intemperance as a lack of self-control we certainly find a striking exhibition of it in the rabble that developed in Ephesus when the makers of images circulated the word that the preaching of the gospel by Paul and his companions would probably put them out of business if permitted to continue.

Nothing leads to a greater lack of self-control than religious prejudice, especially when one’s material interests are endangered by the views of the other fellow. The Ephesians as a whole perhaps would have been quite willing to tolerate the preaching of Paul and his companions. If some believed, the others saw no cause for anxiety. But when “Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana,” took the matter up and pointed out to the craftsmen who made and sold the images that their business was in danger, and upon the basis of this appealed to the people to rise up against those whom they alleged were attempting to destroy their business, the crowd was only too ready to follow their suggestion.

For about two hours the mob continued to shout, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” If Diana were as great as they believed her to be there was really no valid reason for them to shout about it for two hours; and it was this fact that the town clerk finally made obvious to the crowd. He shamed them by asking if they thought there was anyone in that territory who didn’t know how great Diana really was. He emphasized further that the worship of Diana was so firmly established that it could not be hindered. “Seeing then,” he said, “that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.”

This was very good counsel indeed, and should be a good lesson for all of us. The town clerk of Ephesus overemphasized the stability of the Ephesians’ habits of worship, but the power and greatness of our God cannot be overemphasized. It is our responsibility to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints, but we are not to resort to unjust or unfair means to “protect the Lord’s cause,” for he is abundantly able to do this. All we are to do is to proclaim the truth, be living examples of the power of righteousness in our own lives, and use every loving means possible to protect those whom the devil would deceive, and then leave the results with the Lord.

Unlike the crowd which cried out against Paul—some of them not even knowing what the excitement was about—the town clerk was self-possessed and wisely called their attention to the proper procedure to follow in dealing with any who might be doing injury to them. “The law is open,” he said, “and there are deputies: let them implead one another.” In smaller matters which did not need the services of deputies there were ordinary assemblies in which they could be heard, the town clerk explained; so under no circumstances was it necessary to resort to mob violence to protect either their religion or their business. This advice was good, and revealed a remarkable degree of self-control.

QUESTIONS:

Does the practice of justice preclude the privilege of sacrifice?

Why was the silversmith of Ephesus so prejudiced against Paul and the message which he preached?

What lessons on self-control can we draw from this study?

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