Acts 20:3
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where he stayed three months. And when the Jews formed a plot against him as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
And there abode three months--Though the province only is here mentioned, it is the city of CORINTH that is meant, as the province of "Macedonia" (Act 20:1) meant the city of Philippi. Some rough work he anticipated on his arrival at Corinth (Co2 10:1-8, Co2 10:11; Co2 13:1-10) though he had reason to expect satisfaction on the whole; and as we know there were other churches in Achaia besides that at Corinth (Co2 1:1; Co2 11:10), he would have time enough to pay them all a brief visit during the three months of his stay there. This period was rendered further memorable by the despatch of the EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, written during his stay at Corinth and sent by "Phœbe, a servant [deaconess] of the Church at Cenchrea" (see on Act 18:3), a lady apparently of some standing and substance, who was going thither on private business. (See on Rom 16:1 and see Introduction to Romans). And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria--He had intended to embark, probably at Cenchrea, the eastern harbor of the city, for Palestine, on his route to Jerusalem, the third part of his plan (Act 19:21). But having detected some conspiracy against his life by his bitter Jewish enemies as at Damascus (Act 9:22-25) and Jerusalem (Act 9:29-30), he changed his plan and determined "to return" as he had come, "through Macedonia." As he was never more to return to Corinth, so this route would bring him, for the last time, face to face with the attached disciples of Berea, Thessalonica, and Philippi.
Open source ↗In this chapter we have, I. Paul's travels up and down about Macedonia, Greece, and Asia, and his coming at length to Troas (Act 20:1-6). II. A particular account of his spending one Lord's day at Troas, and his raising Eutychus to life there (Act 20:7-12). III. His progress, or circuit, for the visiting of the churches he had planted, in his way towards Jerusalem, where he designed to be by the next feast of pentecost (Act 20:13-16). IV. The farewell sermon he preached to the presbyters at Ephesus, now that he was leaving that country (v. 17-35). V. The very sorrowful parting between him and them (Act 20:36-38). And in all these we find Paul very busy to serve Christ, and to do good to the souls of men, not only in the conversion of heathen, but in the edification of Christians.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews.
In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,
to grant them a concession against Paul by summoning him to Jerusalem, because they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.
For when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were pressed from every direction—conflicts on the outside, fears within.
Later I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.
Confident of this, I planned to visit you first, so that you might receive a double blessing.
If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.
After these things had happened, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well.”