Brought for drew, A.V. and T.R.; a defense for his defense, A.V. ( ἀπολογεῖσθαι). Alexander. Some think he is the same as "Alexander the coppersmith," of whose conduct St. Paul complains so bitterly (2 Timothy 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:15; 1 Timothy 1:20), and he may or may not be.
It seems likely that, as St. Paul's offence was speaking against the gods and their temples, the Jews, who were commonly accused of being atheists, and one of whose nation Paul was, came in for their share of the popular odium.
They were anxious, therefore, to excuse themselves before the people of having had any share in St. Paul's work, and put forward Alexander, no doubt a clever man and a good speaker, to make their defense.
But as soon as the people knew that he was a Jew, they refused to listen to him, and drowned his voice with incessant shouts of "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." Meyer, however, thinks he was a Christian, because of the word ἀπολογεῖσθαι.
The people ( δῆμος, as verse 30). It was a true ἐκκλησία, though an irregular one, and the people who formed it were the δῆμος, different from the ὄχλος, the mere crowd outside.