Sending Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia (19:21–22), Paul stays behind in Ephesus, where he witnesses a great disturbance caused by those who see Paul’s message as a challenge to the cult of Artemis (19:23–41). In this second event in Ephesus that Luke chooses to focus on, one again finds a challenge to “the Way” (19:23; see comments on 9:2). Through the mouth of Demetrius, a silversmith who produces silver shrines of Artemis, the ministry of Paul in Ephesus and throughout Asia is described as one that is focused on undermining idols and foreign gods (19:26). The first part of verse 27 can be literally translated as “the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as nothing” (NET), and this claim again can be compared to the anti-idol polemic of the Old Testament prophe…