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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Voyage from Caesarea to Melita.
From Caesarea to Fair Havens:
v. 1. And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.
v. 2. And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia, one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.
v. 3. And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.
v. 4. And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
v. 5. And when we had sailed over these a of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra. a city of Lycia.
v. 6. And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.
v. 7. And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone;
v. 8. and, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called the Fair Havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.
The hearing before Agrippa, which gave him as well as Festus the conviction that. Paul was innocent of any offense against the empire, had one good result: it ended the uncertainty of the Caesarean imprisonment. It was determined that the trip to Italy, for which several routes were open, should be made entirely by sea. Luke here, as the text shows, again joined the company of Paul. He had probably spent the intervening two years in gathering the material which was later, under the Holy Spirit's guidance, used in his gospel. Paul and certain other prisoners were committed to the charge of a centurion by the name of Julius, an officer of the imperial guard, or cohort, a body of soldiers that bore the emperor's name and was probably used for confidential business between Rome and the provinces. Since they were in somewhat of a hurry, they did not wait for the coming of a large vessel. hut embarked in a ship from Adramyttium, that is, from the port of Adramyttium, a harbor on the coast of Mysia, not far from Troas. This was a coastwise sailboat, engaged in local freight trade, bound for the seaports of Asia Minor. The intention of Julius was to be on the lookout for a larger vessel that was going directly to Italy. An expectation which could hardly fail of fulfillment. Paul not only had Luke as a companion, but also Aristarchus of Thessalonica, one of the men that had come up to Jerusalem with him, chap. 20:4. The fact that this man later is called a fellow-prisoner of Paul, Col_4:10, docs not argue that he made the trip with Paul in that capacity. The chances are that. Luke would have mentioned the fact of his being a prisoner, had this been his condition at the time. By the next day the boat had made a run along the coast of almost seventy miles and put in at Sidon, the former capital of Phoenicia, superseded as the commercial metropolis by Tyre. Here Julius gave the first evidence of the respect and friendly feeling which he showed to Paul on the entire voyage: he treated him kindly, having probably received instructions from Festus to that effect and himself being impressed by the personal character and conduct of Paul. Probably with the soldier to whom he was chained, the apostle received permission to go to his friends in the city, the brethren of the local congregation, and to receive their care. He may not exactly have been in need of medical care, but the kind words of his fellow-Christians at this time were undoubtedly north more to Paul than any mere entertainment for his benefit. After the business of the master of the vessel had been concluded at this port. they put to sea from there and sailed along below Cyprus, under the lee of this large island in the eastern Mediterranean. This made it necessary for the ship to sail around the long peninsula which juts out toward Syria, instead of cutting straight across the Mediterranean south of the island. But the winds were adverse. Having rounded the northeastern extremity of Cyprus, the ship crept along slowly from point to point along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, "using the local land breezes when possible, and the current constantly running to the westward along the southern coast. " in this way they reached the harbor of Myra, on the southern coast of Lycia, one of the great ports in the corn trade between Egypt and Rome. The centurion therefore found here a ship from Alexandria in Egypt, apparently a grain ship bound for Italy, and he transferred his prisoners and their friends to this larger merchant-vessel, put them on board, in the fond belief that the remainder of the voyage could now easily be accomplished. But for quite a number of days they made slow headway, reaching a point off Cnidus, a city on the coast of Caria, only with considerable difficulty, and were unable to enter. The wind still hindering their progress across the Aegean Sea, they turned to the south, to try the course in the lee of the island of Crete, which they reached off Cape Salmone, on the eastern extremity. And even here they sailed along the southern side of the island only with difficulty, until they reached a certain place called Fair Havens, about in the center of the southern coast, the city of Lasea being near it. The start from Caesarea having been made in the late summer or early fall of the year 59 or 60, winter was now approaching, and shipping was becoming dangerous.