11 Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
This history doth, as it were in a glass, show how sharply the Lord did exercise the faith and patience of his, by bringing them in great straits which they could not have overcome unless they had been endued with singular constancy; for the entrance of Paul into Macedonia is reported to be such, as that it might have cause him to give but small credence to the vision. These holy men, leaving the work which they had in hand, did cross the seas with great haste, as if the whole nation of the Macedonians would have come to meet them with earnest desire to be helped. Now, the success is so far from being answerable to their hope, that their mouths are almost quite stopped. When they enter the chief city, they find non there with whom they may take any pains; therefore they are enforced to go into the field, that they may speak in an obscure corner and wilderness. Yea, even there they cannot have one man which will hearken to their doctrine; they can only have one woman to be a disciple of Christ, and that one which was an alien. Who would not have said that this journey was taken in hand foolishly which fell out so unhappily? But the Lord doth thus bring to pass his works under a base and weak kind, [1] that his power may shine more clearly at length; and it was most meet that the beginnings of the kingdom of Christ should be so ordered, that they might taste [savor] of the humility of the cross. But we must mark the constancy of Paul and his companions, who being not dismayed with such unprosperous beginnings, try whether any occasion will offer itself contrary to their expectation. And assuredly the servants of Christ must wrestle with all lets, neither must they be discouraged, but go forward to-morrow, if this day there appear no fruit of their labor, for there is no cause why they should desire to be more happy than Paul. When Luke saith that they abode in that city, some had rather have it, that they conferred or disputed, but the other translation is more plain. And the text persuadeth us to make choice thereof, because Luke will shortly after declare that Lydia was the first-fruits of that Church; and we may easily guess that the apostles went out of the city, because there was no gate opened to them in it.
1 - "Specie," appearance.
Loosing from Troas - Setting sail from this place.
To Samothracia - This was an island in the Aegean Sea not far from Thrace. It was populated by inhabitants from Samos and from Thrace, and hence called Samothracia. It was about 20 miles in circumference, and was an asylum for fugitives and criminals.
And the next day to Nepalese - This was a maritime city of Macedonia, near the borders of Thrace. It was about 10 miles from Philippi.
Loosing from Troas - Setting sail from this place.
With a straight course to Samothracia - This was an island of the Aegean Sea, contiguous to Thrace, and hence called Samothracia, or the Thracian Samos. It is about twenty miles in circumference, and is now called Samandrachi by the Turks, who are its present masters.
And the next day to Neapolis - There were many cities of this name; but this was a sea-port town of Macedonia, a few miles eastward of Philippi. Neapolis signifies the new city.
Therefore loosing from Troas,.... Or setting sail from thence, which, as before observed, was the Hellespont; which was a narrow sea that divided Asia from Europe, now called Stretto di Gallipoii, or Bracci di St. Georgio: and so Pliny (q) speaking of Troas says, it lies near the Hellespont; and Jerom (r) calls it a maritime city of Asia; and it further appears to be on the sea coast, by what is said in Acts 20:6, for from Philippi hither, the apostle and his company sailed in five days, and from hence they sailed to Assos, Acts 20:6
we came with a straight course to Samothracia; which was an island in the Aegean sea, or Archipelago: it was formerly called Dardania (s), from Dardanus the, son of Jupiter by Electra, who fled hither from Italy, upon killing his brother Jasius; it had its name of Samothracia, from Thracia, near to which it was, and from the Samians who inhabited it; and it was called Samothracia to distinguish it from the island Samos in the Ionian sea; it is now called Samandrachi: Jerom (t) calls it an island in the gulf of Pagasa; of this island of Samothracia, Pliny says (u), that it was free before Hebrus, was thirty two miles from Imbrus, twenty two and a half from Lemnus, thirty eight, from the shore of Thracia, and in circumference thirty two--and that it is fullest of good havens of any in those parts; and adds, that Callimachus calls it by its ancient name Dardania; it seems it was also called