Acts 16:16 ¶ And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: 17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. 19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, 20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, 21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. 22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
James
2:19 Thou believest that there is one
God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
There were other times
when devils acknowledged who Christ was.
Matthew
8:29 And, behold, they cried out,
saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come
hither to torment us before the time?
Why did Paul cast out
this annoying spirit even though it declared who they were, that their God was
the most high, and that they showed the way of salvation? God does not
need or require the declarations of devils, for one. This woman was declaring
openly, loudly, and daily that these men were servants of the greatest God,
which would have been an offense to the idolatrous Graeco-Roman world. She was,
by her nuisance, making Paul and Silas a public disturbance by their very
presence.
And yet, by driving the
spirit from her, her usefulness to her employers was gone. Some sources claim
that people claiming special powers of divination and sorcery were common in
these days, with the charmers being under the control of people who made money
from them. In fact, religion was the biggest business in the Roman world. The
Romans thought of themselves as very religious, collectively pious, and that
their success in the world was due to their relationship to the gods. Like the
Hindus in India today they would have had no problem adding another cult to
their pantheon as long as that cult did not claim that their god was THE God.
Paul and Silas are
arrested and beaten without a trial to face their accusers which was Paul’s
right as a Roman citizen. This is swift injustice and what was perceived to be
their interference with the lawful business these people who ran the possessed
girl enjoyed, this disturbing the public peace turning what the girl declared
back on Paul and Silas was the reason.
But, of course, God had
another purpose for allowing this to happen in mind.
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