3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

8 τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον ἐξελθόντες ἤλθομεν εἰς Καισάρειαν καὶ εἰσελθόντες εἰς τὸν οἶκον Φιλίππου τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ,
ὄντος ἐκ τῶν ἑπτά, ἐμείναμεν παρʼ αὐτῷ. 9 τούτῳ δὲ ἦσαν θυγατέρες τέσσαρες παρθένοι προφητεύουσαι. 10
Ἐπιμενόντων δὲ ἡμέρας πλείους κατῆλθέν τις ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας προφήτης ὀνόματι Ἅγαβος, 11 καὶ ἐλθὼν πρὸς
ἡμᾶς καὶ ἄρας τὴν ζώνην τοῦ Παύλου, δήσας ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς πόδας καὶ τὰς χεῖρας εἶπεν· τάδε λέγει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ
ἅγιον· τὸν ἄνδρα οὗ ἐστιν ἡ ζώνη αὕτη, οὕτως δήσουσιν ἐν Ἰερουσαλὴμ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ παραδώσουσιν εἰς χεῖρας
ἐθνῶν. 12 ὡς δὲ ἠκούσαμεν ταῦτα, παρεκαλοῦμεν ἡμεῖς τε καὶ οἱ ἐντόπιοι τοῦ μὴ ἀναβαίνειν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἰερουσαλήμ.
13 τότε ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Παῦλος· τί ποιεῖτε κλαίοντες καὶ συνθρύπτοντές μου τὴν καρδίαν; ἐγὼ γὰρ οὐ μόνον δεθῆναι
ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποθανεῖν εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἑτοίμως ἔχω ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. 14 μὴ πειθομένου δὲ αὐτοῦ
ἡσυχάσαμεν εἰπόντες· τοῦ κυρίου τὸ θέλημα γινέσθω.
15 Μετὰ δὲ τὰς ἡμέρας ταύτας ἐπισκευασάμενοι ἀνεβαίνομεν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα· 16 συνῆλθον δὲ καὶ τῶν μαθητῶν
ἀπὸ Καισαρείας σὺν ἡμῖν, ἄγοντες παρʼ ᾧ ξενισθῶμεν Μνάσωνί τινι Κυπρίῳ, ἀρχαίῳ μαθητῇ.
8 The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the
seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy. 10 While we were
staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 He came to us and took Paul’s
belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem
will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ” 12 When we heard this, we
and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping
and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord
Jesus.” 14 Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, “The Lord’s will be done.”
15 After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea
also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.
The final stage of the return trip to Jerusalem is described by Luke in these verses. Of the various farewells
given by Paul along the way, this one was perhaps most challenging because it came just prior to arriving
in Jerusalem. It is the most detailed of these farewells described by Luke. When Paul stepped off the ship in
Caesarea he was in the homeland of Judea, and the reality of Jerusalem loomed larger than at any previous
point.
This large port city was known in the ancient world as Caesarea Maritima, παράλιος Καισάρεια, or Caesarea
Palestinae, in order to distinguish it from Caesarea Philippi, a much smaller town in northern Galilee at
the base of Mount Hermon. Jesus had contact with this northern Galilean town, but not with Caesarea Maritima.
The coastal city had been built by Herod the Great 25 to 13 BCE, and was named in honor of Augustus Caesar.
During the first century it served as the home base of the Roman prefect as well as the huge military garrison
of Roman soldiers used for controlling all of Palestine. This town is mentioned by name only in Acts: 8:40; 9:30;
10:1, 24; 11:11; 12:19; 18:22; 21:8, 16; 23:23, 33; 25:1, 4, 6, 13. Paul will become well acquainted with the city
before he gets to Rome to face the emperor in trial. Cornelius, the Roman centurion who converted to Christianity
was stationed there. Philip the deacon was an early Christian witness in the city. Peter had spent some time in
the city earlier after escaping Herod’s attempted execution of him in Jerusalem.
Paul first passed through the city when being escorted out of danger in Jerusalem on his way to Tarsus
after his conversion (9:30). Paul came through Caesarea on the second missionary journey on his way to Jerusalem
(18:22). And now he arrives again in the city once more headed to Jerusalem (21:8).
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277 Thus the city took
on the tone of danger and Roman arrest for the apostle, since every time he was in the city except on the second
missionary journey he was being persecuted for his faith in some way or another.
This visit would last for several days (Ἐπιμενόντων ἡμέρας πλείους, v. 10), and be filled with a number of
events, although Luke only emphasizes one event toward the end of the time spent with the believers in the city.
The group was hosted by Philip the evangelist: καὶ εἰσελθόντες εἰς τὸν οἶκον Φιλίππου τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ, ὄντος
ἐκ τῶν ἑπτά, ἐμείναμεν παρʼ αὐτῷ. τούτῳ δὲ ἦσαν θυγατέρες τέσσαρες παρθένοι προφητεύουσαι, and we went
into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who had the
gift of prophecy. This fellow first surfaces in the New Testament in connection with the appointment of the seven
Hellenistic Jewish Christians to supervise the distribution of alms to the widows in the Jerusalem church (Acts
6:1-7). 278 His name was second on the list (v. 5). Then he gets more coverage in Acts 8:4-40 when he preaches
the Gospel first in Samaria, and then to the Ethiopian eunuch at Gaza. When he left the Ethiopian he turned up
at Azotus and preached in the cities of the region all the way to Caesarea (v. 40). These activities occurred during
the 30s of the first century. Now in the late 50s he still lives at Caesarea where he made his home. This had
277Later he will spend two years plus under Roman arrest in city awaiting the outcome of the charges against him brought by
the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem (Acts 23-25).
278He should not be confused with Philip the apostle, who was one of the original Twelve (cf. Acts 1:13). Some of the early
church fathers, e.g., Eusebius, do make this mistake.