Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Acts 27:2

Voyage to Myra, 2-5.

Acts 27:2. A ship of Adramyttium. It is to be observed that St. Paul's voyage to Italy was accomplished in three ships. The first ship was probably merely a coasting vessel, carrying passengers and cargo, and touching at various ports. The reason why this ship of Adramyttium was used by Julius is given. The true reading is μέλλοντι. She was bound for ‘the ports which are in the neighbourhood of Asia.' Here Reuss makes two mistakes. He says of Adramyttium that it was ‘Ville de la cote meridionale de l'Asie Mineure.' Now the ‘Asia' of the New Testament is not the peninsula of Asia Minor, but merely the western portion of that peninsula; and Adramyttium is not on the southern coast of Asia Minor, but on its western coast, some considerable distance northward, opposite the island of Lesbos. As far, however, as the south-western angle of the peninsula, the course of this vessel was in the direction of Italy; and in some of the harbours at which it would touch in its way, Julius might expect to find another western-bound ship in which he and his prisoners could pursue their voyage. Even military officers in high command, on important errands, were obliged in that day to employ opportunities of that kind, and to accomplish long voyages by circuitous methods, using one ship after another, besides being dependent on the weather. A good illustration is supplied by Josephus (War, vii. 2, 1) in his account of the voyage of Vespasian himself, who went on board a merchant ship from Alexandria to Rhodes, and thence pursued his way through Greece to the Adriatic, and finally went to Rome through Italy by land.

One Axistarchus, a Macedonian, of Thessalonica. There is no reason why the word ‘one' should be prefixed in the Authorised Version. Aristarchus was one of the apostle's well-known companions. He was with him at Ephesus during the earlier part of his Last Missionary Journey (Acts 19:29), and he was also with him on his return in the later part (Acts 20:4). In the first of these passages he is described as a Macedonian; in the second, it is said more specifically that he was from Thessalonica. It is important to add that he appears as one of St. Paul's companions in Rome at the close of this voyage. In one of the epistles written there during his imprisonment, St. Paul terms Aristarchus his ‘fellow-prisoner' (Colossians 4:10), and in another his ‘fellow-worker' (Philemon 1:24). Thus the companionship of the two was close and prolonged. In each case, too, it is to be noted that Aristarchus and Luke are both mentioned as being with St. Paul in Rome. See Colossians 4:14. So far as we know, Aristarchus and Luke were his only companions on the departure from Cæsarea.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Acts 27:2

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