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Acts 17:5–9
“The Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd” (v. 5).
Not everyone in Thessalonica was pleased with the conversion of some Jews and many gentiles to faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 17:1–4). Many of the Jews who did not convert, we read in today’s passage, were actually provoked to jealousy (v. 5). They could see people turning away from them unto Christ and did not like it at all.
These jealous Jews found some “wicked men” and formed a mob, causing an “uproar” in the city. They went to the house of Jason, seeking to bring Paul and Silas out to the crowd (v. 5). We do not know much about this Jason except that he was apparently Paul and Silas’ host while they were in the city. He could be the Jason whom Paul mentions in Romans 16:21, but this is uncertain because Jason was a very common name in those days.
Jason did not give up Paul and Silas to the mob, so the people seized Jason and some other Christians and dragged them before the leaders of the city. Acts 17:6–7 notes that the mob charged Jason with housing rebels against Caesar and his decrees, for the men whom he hosted were proclaiming another King, Jesus. This charge greatly distorted the message of the Apostles. Of course, they were proclaiming Jesus as the King, but they were not proclaiming Caesar’s lack of authority in the emperor’s proper God-given sphere. Paul taught explicitly that Christians should submit themselves to the lawful governmental authorities even while holding that Christ is King over all (see Rom. 13:1–7). The charges laid against Paul and Silas, then, were trumped-up, misleading charges. They were designed to get the representatives of the Roman government to act against the missionaries by appealing to the sensibilities of the authorities, who would care little about a religious dispute but would be very concerned about sedition. Years earlier, the Jewish leaders had made similar charges against Jesus Himself (see John 18:28–19:16).
Understandably, these false charges disturbed the leaders of Thessalonica, so they asked Jason to make sure that the trouble would cease. This is what Luke means when he writes that Jason gave a security. Jason gave some property or money as a pledge to be returned to him once he got Paul and Silas out of the city. For the peace of the city and the safety of Paul and Silas, the missionaries left the city (Acts 17:8–9). They left behind the infant Thessalonian church, to which Paul would later write two of his letters.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Sometimes the best choice when Christians are persecuted is to leave the area. It can take great wisdom to know when to stay and when to go when we are being attacked for our faith, but removing ourselves from the situation is not necessarily a sin. If God provides a way out that does not require us to deny our faith, we may take it.
For further study
- 1 Samuel 20
- Matthew 10:23
The bible in a year
- Psalms 50–52
- Acts 27:1–26
- Psalms 53–58
- Acts 27:27–28:10