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From Tyre to Jerusalem (Acts 21:1-17)
`And it came to pass, that after we were gotten from them, and had launched, we came with a straight course
unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara: and finding a ship sailing over unto
Phenicia, we went aboard, and set forth' (Acts 21:1,2).
We have now reached the last stages of the fateful journey to Jerusalem. The believers seem to have clung to the
apostle up to the very point of the launching of the ship, for the words, `were gotten from them', translate apospao, a
word actually used in Acts 20:30 by the apostle when speaking of those who would `draw away' disciples after
them. `Tearing himself from them' is the translation suggested by Farrar. The wind was favourable, and they ran
with a straight course to Coos. Rhodes is famous for the vast colossus which bestrode the harbour. At the time of
the apostle's visit, only the two legs remained on their pedestals, the huge body of a man in bronze which formed the
upper portion of the statue having been previously hurled down by earthquake. This figure, like the Temple of
Diana, was one of the seven wonders of the world, and we can well imagine that the apostle, with recent memories
of Ephesus, and the decline in the number of its idolatrous worshippers, would look upon this fallen colossus as
another Dagon. We do not know the reason which caused the apostle to disembark at Patara. It may be that Paul
desired a more direct journey than by the coastal route. This is suggested by the expression, `finding a ship sailing
out to Phenicia', where diaperon is used. The fact that this word is chosen to describe a journey across a lake (Matt.
9:1) reveals the intention of Luke here in Acts 21:2. If the reader will take a map of Paul's journeys and join Patara
on the sea coast of Asia Minor with Tyre on the coast of Palestine, the line so drawn will pass Cyprus, which will be
`on the left hand' (Acts 21:3). Upon arrival at Tyre, the apostle `sought out' some disciples, and tarried there seven
days. Aneurisko means not merely `to find' but `to find out'.
There was now no cause for anxiety as to reaching Jerusalem in time for Pentecost, since the providential
discovery of the ship at Patara, and the favourable journey which they had made, left him with a fortnight to spare.
There was no reason why the apostle should proceed immediately to Jerusalem, for he knew only too well that every
day he remained in Jerusalem would increase the possibility of passionate opposition and enmity arising. Had Paul
the slightest uncertainty regarding his mission to Jerusalem, or had he been desirous of finding a `reason' for altering
his plan, he, like the tested souls of whom he wrote in Hebrews 11:15, `might have had opportunity to have
returned'. During the seven days which he spent at Tyre, some of the disciples there, speaking through the Spirit,
intimated that he should not go up to Jerusalem. This has been interpreted by some to indicate that when Paul
thereafter proceeded to Jerusalem, he did it in disobedience to the Spirit's warning; we will deal with this point
when we reach verse 11.
At the end of the seven days the little band moved on to their goal, and the disciples who earlier had heard the
warning `not to go up', now `brought' the apostle and his companions on their way. The Greek word propempo
translated here `brought us on our way', is translated `accompanied' in Acts 20:38. `And being brought on their way
by the church' in Acts 15:3; see also Romans 15:24; 1 Corinthians 16:6; Titus 3:13, and 3 John 6. This appears to
indicate that maturer consideration had revealed the will of the Lord, and that the words spoken by the Spirit in Acts
21:4 were in the nature of a test and a warning - not a prohibition.
From Tyre, the last stage of the voyage was made, and the little band landed at Ptolemais, now known as Acre.
The apostle, having saluted the brethren, stayed one day. The journey to Cęsarea, a distance of some 40 miles, was
probably accomplished overland. Here the apostle waited until the eve of the feast, and found delightful and
encouraging fellowship in the house of Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven (Acts 6:1-5) who was intimately
linked with the fortunes of Paul, through Stephen the first Christian martyr. Philip was a Hellenist (Acts 6:1-5), and
had manifested the same spirit which moved the apostle to the Gentiles, in that he carried the gospel to the hated
Samaritans and preached it to the despised Ethiopian. What heart-searching conversation these two servants of the
Lord must have had. The persecution that arose about the stoning of Stephen influenced the career of Philip, but it
also was associated with the conversion, the conviction and the commission of Saul of Tarsus.
Had the writer of this volume been treated with more human kindness and sympathy in his early years, he might
still have been found in the ranks of the strictly orthodox, using possibly his talents to combat the teaching of the
mystery; as it happened the Lord overruled painful circumstances to close many doors of so-called `opportunity',
and to lead in everything but actual fetters and chains to a `prison ministry'. With what joy, nevertheless, do we