Acts 21:3

3 And when we appeared to Cyprus, we left it at the left half, and sailed into Syria, and came to Tyre. For there the ship should be uncharged [Soothly there the ship was to put out the charge].

Acts 21:3 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 21:3

Now when we had discovered Cyprus
An island, as the Syriac version here calls it, which lay between Syria and Cilicia; (See Gill on Acts 4:36); and was, according to R. Benjamin F12, four days sail from Rhodes, before mentioned:

we left it on the left hand,
and sailed into Syria; that part of it called Phoenicia:

and landed at Tyre;
the chief city of Phoenicia, famous for navigation and commerce: it stood about four furlongs distant from the shore, and was joined to the continent by Alexander the great {m}. The account Jerom F14 gives of it is this,

``Tyre, the metropolis of Phoenicia, in the tribe of Nephthalim, is near twenty miles from Caesarea Philippi; this was formerly an island, but made continent land by Alexander:--its chief excellency lies in shell fish and purple.''

It was a very ancient city, though it seems not so ancient as Sidon, from whence it was distant about two hundred furlongs. Herodotus F15 says, that in his time it had been inhabited two thousand three hundred years; Hiram was king of it in Solomon's time; yea, mention is made of it in Joshua's time, if the text in ( Joshua 19:29 ) is rightly translated: some say it was built seventy six years before the destruction of Troy. It is to be distinguished into old Tyre, which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the island of Tyre, which was conquered by Alexander, and new Tyre annexed, by him to the continent. In the Hebrew language it is called (rwu) , "Tzur", or "Tzor", which signifies a "rock", being built on one; though some think it has its name from (rwhu) , "Tzehor", which signifies "brightness"; it is now called Sur or Suri, and is quite desolate, being only a receptacle of thieves and robbers: though R. Benjamin says, in his time, new Tyre was a very good city, and had a port within it, into which ships go between two towers; and that there were in it four hundred Jews, and some of them skilful in the Talmud; --who further observes, that if anyone ascended the walls of new Tyre, he might see Tyre the crowning city, ( Isaiah 23:8 ) which was a stone's cast from the new; but if a man would go in a boat on the sea, he might see towers, streets, and palaces in the bottom F16:

for there the ship was to unlade her burden;
which she had taken in, in the ports where she had been, but where is not certain; for that she had been at Ephesus, and took in her lading there, as Grotius thinks, does not appear; since this was not the ship the apostle and his company sailed in from Miletus, but which they went aboard at Patara, ( Acts 21:1 Acts 21:2 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F12 Itinerar. p. 30.
F13 Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19. Mela, l. 1. c. 12.
F14 De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. K.
F15 Euterpe, l. 2. c. 44.
F16 ltinerar. p. 35, 36.

Acts 21:3 In-Context

1 And when it was done, that we should sail [that we should ship], and were passed away from them, with straight course we came to Coos, and the day following to Rhodes, and from thence to Patara, and from thence to Myra [and the day following to Rhodes, and from thence to Patara].
2 And when we found a ship passing over to [into] Phenicia, we went up into it, and sailed forth.
3 And when we appeared to Cyprus, we left it at the left half, and sailed into Syria, and came to Tyre. For there the ship should be uncharged [Soothly there the ship was to put out the charge].
4 And when we found disciples, we dwelled there seven days; which said by Spirit to Paul, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
5 And when the days were filled [And the days fulfilled], we went forth, and all men with wives and children led forth us [till] without the city; and we kneeled in the sea brink, and we prayed.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.