'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: 2. And finding a
ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we went aboard, and set forth. 3. Now
when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed
into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her
burden. 4. And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said
to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. 5.
And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way;
and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we
were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed. 6.
And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they
returned home again. 7. And when we had finished our course from Tyre,
we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one
day. 8. And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and
came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the
evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. 9. And the
same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. 10. And as we
tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet,
named Agabus. 11. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle,
and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost,
So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle,
and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. 12. And when we
heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not
to go up to Jerusalem. 13. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and
to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to
die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. 14. And when he would
not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. 15.
And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to
Jerusalem.'--ACTS xxi. 1-15.
Paul's heroic persistency in disregarding the warnings of 'bonds and
afflictions' which were pealed into his ears in every city, is the main
point of interest in this section. But the vivid narrative abounds with
details which fill it with life and colour. We may gather it all round
three points--the voyage, Tyre, and Caesarea.
I. The log of the voyage, as given in verses 1-3, shows the leisurely
way of navigation in those days and in that sea. Obviously the coaster
tied up or anchored in port at night. Running down the coast from
Miletus, they stayed overnight, first at the small island of Coos, then
stretched across the next day to Rhodes, and on the third struck back
to the mainland at Patara, from which, according to one reading, they
ran along the coast a little further east to Myra, the usual port of
departure for Syria. Ramsay explains that the prevalent favourable wind
for a vessel bound for Syria blows steadily in early morning, and dies
down towards nightfall, so that there would have been no use in keeping
at sea after sundown.
At Patara (or Myra) Paul and his party had to tranship, for their
vessel was probably of small tonnage, and only fit to run along the
coast. In either port they would have no difficulty in finding some
merchantman to take them across to Syria. Accordingly they shifted into
one bound for Tyre, and apparently ready to sail. The second part of
their voyage took them right out to sea, and their course lay to the
west, and then to the south of Cyprus, which Luke mentions as if to
remind us of Paul's visit there when he was beginning his missionary
work. How much had passed since that day at Paphos (which they might
have sighted from the deck)! He had left Paphos with Barnabas and John
Mark--where were they? He had sailed away from Cyprus to carry the
Gospel among Gentiles; he sails past it, accompanied by a group of
these whom he had won for Christ. There he had begun his career; now
the omens indicated that possibly its end was near. Many a thought
would be in his mind as he looked out over the blue waters and saw the
glittering roofs and groves of Paphos.
Tyre was the first port of call, and there the cargo was to be landed.
The travellers had to wait till that was done, and probably another one
shipped. The seven days' stay is best understood as due to that cause;
for we find that Paul re-embarked in the same ship, and went in her as
far as Ptolemais, at all events, perhaps to Caesarea.
We note that no brethren are mentioned as having been met at any of the
ports of call, and no evangelistic work as having been done in them.
The party were simple passengers, who had to shape their movements to
suit the convenience of the master of the vessel, and were only in port
at night, and off again next morning early. No doubt the leisure at sea
was as restorative to them as it often is to jaded workers now.
II. Tyre was a busy seaport then, and in its large population the few
disciples would make but little show. They had to be sought out before
they were 'found.' One can feel how eagerly the travellers would
search, and how thankfully they would find themselves again among
congenial souls. Since Miletus they had had no Christian communion, and
the sailors in such a ship as theirs would not be exactly kindred
spirits. So that week in Tyre would be a blessed break in the voyage.
We hear nothing of visiting the synagogue, nor of preaching to the
non-Christian population, nor of instruction to the little Church.
The whole interest of the stay at Tyre is, for Luke, centred on the
fact that here too the same message which had met Paul everywhere was
repeated to him. It was 'through the Spirit.' Then was Paul flying in
the face of divine prohibitions when he held on his way in spite of all
that could be said? Certainly not. We have to bring common sense to
bear on the interpretation of the words in verse 4, and must suppose
that what came from 'the Spirit' was the prediction of persecutions
waiting Paul, and that the exhortation to avoid these by keeping clear
of Jerusalem was the voice of human affection only. Such a blending of
clear insight and of mistaken deductions from it is no strange
experience.
No word is said as to the effect of the Tyrian Christians' dissuasion.
It had none. Luke mentions it in order to show how continuous was the
repetition of the same note, and his silence as to the manner of its
reception is eloquent. The parting scene at Tyre is like, and yet very
unlike, that at Miletus. In both the Christians accompany Paul to the
beach, in both they kneel down and pray. It would scarcely have been a
Christian parting without that. In both loving farewells are said, and
perhaps waved when words could no longer be heard. But at Tyre, where
there were no bonds of old comradeship nor of affection to a spiritual
father, there was none of the yearning, clinging love that could not
bear to part, none of the hanging on Paul's neck, none of the deep
sorrow of final separation. The delicate shades of difference in two
scenes so similar tell of the hand of an eye-witness. The touch that
'all' the Tyrian Christians went down to the beach, and took their
wives and children with them, suggests that they can have been but a
small community, and so confirms the hint given by the use of the word
'found' in verse 4.
