It is difficult for contemporary Christians to appreciate the pervasive slave culture of the Roman Empire. It has been noted 
by many historians that 1 out of every 3 people in the Roman Empire was a slave. In the cities, the ratio was even higher. 
Here the ratio could be as much as 10 slaves to every citizen. In Rome itself all bets are off. We don’t really have a good 
way to tell. I read one Roman historian who put the number at 20 to one. This explains the great fear that Rome had for slave 
uprisings. Spartacus ran rough shod over the Roman army battling his way successfully from one end of the Italian peninsula 
to the other then back down again. The only reason he lost was corruption in his own ranks and the perfidy of the 
Mediterranean pirates who were supposed to bring him to North Africa but left him instead in an indefensible situation on 
the coast line if Italy. With his back to the sea and no way of retreating, I think he just got tired and gave up.

Slavery was not only acceptable, it was expected. There were many levels of slavery. This class structure took many odd 
yurns. If you were a house slave you had an exalted position over a field slave.  The house slave could expect to purchase 
his freedom after many years of service to his owner. It is remarkable that many house slaves bought the freedom of their 
children but chose to remain with their owner. Slavery could find its way into all forms of government service as well. 
Owners would offer the services of educated slaves to the emperor in return for favors. When a country was conquered by the 
Roman army, anyone of importance was enslaved and wore the collar of the General of the conquering Roman battalion unless he 
chose to reward his officers. Women did not fare so well, as they were generally used and discarded. If a woman could show a 
gift of some kind it was a ticket to survival however. If there was some way she could make money for her owners, she had a 
good chance to stay alive. Because most women were kept uneducated and illiterate in the Roman tradition, survival was 
obviously not a common occurrence. However, the heroine in this story is one that found an unusual way to stay alive. She 
was a fortune teller. Now fortune tellers in the near east were not the gypsy palm readers that we see today. They were 
poets. They spouted rhyming gibberish which the marks could take almost anyway they wanted but on second glance could mean 
exactly the opposite.. But people felt that fortune favored the lucky and if they could get a fortunate prophesy from a 
“forth teller” then they had a better chance at what ever they were attempting. The forth tellers at many places had temples 
erected. Some of these were over vents in the grounds that had methane gas escaping form the earth. The area around this 
portion of the Mediterranean is volcanically active and it is common to find fissures in the earth where upwelling gases 
escape in to the surrounding atmosphere. These temples to Artemis, Zeus and Apollo were not only popular but mandatory trips 
for generals and ships captains and business men even athletes about to enter into a sporting contest to leave a token of 
some kind (preferably money) in order to purchase the favor of the Gods. Not being so fortunate as to have a temple at their 
disposal, these enterprising merchants found a young (and I bet pretty) young girl who could rhyme phrases of encouragement 
and good fortune for a few dollars.  This young lady had obviously found a niche market! 

Each town had what was called an agora. In the early days of the Roman world everyone would bring their produce to sell in 
the center of town. In Rome the center of town was an area where the Via Flaminius and the Via Sacra and the Via Mara all 
came together like the spokes of a wheel.  As a matter of fact you can go there today and see where Julius Caesar was killed 
and Roman forum actually held sway over the known world for almost a thousand years. It is amazing how small it is. The word 
agora became synonymous with marketplace. For convenience, the courts and certain government offices were normally situated 
in buildings or tables (depending on the wealth and size of the city) surrounding this agora. So, if someone felt that they 
had been wronged in a business deal they simply walked to the other side of the square and put in a complaint with the person 
who had been appointed by the town council or the local governing body (in Rome it was the Senate) who wore a brilliant red 
robe of flames. (Later this office would be purchased. This was how Julius Caesar began his public career) The Magister
would then, for a fee, make a decision. If the crowd thought that the decision was not a correct one, he could be stoned. 
They literally ripped the stones from the paving beneath their feet in order to disapprove of their judge! Needless to say 
for the most part, the judges could be bought and if they were smart they could word the judgment in such a way as to make 
it sound as a proper decision. Other wise they ended up a very poor  judge!

