Acts 27:1-28:16 Paul's journey to
Rome has four major segments.
Acts 27:1-5 The first segment of the
trip was on an Adramyttian ship, which took them from Caesarea to Myra
Acts 27:6-44 The second segment of
the trip was on an Alexandrian ship that took them from Myra to Malta
Acts 28:1-10 The third segment of the
trip was a three month layover in Malta
Acts 28:11-16 The fourth segment of
the trip was on another Alexandrian ship which took them from Malta to Puteoli,
followed by an overland hike to Rome
Acts 27:1-5 Presumably the
Adramyttian ship was based out of some port along the Adramyttian Gulf on the
western end of the province of Asia (now Turkey). Paul had previously visited
that region on his second missionary journey, but that is probably irrelevant
to the selection of this ship by the centurion. The significance of being
accompanied by Aristarchus from Thessalonica is not stated, but this suggests
that the centurion allowed Paul the privilege of having a friend travel along
with him to provide companionship and quite possibly practical ministry such as
food. Since this is written in the first person plural, it suggests that Luke
also accompanied Paul on this trip. Most likely this was a commercial ship so
Luke and Aristarchus could have booked passage and paid their own way. The ship
made port a call at Sidon. Sailing west at that time of year may have been difficult
if the prevailing winds were from the west, or it may have been just the
weather at that particular time. Myra is on the south coast of what is now
Turkey, a major seaport at the time, in the province of Lycia. Today there is a
small town, Kale, in Antalya Province. The total distance of this segment of
the trip from Caesarea to Myra was over 900 km.
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