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•DEMETRIUS (1.) A silversmith at Ephesus, whose chief occupation was to make “silver shrines for Diana” (q.v.), Acts 19:24,i.e., models either of the temple of Diana or of the statue of the goddess. This trade brought to him and his fellow-craftsmen “no small gain,” for these shrines found a ready sale among the countless thousands who came to this temple from all parts of Asia Minor. This traffic was greatly endangered by the progress of the gospel, and hence Demetrius excited the tradesmen employed in the manufacture of these shrines, and caused so great a tumult that “the whole city was filled with confusion.”
(2.) A Christian who is spoken of as having “a good report of all men, and of the truth itself” (3 John 1:12).
•DEMON See DAEMON.
•DEN a lair of wild beasts (Psalm 10:9; 104:22; Job 37:8); the hole of a venomous reptile (Isaiah 11:8); a recess for secrecy “in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:38); a resort of thieves (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17). Daniel was cast into “the den of lions” (Daniel 6:16, 17). Some recent discoveries among the ruins of Babylon have brought to light the fact that the practice of punishing offenders against the law by throwing them into a den of lions was common.
•DEPUTY in 1 Kings 22:47, means a prefect; one set over others. The same Hebrew word is rendered “officer;” i.e., chief of the commissariat appointed by Solomon (1 Kings 4:5, etc.).
In Esther 8:9; 9:3 (R.V., “governor”) it denotes a Persian prefect “on this side” i.e., in the region west of the Euphrates. It is the modern word pasha.