III. The vessel ran down the coast to Ptolemais where one day's stop
was made, probably to land and ship cargo, if, as is possible, the
further journey to Caesarea was by sea. But it may have been by land;
the narrative is silent on that point. At Ptolemais, as at Tyre, there
was a little company of disciples, the brevity of the stay with whom,
contrasted with the long halt in Caesarea, rather favours the
supposition that the ship's convenience ruled the Apostle's movements
till he reached the latter place. There he found a haven of rest, and,
surrounded by loving friends, no wonder that the burdened Apostle
lingered there before plunging into the storm of which he had had so
many warnings.
The eager haste of the earlier part of the journey, contrasted with the
delay in Caesarea at the threshold of his goal, is explained by
supposing that at the beginning Paul's one wish had been to get to
Jerusalem in time for the Feast, and that at Caesarea he found that,
thanks to his earlier haste and his good passages, he had a margin to
spare. He did not wish to get to the Holy City much before the Feast.
Two things only are told as occurring in Caesarea--the intercourse with
Philip and the renewed warnings about going to Jerusalem. Apparently
Philip had been in Caesarea ever since we last heard of him (chap.
viii.). He had brought his family there, and settled down in the
headquarters of Roman government. He had been used by Christ to carry
the Gospel to men outside the Covenant, and for a time it seemed as if
he was to be the messenger to the Gentiles; but that mission soon
ended, and the honour and toil fell to another. But neither did Philip
envy Paul, nor did Paul avoid Philip. The Master has the right to
settle what each slave has to do, and whether He sets him to high or
low office, it matters not.
Philip might have been contemptuous and jealous of the younger man, who
had been nobody when he was chosen as one of the Seven, but had so far
outrun him now. But no paltry personal feeling marred the Christian
intercourse of the two, and we can imagine how much each had to tell
the other, with perhaps Cornelius for a third in company, during the
considerably extended stay in Caesarea. No doubt Luke too made good use
of the opportunity of increasing his knowledge of the first days, and
probably derived much of the material for the first chapters of Acts
from Philip, either then or at his subsequent longer residence in the
same city.
We have heard of the prophet Agabus before (chap, xi. 28). Why he is
introduced here, as if a stranger, we cannot tell, and it is useless to
guess, and absurd to sniff suspicion of genuineness in the peculiarity.
His prophecy is more definite than any that preceded it. That is God's
way. He makes things clearer as we go on, and warnings more emphatic as
danger approaches. The source of the 'afflictions' was now for the
first time declared, and the shape which they would take. Jews would
deliver Paul to Gentiles, as they had delivered Paul's Master.
But there the curtain falls. What would the Gentiles do with him? That
remained unrevealed. Half the tragedy was shown, and then darkness
covered the rest. That was more trying to nerves and courage than full
disclosure to the very end would have been. Imagination had just enough
to work on, and was stimulated to shape out all sorts of horrors.
Similarly incomplete and testing to faith are the glimpses of the
future which we get in our own lives. We see but a little way ahead,
and then the road takes a sharp turn, and we fancy dreadful shapes
hiding round the corner.
Paul's courage was unmoved both by Agabus's incomplete prophecy and by
the tearful implorings of his companions and of the Caesarean
Christians. His pathetic words to them are misunderstood if we take
'break my heart' in the modern sense of that phrase, for it really
means 'to melt away my resolution,' and shows that Paul felt that the
passionate grief of his brethren was beginning to do what no fear for
himself could do--shake even his steadfast purpose. No more lovely
blending of melting tenderness and iron determination has ever been put
into words than that cry of his, followed by the great utterance which
proclaimed his readiness to bear all things, even death itself, for
'the name of the Lord Jesus.' What kindled and fed that noble flame of
self-devotion? The love of Jesus Christ, built on the sense that He had
redeemed the soul of His servant, and had thereby bought him for His
own.
If we feel that we have been 'bought with a price,' we too, in our
small spheres, shall be filled with that ennobling passion of devoted
love which will not count life dear if He calls us to give it up. Let
us learn from Paul how to blend the utmost gentleness and tender
responsiveness to all love with fixed determination to glorify the
Name. A strong will and a loving heart make a marvellously beautiful
combination, and should both abide in every Christian.