Paul is still in Philippi, where the letter to the Philippian church will be sent. Was Lydia the one to receive that letter? That letter will be written in jail. Paul’s about to get his first taste of going to jail.
Paul and his companions are on the way to the place of prayer and they meet a girl who did fortune telling by spirits. I came across that when we lived in North Macedonia. The woman I met wanted to do fortune telling to a new convert. I told her to be silent and she obeyed the command given in the authority of Jesus.
Paul doesn’t do anything at first. The woman is calling out that they serve the Most High God and proclaim the way of salvation.
That sounds like a good thing, but it wasn’t. It was of the devil. She wouldn’t shut up. Paul finally does it for her out of annoyance. I want to point out a couple of things. He, as one bearing the name of Jesus, had the authority to drive away that demon. But for a while he doesn’t. He knows there’s a demon. He doesn’t do anything about it. Jesus teaches that you can do more harm than good by casting out a demon.
When Paul finally does something about it, he does it because he’s annoyed. That’s likely not a good reason. It causes all sorts of trouble. Paul and Silas are beaten with rods and thrown into jail.
Paul and Silas weren’t sleeping as Peter had been. They were singing and praying as a witness to the other prisoners. God joins their witness and sends an earthquake. Everyone is freed, not just Paul and Silas.
The jailer hadn’t been listening; he had been asleep. He didn’t know what was going on. He saw the doors open and was going to kill himself rather than face execution for letting the prisoners escape.
But no one escaped. The others didn’t run out. They all stayed with Paul and Silas. They had joined their hearts to them, it would seem, as they prayed and sang.
The jailor knew something because his response is “What must I do to be saved?”
And for the second time in the chapter, we have a household baptism. Believe God will save your family.