Acts 20:1 - Exposition

Having sent for … and exhorted for called unto him, A.V. and T.R.; took leave of them, and departed for and embraced them, and departed, A.V. Departed for to go into Macedonia . This was St. Paul's purpose, as he had written to the Corinthians ( 1 Corinthians 16:5 ) from Ephesus. He judged it wise, not only with a view to his own safety and that of his companions, but also for the rest and quiet of the Ephesian Church, to take advantage of the lull in the popular storm, and withdraw into quiet waters before any fresh outbreak occurred. Aquila and Priscilla seem to have left Ephesus about the same time, or soon after, since the Epistle to the Romans found them again at Rome ( Romans 16:3 , Romans 16:4 ); and, if the view mentioned in the note to Acts 19:40 is true—that in the riot they had saved St. Paul's life at the risk of their own—there were probably the same prudential motives for their leaving Ephesus as there were in the case of the apostle.