Acts 17:6

When they found them not

(μη ευροντες). Usual negative μη with the participle in the Koine, second aorist (effective) active participle, complete failure with all the noise and "bums."They dragged

(εσυρον). Imperfect active, vivid picture, they were dragging (literally). See already Acts 8:3; Acts 16:19. If they could not find Paul, they could drag Jason his host and some other Christians whom we do not know.Before the rulers of the city

(επ τους πολιταρχας). This word does not occur in Greek literature and used to be cited as an example of Luke's blunders. But now it is found in an inscription on an arch in the modern city preserved in the British Museum. It is also found in seventeen inscriptions (five from Thessalonica) where the word or the verb πολιταρχεω occurs. It is a fine illustration of the historical accuracy of Luke in matters of detail. This title for city officers in Thessalonica, a free city, is correct. They were burgomasters or "rulers of the city."Crying

(βοωντες). Yelling as if the house was on fire like the mob in Jerusalem (Acts 21:28).These that have turned the world upside down

(ο την οικουμενην αναστατωσαντες). The use of οικουμενην (supply γεν or χωραν, the inhabited earth, present passive participle of οικεω) means the Roman Empire, since it is a political charge, a natural hyperbole in their excitement, but the phrase occurs for the Roman Empire in Luke 2:1. It is possible that news had come to Thessalonica of the expulsion of the Jews from Rome by Claudius. There is truth in the accusation, for Christianity is revolutionary, but on this particular occasion the uproar (verse Acts 17:5) was created by the rabbis and the hired loafers. The verb αναστατοω (here first aorist active participle) does not occur in the ancient writers, but is in LXX and in Acts 17:6; Acts 21:38; Galatians 5:12. It occurs also in Harpocration (A.D. 4th cent.) and about 100 B.C. εξαναστατοω is found in a fragment of papyrus (Tebtunis no. 2) and in a Paris Magical Papyrus l. 2243f. But in an Egyptian letter of Aug. 4, 41 A.D. (Oxyrhynchus Pap. no. 119, 10) "the bad boy" uses it = "he upsets me" or " he drives me out of my senses" (αναστατο με). See Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, pp. 84f. It is not a "Biblical word" at all, but belongs to the current Koine. It is a vigorous and graphic term.