The Mountains Quake Before Him

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.
~Acts 16.26

City of Sparta destroyed by the earthquake of 464 B.C., book illustration from Hutchinson’s History of the Nations, published 1915. This earthquake was one of the most destructive in Antiquity. According to historians the town was destroyed from its foundations. More than 20 000 people were killed and only five houses were left intact. Young Spartans were exercising in the gymnasium when it collapsed. They were all killed.

I grew up in southern California. I remember several earthquakes, but none that were really serious.

In college in Tulsa, I experienced my first tornado warning. I was terrified, but those around me were playing cards and laughing in the Student Union Building underground. One guy asked where I was from. When he told him, he said, “Oh, but you have earthquakes.” Then he shuddered.

Things that are new to us are often much scarier. 

In Sold into Freedom, the highpoint is the earthquake that frees Paul and Silas from the jail in Philippi. Elantia doesn’t know what is happening when it hits.  In fact, she doesn’t even recognize the word when Lydia tells her what is happening. Ancient Britannia, like the modern UK and modern Oklahoma (until recently), rarely experienced earthquakes. 

The study of earthquakes is called seismology—from the Greek words seismos and logos. Seismos means “a shaking, a commotion; a tempest; an earthquake.”  Earthquakes were not uncommon In ancient Greece. They were thought to be caused by Poseidon, who would strike the ground with a trident when he was in a bad mood. One of Poseidon’s ‘nicknames’ is Earthshaker.

In 464 BC, a quake destroyed much of Sparta, a city-state of ancient Greece. This led to a revolt among the slave class, which eventually led to an increase in tension between Sparta and Athens. A treaty was canceled. One thing led to another, and the earthquake is considered one of the key events that led up to the First Peloponnesian War, which began in 460 BC. How about that? An earthquake caused a war! (Well, partly.)

Scholars such as Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch documented many earthquakes from the 6th through the 4th centuries B.C. One fascinating phenomenon that has been uncovered was the tendency to build cities, temples, and other sacred sites on or near fault lines. 

It wasn’t so much that they like to build temples on earthquakes sites, but rather that they favored those sites because of the resulting abundant springs and vents. Some of these fissures released a cocktail of carbon dioxide mixed with methane that led to “magical” trances. Hilltops and steep cliffs caused by the earth’s movements were sought as sites for fortifications.

Even after devastating quakes, the sacred sites weren’t moved. In 373 B.C., an earthquake destroyed the temple at Delphi, but it was simply rebuilt.

The Bible records a powerful earthquake in Philippi, in about 49 AD. There is debate about whether the quake shook only the prison, all of Philippi, or even beyond. Of course, there is no way to know since Scripture doesn’t tell us. In Freedom, the quake is noticeable all over Philippi, but felt much more strongly at the jail itself.

I don’t really care how it happened. Completely natural or totally miraculous, God used the earthquake not only to free Paul and Silas but to bring many to Himself. I find it amazing—if not a bit convicting—that the earth, the wind, and the waves all obey.

May we do the same.