³²So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together. ³³Some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly. ³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

The cacophony was loud and confusing. The spontaneous ignition of this riot suggests a simmering discontent. Demetrius and his cohorts took advantage of the unrest, stoking it with the charge that Paul was preaching against their religion. Not everyone was aware of what the riot was all about; any reason, no matter how true or flimsy it may be, provides an incentive to provoke some groups into action. Some may have come out of idle interest, expecting to witness some thrilling action. In the ancient world, people did not have televised or online entertainment, so most people would have only heard about the war exploits of Roman armies—relatively few would have seen battle scenes. The popularity of the Colosseum in Rome testifies to the blood-thirst of the general populace that was entertained by staged acts of real killings of animals and captive humans. So, a riot naturally attracted people.

Somehow, the ringleaders centered in on Alexander, a Jew. In fact, the general crowd concluded he was the cause of the riot, having been encouraged by the general Jewish populace to speak to the crowd. We wish that we knew more about this Alexander. The name was quite common in the ancient world, even among the Jews. He is probably not Alexander the coppersmith, whom Paul says in 2 Tim. 4:14 “did [him] much harm.” It is unlikely that a person of lower status as a tradesman would be put forward by the Jews to quell the riot. This Alexander was a man capable of speaking convincingly to a large crowd.

Alexander’s concern, as the story unfolds, is not for defending the Christians as such, but to simply make a “defense.” It may be that the Jews as a whole still considered the Christians as fellow Jews, but the text is silent. No mention is made of Paul nor of his companions Gaius and Aristarchus. That Alexander was a Jew was obvious to crowd, though we don’t know the specifics of what identified him as such; his dress may have given him away.

Before Alexander could even begin, the sight of a Jew standing before them to address the crowd drove the non-Jews in the crowd to go berserk. They shouted him down for two hours with their popular mantra. This was no small riot.

Lord, “He who sits in the heavens, laughs, the Lord scoffs at them . . .” (Ps. 2:4)