Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SCEVA

(Gk. Skeuás)

A Jewish chief priest (Gk. archiereús) whose seven sons attempt to exorcise demons in Ephesus through the name of “Jesus whom Paul proclaims” (Acts 19:14). They meet with disastrous results, as an evil spirit ridicules their misappropriation of Paul’s authority and violently assaults them (Acts 19:11-16).

Nothing is known outside of Acts concerning a Jewish high priest with the Latin name of Sceva (Scaeva). Historically, this suggests that Sceva either had some broader priestly connection (the Western text calls him “a certain priest”) or, more likely, that he masqueraded as the high priest to boost his reputation as a powerful broker of holy names.

Within the Acts narrative, the superiority of Paul’s miraculous ministry over the pretentious schemes of Jewish exorcists and other practitioners of magic (Acts 19:17-20) recalls Paul’s earlier defeat of the diabolical Jewish mágos and false prophet Bar-Jesus (13:6-12). Also, humiliating a putative high priest and his sons in Ephesus fits a pattern of exposing the futile opposition of the high priest family in Jerusalem to the expanding Christian mission (Acts 4:1-22; 5:17-42; 22:30–23:11).

Bibliography. S. R. Garrett, The Demise of the Devil: Magic and the Demonic in Luke’s Writings (Minneapolis, 1989), ch. 5.

F. Scott Spencer

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SCEVA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)