Acts 20:1-17 Paul begins his return to Jerusalem

Acts 20:1-6 Paul travels to Macedonia, Greece, back to Macedonia, and back to Asia. The description of Paul's travels in this section is condensed. In six verses, Luke covers Paul's trips to Macedonia (presumably Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea), Greece (presumably Corinth, Cenchrea, and Athens), a return to Macedonia, and then a return to Asia, landing at Troas. The times and specific destinations are not given, other than three months in Greece. It is not entirely clear why, when the Jews formed a plot against him as he was about to sail from Greece to Syria, he changed his plans and went by way of Macedonia. His party of traveling companions had grown by this point to include at least six others, who are named, along with their city or province of origin.

•   From Berea, Sopater;

•   From Thessalonica, Aristarchus and Secundus

•   From Derbe, Gaius

•   From Asia, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus

But all of these went ahead onto Troas while Paul was still in Philippi. Paul sailed after the end of the feast of unleavened bread, which establishes the schedule which will come up later. It took five days to sail from Philippi to Troas, where they stayed seven days after Paul's arrival. Evidently Luke was traveling with Paul on this segment of the trip. The last autobiographical reference by Luke was in Acts 16:11. Perhaps Luke had been in Macedonia continuously since that reference, rather than traveling with Paul the whole time.

Acts 20:7-12 The story of Eutychus in Troas. During Paul's all-night sermon in the upper room, a young man named Eutychus fell asleep. Probably not the only person to have had trouble staying awake during a long message, but in this case, his circumstances were such that he fell down from a third-story window. In his great mercy, The Lord brought the young man back from the dead. Paul was not distracted from his purpose, and continued to preach, finishing his message at dawn.

Acts 20:13-17 Paul's traveling companions arrange for a meeting at Assos, and then proceed with Paul to Miletus. The abbreviated travelogue continues. Paul's companions sailed to Assos, while he traveled overland to meet them there. The hike would have been about 30 km, the sailing route farther. They then sailed on together from Assos to Mitylene. After three more port calls, they arrived at Miletus, which is perhaps as much as 50 km from Ephesus. Paul chooses not to travel to Ephesus himself, because he was hurrying to try to be in Jerusalem at Pentecost. From the feast of unleavened bread to Pentecost is a total of fifty days (the feast of weeks, seven of them, plus one day). He spent five days sailing from Philippi to Troas, seven days in Troas, and at least four days between Troas and Miletus. This adds up to sixteen of the fifty days. Pentecost is approaching fast. The path Paul took to Caesarea would be over 1,000 km. The schedule was tight. So Paul asked the elders of the church in Ephesus to meet him in the seaport of Miletus.