It took me about 13 minutes to read this passage. There are two unnamed people who had an impact of the travels of Paul through Greece. The first person was the possessed slave girl in Philippi (16:16). The demon led her to chase after Paul, wherever he went and taunt him. Those her predictions were accurate I doubt that her claims about Paul were complimentary. I picture the demon as being loud, obnoxious, and always interrupting Paul’s sermons; a spiritual heckler among those in the flesh. Whenever Paul gathered a group of listeners the girl was there too; spouting obscenities and accusations. When Paul cast out the demon I wonder what happened to this girl. She probably hadn’t done much work, and her worth was based on her ability to tell fortunes. Did her owners discard her. If she found herself free of the spirit and free of enslavement did she seek out Paul again; desiring to hear more about the God who set her free from her double entrapment? We don’t know, but I wonder.
I also wonder about the artisan in Athens who had carved the shrine to “An Unknown God”(Acts 17:23). How did God move that polytheist to create a shrine to a god with no name? Did his life reflect the disdain toward the Greek pantheon where the gods were in a continual struggle with each other, to preoccupied with their own demands to look with concern on the people struggling on earth. Had he heard about the God of Israel, with an unpronounceable name, who watched over His people day and night and delivered them in their time of need? Was she a woman who felt only emptiness in the temple of Zeus? How many years passed from the time the shrine was build and God led Paul to that point so that he would have a foothold to speak to the people of Athens? Once again, we don’t know. But it is an amazing example of the work of God providence.
Stuart
No comments:
Post a Comment