3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

where they will meet up with Paul, who opts to walk the appx. 21 miles along the Roman road connecting Troas
and Assos while the boat trip was about 50 miles.
Page 456
214 Luke gives us some insight into trip planning with the brief
expression: οὕτως γὰρ διατεταγμένος, for thus having made arrangements. 215 Paul had already arranged for passage
for the members of the delegation but not for himself because of his intention to travel overland by himself.
Why did Paul decide to do this? 216 He had barely 50 days to get from Phillip to Jerusalem in order to
celebrate Pentecost in the city. Would this have delayed him? By walking (πεζεύειν217 ) briskly, this was a single
day’s walk in that world, and the ship would not get there much quicker than he did even though it had to travel
more than twice the distance. Evidently this provided him some time alone for reflection and prayer. When he left
Troas the reality of what might well be ahead for him was sinking in. He needed some time alone to sort it out in
prayer with God.
The plan was carried out and the group met Paul in Assos where he came on board the ship. Their trip
continued from Assos to Mitylene by ship: ὡς δὲ συνέβαλλεν ἡμῖν εἰς τὴν ῏Ασσον, ἀναλαβόντες αὐτὸν ἤλθομεν
εἰς Μιτυλήνην, When he met us in Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. 218 Mitylene was a large city, with
its land mass matching that of Athens. The large population was affluently wealthy in comparison to other cities
in the region. 219 Not mentioned is whether a Christian community existed in the city at this point or not. The sailing
pattern seems to be that in each of these five towns and cities mentioned by Luke -- Assos, Mitylene, Chios,
Samos, and Miletus -- the ship put into port overnight in order to sail only during the daylight hours. It was hugging
the coast and not venturing further out into the very turbulent and dangerous Aegean Sea as it went south.
The following day the journey continued southward until the ship reached Miletus three days later:
κἀκεῖθεν ἀποπλεύσαντες τῇ ἐπιούσῃ κατηντήσαμεν ἄντικρυς Χίου, τῇ δὲ ἑτέρᾳ παρεβάλομεν εἰς Σάμον, τῇ δὲ
ἐχομένῃ ἤλθομεν εἰς Μίλητον, We sailed from there, and on the following day we arrived opposite Chios. The next day
we touched at Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus. Chios refers either to the island, or the city by the
same name on the island. This also was a prosperous region with substantial wealth, and self-governing privileg-
BC it was under Roman rule, presumably in the province of Asia. Aristotle lived in Assos from 348 to 345 BC.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical
and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 956-57.]
214A very helpful article for estimating travel time by ship in the ancient Roman world is Lionel Casson, “Speed under Sail of
Ancient Ships,” Transactions of the American Philological Association 82 (1951), 136-148.
215 “‘We‘ sailed to Assos with the intention (μέλλοντες) of taking up Paul there, οὕτως γὰρ διατεταγμένος ἦν, for so he had arranged;
but διατάσσεσθαι has often a stronger sense in Acts (see 7:44; 18:2; 23:31; 24:23) — perhaps, he had given orders to this effect,
μέλλων αὐτὸς πεζεύειν, since he himself was intending to go (was about to go) by land. D has ὡς μέλλων. See BDR § 425:3: ὡς gives
the clause a subjective sense, indicating that μέλλων expresses not necessarily the fact, but the mind of the speaker. It is doubtful whether
D can be followed here. It should be noted that D reverses the order of the preceding words, reading ἦν διατεταγμένος; ὡς may have
originated in the accidental repetition of the last two letters of the participle.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on
the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 957.]
216 “Why Paul chose to travel alone in this way we do not know. The suggestion that he was liable to sea sickness is exegetical
despair. There is nothing to suggest that he made an evangelistic tour through the district.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 957.]
“Just why Paul did not depart with the boat at Troas is not specified. He may not have relished the difficult voyage around the
Cape, or he may have wished to spend the last possible moment at Troas, or perhaps the incident with Eutychus had delayed him.” [John
B. Polhill, vol. 26, Acts, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 420.]
I suspect that the puzzlement of modern commentators over Paul’s reasons for traveling by himself says more about the devotional
life of these commentators than it does about the biblical text.
217The verb πεζεύω does not automatically imply that Paul walked this route. πεζεύω fundamentally signals travel by land in
contrast to travel by ship. But, at the same time, πεζεύω does not exclude walking overland either.
218 “The journey from Troas to Miletus is given with exceptional detail. It seems to have taken about five days’ sailing time,
with each port given representing a day’s journey. They evidently put into port each night. The winds usually died during the night, and
the rocky coastal area was more favorable to daytime sailing. 69 From Assos their voyage took them to Mitylene, the chief city of the
island of Lesbos, located on the eastern shore of the island. The next day’s voyage took them just offshore of the island of Kios, which
was famed as the birthplace of the poet Homer. The following day they passed by the island of Samos, the birthplace of the “founder of
mathematics,” Pythagoras. 70 On the final day they sailed to Miletus, a major Asian city in Paul’s day which lay on the south shore of the
Latonian gulf at the mouth of the river Maeander. 71 ” [John B. Polhill, vol. 26, Acts, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman
& Holman Publishers, 1995), 420-21.]
219 “Mitylene. So the MSS of Acts (Μιτυλήνη), though the earlier (before 300 BC) spelling was Μυτιλήνη. M. was the largest
town — and a very large one, almost as great in superficial area as Athens— on the island of Lesbos, for centuries an important centre
of Greek life, commerce (M. was a notable port), and art (the home of Alcaeus and Sappho, among others). The cult of Augustus (or
Augustus and Roma) was established in M. as early as 27 BC (CAH 10:486; Dittenberger, OGIS 2:456), and the island enjoyed, on the
whole, imperial favour.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary
(Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 957-58.]