Acts 18:19 - Exposition

They came for he came, A.V. and T.R.; he left for left, A.V. They came to Ephesus . "No voyage across the AE gean was more frequently made than that between Corinth and Ephesus. They were the capitals of the two flourishing and peaceful provinces of Achaia and Asia, and the two great mercantile towns on opposite sides of the sea" (Howson, vol. 1.454). The voyage would take from ten to fifteen days. Reasoned ; διελέχθη , as in Acts 17:2 , Acts 17:17 ; Acts 18:4 , Acts 19:8 , Acts 19:9 ; Acts 20:7 , Acts 20:9 ; Acts 24:25 . As regards the expression, left them there , it probably arises from some actual detail which made it the natural one to use. If, for example, the synagogue was just outside the city, and Paul, parting with Aquila and Priscilla in the city, had gone off immediately to the synagogue, the phrase used would be the natural one; or the words, "he left them there," may be spoken with reference to the main narrative, which is momentarily interrupted by the mention of St. Paul's visit to the synagogue. Note the extreme importance of this brief visit to Ephesus, where the foundation of a vigorous and flourishing Church seems to have been laid. He who knows "the times and the seasons" sent St. Paul there now, though two years before he had forbidden him to go to Asia.