The major threat to Christians within Thyatira may have been the trading guild. They incorporated pagan practices into their business dealings. Members of the guild were expected to participate.
No other city seems to have had so many guilds as Thyatira: coppersmiths, bronze workers, tanners, leather workers, dyers, workers in wool and linen, porters, bakers, and slave dealers.
Josephus tells us that Seleucus probably settled a colony of Jews in Thyatira early in his rule, knowing that a garrison of soldiers alone could not produce a viable community. This is substantiated by inscriptions indicating the many trade guilds in the city.
As this assembly made no effort to control the prophetess Jezebel, it was a cause of concern. The original Jezebel was a Phoenician Baal-worshipper and wife of Ahab, King of Israel. She left behind her a name for “obscene idol worship and monstrous sorceries” (II Kings 9:22).
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