From Troas to Miletus

One modern commentator, in surveying Paul’s travels as recorded in Acts 18–20, notes that one of the Apostle’s legacies is that he sought to leave behind not “a monument to himself, but Christians who are a monument to God in their faithfulness.” This is evident in the lengthy amount of time he spent in cities such as Corinth and Ephesus, not wanting to move on to a new location before the believers were well grounded in the Word of God. It is also seen in how he took the time as he traveled to provide instruction to disciples instead of attending only to his own needs for rest and refreshment. For instance, he taught late into the night at Troas (20:7–12). The Apostle continually had a pastoral intent, seeking to make sure that the churches he planted would be able to continue on after he was gone.

In today’s passage, Luke describes the journey from Troas to Miletus, as Paul and his companions continued to head for Jerusalem. They journeyed by boat, although Paul traveled by land from Troas to the city of Assos while the others went by ship. Luke does not tell us why Paul did not go by boat, but it is possible either that he thought his presence on the ship at that point would put the whole band of travelers in danger or that he wanted to minister to some of the people further inland on the way to Assos.

At Assos, Paul got on board the boat to Mitylene, the chief city on the island of Lesbos. From Mitylene, the group traveled to the island of Chios and then to the island of Samos before finally reaching the city of Miletus. Miletus was well south of Troas and sat on the southwestern corner of Asia Minor. Each journey from one place to the next would have taken only a day, and short trips by boat were often how people traveled in those days. At each stop, the men would have likely hired a new boat to take them to the next place, changing ships at each port (vv. 13–15).

Miletus sat about thirty miles south of Ephesus, and Paul and his companions would have sailed past Ephesus to get to Miletus. Luke notes in Acts 20:16 that they skipped Ephesus on purpose because Paul wanted to get to Jerusalem by the time of the Feast of Pentecost. Going back into Ephesus would have delayed Paul for too long, and it may have even put him in legal trouble given how he left the city soon after many there had incited an uproar (ch. 19).