But what happened to the slave-girl of Acts 16?

I found myself quite angry this morning as I read the story of Paul’s encounter with a demonised, fortune-telling slave-girl in Philippi (Acts 16:16-40). It’s the start of a longer narrative that focusses on the consequences of this action for the protagonists.

This girl was doubly possessed – both by a spirit of divination and by her slave master. As Paul was going about his work, she was being a nuisance, following him around and shouting disruptively. Paul ignored her for several days, but his patience finally ran out and, in a burst of temper, he commanded the spirit to leave her.

Yes, the girl was freed from the spirit, but this was not a compassionate deliverance from evil, it was more like swatting an irritating fly. At least with a lucrative talent she was guaranteed some degree of security – what would happen to her now? I don’t get the slightest impression that the slave girl was seen for the precious human being she was – only for the force that controlled her.

Her slave-owners certainly didn’t value her humanity either, for them she was a way to make money, and once her special talent was gone, she was practically worthless.

I feel that Paul bears some responsibility for what happened to her next. My hope is that she was welcomed into the Christian community, perhaps by Lydia the dealer in purple cloth we read about in the verses before, but from the few words about her in the text, my fear is that she was collateral damage of Paul’s adventures in Philippi. Paul paid for the incident with beatings and imprisonment, but his prison stay was short, and his story moved on.

For what it’s worth, slave-girl of Philippi, I see you!

But that’s an easy thing to say from the comfort of my own home, with two thousand years between us. I hope I can see you when I next meet you in one of your 21st century sisters.