Acts 21:4

And having found the disciples, we tarried there seven days: and these said unto Paul through the Spirit, that he should not set foot in Jerusalem.

Wesley was correct in saying that the presence of Christians in Tyre "was foretold";[9] for Psalms 87:4 has this: "Among them that know me, behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia."

Having found ... would seem to indicate some little search before the company of believers (perhaps small) was located.

This sail to Tyre was a distance of 340 miles; but in view of the prevailing winds at that time of the year, Howson concluded that "The voyage might easily have been accomplished in forty-eight hours."[10]

We tarried there seven days ... Plumptre and others have observed that the purpose here of the seven days' stay was to enable the missionaries to observe the Lord's supper with the Christians of Tyre.

The seven days' stay, as at Troas (Acts 21:20-6), and afterward at Puteoli (Acts 28:14), was obviously for the purpose of attending one, or possibly more than one meeting of the church for the Lord's supper on the Lord's day.[11]

That he should not set foot in Jerusalem ... This could hardly be understood as a direct word from the Holy Spirit to the effect that Paul should not continue his journey to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit had repeatedly revealed that bonds and imprisonment awaited Paul in Jerusalem; and these carried the certain implication that he was, of course, going there. The words here, then, should be viewed, not as a mandate of the Holy Spirit, but as a conclusion reached by the disciples who so dearly loved Paul and wished to protect him from danger. "The inference that he should not go to Jerusalem was their own"[12] that is, of the disciples.

[9] John Wesley, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, in loco.

[10] J. S. Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1966), p. 562.

[11] E. H. Plumptre, Ellicott's Commentary on the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1953), Vol. VII, p. 144.

[12] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 170.