But bade them farewell, saying
As follows:
I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in
Jerusalem;
which perhaps was the passover, since that often went by the name
of the feast: the why he must by all means keep it, was not
because it was obligatory upon him; nor did he always observe it,
as appears from his long stay at Corinth, and other places; and
besides, as a Christian, he had nothing to do with it; but either
because of his vow, ( Acts 18:18 ) or because
he knew he should have an opportunity of preaching the Gospel to
great numbers; the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions omit this
clause:
but I will return again unto you, if God will;
he promises to return to them, but not peremptorily as knowing
that he was altogether subject to the will of God, who disposes
and orders all things according to his sovereign pleasure; see (
James 4:15 )
and he sailed from Ephesus; which was near the Aegean sea: such
was the situation of Ephesus, according to Apollonius F6; who
says, that it stood out to the sea, which encompassed the land on
which it was built; so Pausanias F7 relates, that Lysimachus
passing into Asia by shipping, took the kingdom of Antigonus from
him, and built the city the Ephesians now inhabit near the sea;
so Josephus F8 reports of Herod and Agrippa, that
travelling by land to Phrygia Major, they came to Ephesus, and
again, (diepleusin) , "they
sailed from Ephesus" to Samos.