An Outline Of Acts 16:16-24

Trouble for the Team in Philippi

Introduction: After Lydia and presumably others believed the Gospel, Paul, Silas, Luke, and other members of this team stayed in Philippi to preach and teach. The Church in Philippi grew from this small group (see Paul’s letter to the Philippians) to a great congregation

But things were about to take a much different turn for the team. It started from one simple act

Text, Acts 16:16-24, KJV: 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.

Thoughts:

1 A young woman was delivered and made free

--Luke states “we went to prayer” but doesn’t say where or when. They may have gone back to the river side, where they had met Lydia and some other women previously. Other passages in Acts mention “the hour of prayer” which was about 3 pm (Acts 3:1, KJV, e.g.).

--Luke also adds they met “a certain damsel (young woman) who was possessed with a spirit of divination”. To be possessed with an evil spirit was bad enough but even worse was that she was apparently a slave-girl, As such, she brought a lot of money to her masters by “soothsaying” (note the plural—there was more than one “master”).

--“Soothsaying” is another word for prophesying or predicting the future. Some people claim to predict future events even today (few, if any, of these prophecies ever come true, though).

--The damsel kept on crying out a message that on the surface sounded real but wasn’t. Several commentators observed the damsel had a “spirit of Python”, a serpent killed by the infant god Apollo according to Greek mythology. Opinions vary as to how much control the damsel had over her own bodily functions, speech, etc. Compare her state with that of others whom Jesus had met before He had cast out a demon (or more than one).

--She had followed Paul and the others for “many days”, repeating her message (such as it was). Paul eventually had enough of this and cast out the demon. The demon left “that same hour”, or, as Dr. A. T. Robertson observed in his commentary, “immediately,” per this link:

(https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/rwp/acts-16.html ).

--No doubt Paul and the others, if not the damsel herself, were all very happy. Some were not. And they were going to cause Paul and Silas, at least, a great deal of grief.

2 Paul and Silas were delivered and made captive

Thoughts:

--Needless to say, the masters (owners) of the slave-girl (damsel) were not happy when she could no longer make a lot of money because of her “gift” of prophecy. They decided to take some action against Paul, Silas, and the others.

--Luke states the owners “caught Paul and Silas” then took them before the rulers, then the magistrates. Philippi was a Roman colony and these rulers were in the Forum (so several commentators). The owners made up a charge against them, saying Paul and the others “trouble our city (one wonders how?)”

--Another, perhaps more sinister charge was that the owners said “we’re Romans, but they’re Jews, and they’re teaching things that we think are illegal (paraphrased)”.

--Without a trial or examination of any possible facts, the rulers (“magistrates”) had Paul and Silas stripped of their clothes and then beaten with rods (implied). After receiving “many stripes”, Paul and Silas were placed in prison.

--As if this wasn’t bad enough, they were taken to “the inner prison” and had their feet placed in stocks. A similar thing had happened to the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 20:2-3) after he delivered a message from the LORD which, of course, the other people didn’t like.