Acts 19:29

συγχύσεως : the noun only here in N.T. (συγχέω : only in Luke, see above p. 238), in LXX, Genesis 11:9; 1 Samuel 5:11; 1 Samuel 14:20, used in classical Greek in the sense of confusion, disturbance; τε, the immediate result was that they rushed (Weiss), ὁμοθυμαδὸν, see above Acts 1:14, “with one accord,” uno animo, Vulgate (not simul). τὸ θέατρον : no doubt the great theatre explored by Mr. Wood, Ephesus, pp. 73, 74, App. vi.; Lightfoot, Contemp. Rev., xxxii., p. 293; the theatre was the usual place for public assemblies in most towns, cf. Jos., B. J., vii. 3, 3; Tac., Hist., ii., 80; Blass, in loco, and Wetstein, and also Pseudo-Heraclitus, Letter vii., 47, condemning the Ephesians for submitting grave and weighty matters to the decision of the mobs in the theatre, Die Heraklitischen Briefe, p. 65; Gore, Ephesians, p. 255. The theatre was capable of holding, it is calculated, 24,500 people, its diameter was 495 feet, and it was probably the largest in the world (Renan). Wetstein remarks that the position of the places tended in no small degree to increase and foment the tumult, since the temple was in full view of the theatre. συναρπάσαντες, cf. Acts 6:12, i.e., being carried off with them in their rush; we are told whether they met Gaius and Aristarchus by chance, and seized them as well-known companions of Paul, συνεκδήμους, or whether they searched for them in their lodgings, and seized them when they could not find the Apostle. Ἀρίσταρχον : a native of Thessalonica, cf. Acts 20:4; he accompanied Paul on his last journey to Jerusalem, and hence to Rome, Acts 27:2. It is possible, as Lightfoot thinks, that the words “Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us” in the latter passage intimate that Aristarchus accompanied Luke and Paul on the former part of this route because he was on his way home, and that leaving Paul at Myra he may have returned to Thessalonica, Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 35. But however this may be, it is evident from Colossians 4:10, Philem., Acts 19:24, that he was with the Apostle at Rome, probably sharing his captivity. ὁ συναιχμάλωτός μου, Col., u. s., can hardly refer to this incident at Ephesus, Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 11, “Aristarchus,” B.D. 2, or to a captivity in a spiritual sense, as bound and captive to Christ together with Paul; see also Salmon, Introd., p. 383. Μακεδόνας : nothing was more natural than that devoted Christians from Thessalonica should be among St. Paul's companions in travel when we consider his special affection for the Thessalonian Church. With this reading the Gaius here is of course to be distinguished from the Gaius of Acts 20:4, of Derbe, and from the Gaius of Romans 16:23; 1 Corinthians 1:14, a Corinthian. But if we could read Μακεδόνα, Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 280, the Gaius here may be identified with the Gaius of Acts 20:4. In Acts 20:4 Blass connects Δερβαῖος with Timothy, making Gaius a Thessalonian with Aristarchus, Secundus, see in loco; but against this we must place the positive statement of Acts 16:1, that Timothy was a Lystran. συνεκδήμους : used only by Luke and Paul, 2 Corinthians 8:19, not in LXX, but in Plut. and Josephus. The word may look forward to Acts 20:4 (so Ramsay, u. s.), or we may take it with Blass as referring to the part which the two men played as representatives of the Thessalonians, who were carrying with St. Paul the contribution to the Church at Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 9:4). These two men, as Weiss points out, may be our informants for some of the details which follow.