⁹ Though some appreciated Paul’s words, others gnashed their teeth at him. Some of the Jews in Thessalonica were jealous of Paul’s success at winning over “a great multitude of the Greeks.” Those Jews, intent on making Jewish proselytes, had instructed the Greek Gentiles in the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures and looked upon those Greeks as belonging to them. Suddenly, though, it seemed that Paul was stealing these Greeks away, and right at the synagogue! The Jews were furious.

¹⁰ Luke tells us what happened next: “The Jews, getting jealous, gathered together some wicked men who were loitering at the marketplace and formed a mob and proceeded to throw the city into an uproar. They assaulted the house of Jason and were seeking to have Paul and Silas brought out to the mob.

(Acts 17:5-7)

How would this mob action affect Paul and his companions?

11. What charges were brought against Paul and his fellow Kingdom proclaimers, and what decree might the accusers have had in mind? (See footnote.)

¹¹ A mob is an ugly thing. It rushes with the fury of a swollen river​—violent and uncontrolled. This was the weapon that the Jews employed to try to rid themselves of Paul and Silas. Then, after the Jews had thrown the city “into an uproar,” they tried to convince the rulers that the charges were weighty.