Leucosia, or Leucadia, because to spectators at a distance it looked white: according to (w) Herodotus the Pelasgi first inhabited Samothracia, who with the Athenians dwelt there, and from them the Samothracians received their sacred rites and mysteries; for this island was famous for the worship of the Cabiri, or chief deities of the Gentiles, particularly Ceres, Proserpina, Pluto, Mercury, and the two brothers Castor and Pollux, Neptune, and all the sea gods; insomuch that it was called "the holy island" (x), and persons of other nations, and even of the greatest figure, were initiated into the mysteries of the Samothracians, which Pliny (y) calls the most holy; for speaking of Venus, Potho, and Phaeton, adds, who are worshipped with the most holy ceremonies of Samothracia. The apostle did not stay to preach the Gospel in this place, nor do we read of its being preached here by him at any other time, or by any other, nor of any church in this place in after ages in ecclesiastical history. The apostle and his companions are said to come hither, "with a straight course"; not only because they might have a fair gale, which brought them at once hither; but because when they were over the Hellespont, this island lay directly in their way, in a straight line to Macedonia:
and the next day to Neapolis; the Alexandrian copy reads, "the new city", as the word signifies; hence the Ethiopic version by way of interpretation renders it, "the next day we came to the new city, the name of which is Neapolis": according to Ptolomy, it was a sea port of Edonis, a part of Macedonia, and was upon the borders of Thrace; it is now called Christopoli; and was not Neapolis in Campania, nor Sychem in Samaria, which is so called, but was at a great distance from either of these. Pliny places it in Thracia, as he also does Edonis, and even Philippi (z). Jerom calls (a) it a city of Caria, but wrongly: and though we have no account of the apostles preaching in this place, and of making converts, neither now nor at any other time; yet it appears even in after ages that here was a church in this place: in the "sixth" century the bishop of it was sent to the fifth Roman synod; and in the "seventh" century one Andreas was bishop of this place, who was in the sixth synod at Constantinople (b).
(q) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 30. (r) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. K. (s) Pausanias Achaica, sive, l. 7. p. 403. Ptolom. Geograph. l. 3. c. 11. (t) Ib. fol. 96. I. (u) Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 12. (w) Euterpe, c. 51. (x) L. Attilius in Liv. Hist. l. 45. c. 5. (y) Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 5. (z) Ib. l. 4. c. 11, (a) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. F. (b) Magdeburg. Hist. Eccl cent. 6. c. 2. p. 7. cent. 7. c. 10. p. 258.
Therefore loosing from Troas, we came--literally, "ran."
with a straight course--that is, "ran before the wind."
to Samothracia--a lofty island on the Thracian coast, north from Troas, with an inclination westward. The wind must have set in strong from the south or south-southeast to bring them there so soon, as the current is strong in the opposite direction, and they afterwards took five days to what they now did in two (Acts 20:6) [HOWSON].
next day to Neapolis--on the Macedonian, or rather Thracian, coast, about sixty-five miles from Samothracia, and ten from Philippi, of which it is the harbor.
We came with a straight course. Before the wind.
To Samothracia. An island about halfway between Troas and Neapolis, the European port where they landed.
And from thence to Philippi. Only a few miles distant. They sought it at once, because it was the chief city of that part of Macedonia. The apostles tried to leaven the centers of influence with the Gospel. The city had been rebuilt about 400 years before this by Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, who named it after himself. It was famous as the place of the decisive battle between Brutus and Cassius on the one hand, and Mark Antony and Octavius, afterwards Augustus CÃ&brvbr;sar, upon the other.
A colony. A Roman colony was a settlement of Romans in a foreign country, with all the privileges of Romans. The colony had its own senate, its own magistrates, observed all the Roman forms, and was a miniature Rome. This colony had been established by Augustus CÃ&brvbr;sar, who settled at this place a multitude of the partisans of his rival, Mark Antony, after the death of the latter. Philippi is now a small village named Filiba.
We ran with a straight course - Which increased their confidence that God had called them.
*More commentary available at chapter level.