Ver. 13. ἡμεῖς, {.ε., without Paul.— *Aoocov: south of Troas in the Roman: province of Asia, and some miles east of Cape Lectum. The opposite coast of Lesbos was about seven miles distant. Its harbour gave it a considerable im- portance in the coasting trade of former days. A Roman road connected it with.
an
πεζεύειν.
14. ὡς δὲἸ συνέβαλεν ἡμῖν cis τὴν Ἄσσον, ἀναλαβόντες
αὐτὸν ἤλθομεν εἰς Μιτυλήνην: 15. κἀκεῖθεν ἀποπλεύσαντες, τῇ ἐπιούσῃ κατηντήσαµεν ἀντικρὺ Χίου 3: τῇ δὲ ἑτέρᾳ παρεβάλομεν εἰς Σάµον:
1 συνεβαλεν CDH?, Blass, Hilg.; this is more fitting to the sense than the im- perfect (Wendt), but the latter tense, συνεβαλλεν, is read in ΜΑΒΕΡ 40, 100, Tisch.,
W.H., R.V., Weiss.
2 Instead of ετερᾳ B 15, το, 73, has the remarkable reading εσπερᾳ, which Weiss
accepts, W.H. marg.
But Wendt (1899), p. 428, discusses and rejects, on the
ground that the charge was introduced by a scribe who did not take κατην. αντικρν Χιου as meaning a station for the night at Chios, and therefore represented the next station as the stopping place for the night of the same day.
Troas and the Troad coast. The sculp-. tures from the Temple of Athena erected on the hill on which Assos itself was built form some of the most important remains of archaic Greek art: most of them are now in Paris. ‘‘ Assos” (Ram- say), Hastings’ B.D., B.D.?. Steph, Byz. describes Assos as situated ἐφ᾽ ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ὀξέος καὶ δυσανόδον τόπον. ---ἀναλαμβάνειν: assumere in navem ; cf. Polyb., xxx., 9, 8. The only other in- stance at all parallel in N.T. is 2 Tim. iv. 11, where we might render “to pick him up on the way,” Lightfoot, Biblical Essays, p. 437.---διατεταγ.: with middle significance, cf. vii. 44, xxiv. 23; Winer- Moulton, xxxix., 3.---πεζεύειν: “to go by land,” R.V. (margin, “on foot ”’): ‘‘de terrestri (non necessario pedestri) itinere,” Blass; a much shorter route than the sea voyage round Cape Lectum. The land journey was about twenty miles, Itin. Anton., B.D.?. Probably Paul took the journey in this way for ministerial pur- poses ; others suggest that he did so for the sake of his health, others to avoid the snare of the Jews, or from a desire for solitude. But it may be questioned whether this somewhat lengthy foot journey would be accomplished without any attendant at all. It does not follow, as has been supposed, that the ship was hired by Paul himself, but that he used its putting in at Assos for his own purpose.
Ver. 14. συνέβαλεν, cf. xvii. 18. The verb is peculiar to St. Luke; its meaning here is classical, cf. also Jos., Ant., ii., 7, 5. Rendall thinks that the imperfect (see critical note) may mean that Paul fell in with the ship while still on his way to Assos, and was taken on board at once; he therefore renders “as he came to meet us at Assos ”.—MurvAyjvny : the capital of Lesbos, about thirty miles from Assos, and so an easy day’s journey ; Lewin, St. Paul, ii., 84, cf. Hor., Od., i., 7,1; Ep.,i., 11, 17. Its northern harbour
into which the ship would sail is called by Strabo, xili., 2, péyas καὶ βαθύς, χώµατι σκεπαζόµενος (Wetstein).
Ver. 15. κἀκεῖθεν, see on xvi. 12, xiv. 26.--κατηντήσαµεν, cf. xvi. 1, xviii. 10, 24, ‘‘wereached a point on the mainland,” Ramsay, ἀντικρὺ X. over against, {.ε., opposite Chios; often in Greek writers, only here in N.T., but W.H., Weiss, ἄντικρυς, 3 Macc. v. 16 (Neh. xii. 8, see Hatch and Redpath). On καταντᾶν εἰς, and καταντᾶν ἄντ. as here, see on xvi. 1, xviii. το; Klostermann, Vindicig Lucane, Ρ. 490.---Χίου: The island Chios (Scio) in the Aigean was separated from the Asian coast by a channel which at its narrowest was only five miles across. The ship carrying St. Paul would pass through this picturesque channel on its way south from Mitylene. An interest- ing comparison with the voyage of St. Paul may be found in Herod’s voyage by Rhodes, Cos, Chios and Mitylene, to- wards the Black Sea (Jos., Ant., xvi., 2, 2). Amongst the seven rivals for the honour of being the birthplace of Homer, the claims of Chios are most strongly sup- ported by tradition. On the legendary and historic connections of the places named in this voyage see Plumptre, in loco, and “Chios” (Ramsay), Hastings’ B.D.—rq δὲ ἑτέρᾳ: (see critical note). Wetstein calls attention to the variety of phrases, τῇ ἔτ., τῇ ἐπιούσῃ, τῇ ἐχομ. The phrase before us is found in xxvii. 3, so that it only occurs in the “We” sections and nowhere else in Acts, but the expression ‘‘ the next day” occurs so much more frequently in the ‘“‘ We”’ sec- tions than in any other passages of the same length that we might expect a larger variety of phrases to express it, Hawkins, Hore Synop., ppe 153, 1543 and Klostermann, Vindicie Lucane, p. 5ο.--παρεβάλομεν εἰς Σ.: “we struck across to Samos,” Ramsay, cf. Thuc., iii., 32, where the verb means “to cross over to Ionia” (see Mr. Page’s note, and