Acts 20:13-16

CRITICAL REMARKS

Acts 20:13. To go afoot.—Or, by land. “A paved road extended from Troas to Assos; so that starting even as late as seven or eight A.M. Paul could have reached Assos, twenty miles distant, in the afternoon” (Hackett).

Acts 20:14. And when he met with us. Ramsay thinks the imperfect συνέβαλλεν (was meeting) may imply that Paul did not actually enter Assos, but was descried and taken in by boat, as he was nearing the city. Mitylene.—On the east coast of Lesbos, of which island it was the capital.

Acts 20:15. Having tarried at Trogyllium is omitted in the R.V. after the best MSS., but is supported by many ancient authorities.

Acts 20:16. For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus. Alford thinks these words show that Paul had hired the ship at Philippi for the voyage to Patara. Ramsay thinks that had the ship been under Paul’s command he would have stopped at Ephesus instead of sending for the elders to Miletus. Because he would not spend the time in Asia. Lit., that it might not come to pass that he spent time in Asia, i.e., in Ephesus. The next clause supplies the reason.

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Acts 20:13

Sailing past Ephesus; or, bound for Jerusalem

I. From Troas to Assos.—

1. When Paul and his companions left Troas. Obviously after the assembly spoken of in the preceding paragraph had broken up, on the morning of the tenth day of April, a Monday. Possibly Paul’s companions may have departed before the conclusion of the service, since they are said to have preceded him. Paul himself not only closed the meeting, but may have lingered an hour or two before setting out.

2. How Paul and his companions reached Assos.

(1) Paul’s companions went by ship from the harbour of Troas. Assos lay upon the Mysian coast, about twenty-four miles south of Troas by land, and forty by sea. The voyage would probably, with favourable winds, occupy four or five hours.
(2) Paul himself went the land way to Assos, and would most likely meet the ship on arrival. The road lay “through the southern gate, past the hot springs, and through the oak woods—then in full foliage—which cover all that shore with greenness and shade, and across the wild water-courses on the western side of Ida” (Conybeare and Howson, ii. 229).
3. Paul’s reasons for selecting the land route. These can only be conjectured. Perhaps he wished

(1) to visit friends on the way (Meyer, Wendt); or
(2) to enjoy the company of his Troas friends, who could convey him on the road but could not well obtain accommodation on the ship; or
(3) to recruit his health (Calvin); or
(4) to secure a brief interval of quiet for meditation and communion with heaven, after the exciting scenes and incidents of the week at Troas (Baumgarten, Ewald, Lange), though after all it is doubtful whether he would be allowed to make the journey alone (Zöckler).

II. From Assos to Mitylene.—

1. The voyagers. Paul, on reaching Assos, at once stepped on board the ship, which was probably lying to and waiting his arrival. The missionary company, with him at its head, was complete.

2. The voyage. As Mitylene was distant from Assos thirty miles, the entire voyage from Troas to Mitylene, seventy miles, might easily be accomplished in one day.

3. The port. Mitylene (the modern city being called Castro), where the ship appears to have anchored for the night “because it was the time of dark moon” (Conybeare and Howson), was the chief city of Lesbos (now Metilino or Metelin). “The beauty of the capital of Sappho’s island was celebrated by the architects, poets, and philosophers of Rome” (Conybeare and Howson).

III. From Mitylene to Miletus.—

1. First day’s (Tuesday’s) journey. From Mitylene to Chios, the modern Scio, one of the largest and most beautiful islands on the coast of Asia Minor. Chios, “whose green fields were the fabled birthplace of Homer” (Farrar), was celebrated both for its beauty and for its wines; in modern times the levity of its inhabitants appears to have passed into a proverb, “It is easier to find a green horse than a sober-minded Sciot” (Conybeare and Howson).

2. Second day’s (Wednesday’s) journey. From Chios to Samos, passing by Ephesus, and from Samos to Trogyllium. Samos, the island, was separated from the mainland by a narrow channel, at one point not more than a mile broad. Samos, the town, was in Paul’s day a free city. Here, however, the vessel did not anchor, but pushed on a mile further south to Trogyllium, a harbour on the mainland of Ionia, at the foot of Mount Mycale, and opposite the island where it is nearest the shore. In Trogyllium the ship lay to for the night.

3. Third day’s (Thursday’s) journey. From Trogyllium to Miletus, on the confines of Caria, and twenty eight miles south of Ephesus. Why the apostle passed by Ephesus is stated by Luke. It was not because he had not command of the ship, which he may have had (Hackett thinks he may have chartered it for himself and his friends; but see “Critical Remarks”), or because he did not long to revisit his Ephesian converts, or was afraid of the enemies he might encounter there (1 Corinthians 16:9); but because his desire to reach Jerusalem before Pentecost rendered every delay, whether voluntary or involuntary, dangerous. Why if he anchored at Trogyllium he did not summon the Ephesian elders thither must be left unanswered (see next Homily).

Learn.—

1. That persons who go on God’s business may travel by sea or land with easy minds.
2. That solitude and society are alike helpful to the religious life.
3. That the geographical accuracy of Luke’s narrative is an indirect argument in favour of its truthfulness.
4. That good men delight in the assemblies of the saints.

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Acts 20:13. Paul alone on his Way to Assos; or, the Quiet Hours of a Much-employed Servant of God. As hours—

I. Of testing intercourse with himself.

II. Of holy communion with the Lord.

III. Of blessed rest from the tumult of the world.

IV. Of earnest collectedness for new conflicts.—Gerok.

Acts 20:16. Paul’s desire to be in Jerusalem at Pentecost. The motives for this were probably various.

I. For his Jewish brethren’s sake.—He knew that his presence at that feast would be acceptable to his stricter fellow-countrymen, and he was ready to become all things to all men to gain some.

II. For his own sake.—The feast of Pentecost would revive memories of the great birthday of the Christian Church, and so might perhaps inspire him with fresh zeal, since even he could not dispense without times of revival.

III. For the gospel’s sake.—The immense gathering of foreign Jews in Jerusalem at that feast would afford him ample opportunity for bringing the claims of the gospel before his countrymen; and Paul was not the man to forget to enter in by every open door.

IV. For the Gentile Churches’ sakes.—He may have wished to present the Gentile contributions for the poor saints in Jerusalem to the Church there, at a time when the spectacle of their liberality would be witnessed by vast numbers of his Jewish brethren, who, he may have hoped, would be favourably impressed thereby.

V. For his future plan’s sake.—As Paul was contemplating a journey to Syria and Rome after he had visited Jerusalem, he may have deemed it better not to wait till Tabernacles, but to repair to the metropolis at Pentecost.

Hastening to Jerusalem

I. A proof of Paul’s diligence.—The apostle was no idler, who had time to waste, but a busy worker, who improved every moment.

II. An evidence of Paul’s wisdom.—He wished to reach the capital at the best time for preaching the gospel—viz., when he could meet the largest number of his countrymen.

III. A mark of Paul’s love.—If, as there is reason to believe, he was carrying the Gentile contributions above referred to, he desired not to keep them from their destined recipients a moment longer than was necessary.