You should remember that Luke is writing this account and when he says “we came to Philippi in Macedonia” it does not limit 
the company to a threesome. It is probable that there were others with them as well. Philippi was the capitol of Macedonia 
named after the father of Alexander the Great. It is in north central Macedonia which is Northeast of Greece today.  It was 
at the time a major commercial center of a Roman magisterium. When a Roman would become wealthy enough he could purchase a 
magisterium for a period of years. He would then appoint tax gatherers (of whom Matthew seems to be one) What ever taxes he 
could extract from the people were his after he sent an appointed tribute to the Emperor. This was how many became 
unbelievably wealthy. The tax gatherers had quota that they were assigned to fill for their districts and whatever they 
could get left over was theirs. By the time the tax man had taken its toll on the general populace, most of the poor people 
were left with nothing but the shirts on their backs. If this was not bad enough, the taxes, if they didn’t find their way 
into private accounts, were spent on the citizens of Rome in the gladiatorial games and races which cost enormous sums to 
place before the citizenry. But, that was what the Roman populace expected and if they did not get that and their free 
bread 
they revolted and rioted in the streets. Nice work if you can get it! 

Paul, Silas, Luke and their friends were apparently on their way to the synagogue when they met this young slave girl.  She 
had immediately sensed that they were true prophets. She could no have understood their message but sensing their charisma, 
she started “forth telling” the importance of Paul and Silas. Now she didn’t do this once or even twice but seemed to follow 
them around the city as they were preaching demanding that everyone should know the importance of these people and the 
message of salvation that they were bringing. This must have been quite a distraction to Paul and the others. Paul seemed to 
understand that she was inhabited by a spirit of some kind. So he turned to her and spoke to the spirit.  From that time on 
she could no longer “see the future”. Her owners were furious. Their income was destroyed. I don’t know what to make of the 
possession part of the narrative. This is a subject which the New Testament covers on various occasions. 

They seized Paul and Silas and drug them to the Magister Flaminium and demanded reparations saying that Paul and Silas were 
creating havoc in the city and advocating unlawful customs. So Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten with rods. Now, in 
those days these rods weren’t tiny little things. They left giant whelps on someone’s back and could kill you if used often 
enough. It was a very serious flogging. They were thrown in jail in the innermost cell and fastened their feet to the stocks. 
These dungeons were little more than the central keep in the dungeon of the main government house. The basement was usually 
divided into cells by either stone walls or more likely wooden walls. Metal bars were usually too expensive. The innermost 
cell would have been the one least likely to escape from. The stocks were a torture device to keep the inmates not only 
secure but as uncomfortable as possible. Somehow, I can just see Paul and Silas praying and singing songs at midnight. I am 
sure that this jail was no different than any other and that it was as noisy at night as in the day. So Paul and Silas were 
doing what ever they could to keep their sanity about them. But the story says that the other prisoners were listening to 
them. I am sure that they must have had good voices. But here I would like to play for you an ancient Jewish hymn. The 
haunting melody is so far above what any of the other inmates would have heard from their own cultures I am sure that this 
would have made an impression. Now this song is not the one that they sang but it does date to about the 3rd century A.D. and 
I was so struck with the sophisticated counterpoint that I thought you might be impressed as well. Father Gene got on a kick 
of singing a this one hymn when we brought the gospel to be read. It is in the hymnal and is another good example of 
traditional Jewish hymns. Because they are so different, I am sure that the singing got the attention of those who could 
hear.       

Another pleasant Roman custom was that if a jailer lost a prisoner he would be executed. So rather than any one of a dozen 
long and agonizing deaths, when the dungeon collapsed about this jailer, he simply decided to make it as quick and painless 
as possible. Then something extraordinary happened. Instead of escaping into the night, Paul and Silas were still there with 
all the other prisoners who had been listening to them. They must have converted the whole dungeon full of criminals! The 
jailer immediately fed them and released them. He not only did that but he took them to his own home and attended to their 
wounds and asked that he and his whole family be baptized.  This was the action he wanted to be a part of. 

I wish a few TV evangelists would read this story a little more closely. There is a moral here that Madison Avenue can teach 
them. If you have a message to sell, an advertising executive can explain readily how too many signals give a mixed and 
confusing message. It is incumbent on the seller to keep the message short and sweet. You have to wait until the buyer comes 
to you before you can throw the double whammy at them. SO with that I will end my lesson!!