When
we had departed from them and had set sail, we came with a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. Having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard, and set sail. When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo. Having found disciples, we stayed there seven days. These said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. When those days were over, we departed and went on our journey. They all, with wives and children, brought us on our way until we were out of the city. Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed. After saying goodbye to each other, we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.
Acts 21:1-6
Acts 20 [36.] When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. They all wept a lot, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.
Acts 21 [1.] When we had departed from them and had set sail, we came with a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. Having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard, and set sail. When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo. Having found disciples, we stayed there seven days. These said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. When those days were over, we departed and went on our journey. They all, with wives and children, brought us on our way until we were out of the city. Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed. After saying goodbye to each other, we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.
Acts 21 [7.] When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the brothers, and stayed with them one day. On the next day, we, who were Paul’s companions, departed, and came to Caesarea.
Meaning:
Paul had just said farewell to the elders of Ephesus at Miletus, where “he knelt down and prayed with them all” (Acts 20:36). Now the voyage to Jerusalem continues. Luke, who writes as one of the travelling party (“we”), records the route island by island, a stay of seven days with believers at Tyre, a warning given “through the Spirit,” and a second tender farewell on a beach.
- “we came with a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara”
The ship ran south and east along the coast of Asia Minor, a day’s sail at a time, from the island of Cos to the island of Rhodes and on to Patara in Lycia. At Patara the travellers changed to a larger ship “crossing over to Phoenicia,” which could sail straight across the open sea. Paul was in a hurry, for he “was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost” (Acts 20:13-16). Passing Cyprus on the left, they reached Tyre, the great port of Phoenicia, where the ship was to unload her cargo. The precise details come from an eyewitness; the “we” passages had resumed at Philippi (Acts 20:5-6).
- “Having found disciples, we stayed there seven days”
Paul had to look for the believers in Tyre; he had not founded this church. The good news had probably reached the city through those scattered after Stephen’s death, who “traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch” (Acts 11:19). Long before, Jesus himself had gone “into the borders of Tyre and Sidon” and shown mercy to a Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24). Now disciples there welcomed strangers for a whole week.
- “These said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem”
This sentence raises a real question, because Paul had already said, “Now, behold, I go bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there; except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me” (Acts 20:22-23). How could the Spirit lead Paul to Jerusalem and also tell him not to go? Many readers understand that the Spirit revealed to the disciples at Tyre the suffering awaiting Paul, and that their urging him not to go was their own loving response to that revelation. Others think the Spirit was testing Paul’s resolve, or giving him a real choice, so that he would go with open eyes. The same pattern appears soon after at Caesarea, where Agabus foretells Paul’s binding and the believers beg him not to go (Acts 21:11). Either way, Paul did not regard the warning as a command to turn back. Like Jesus, who “intently set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51), he kept going.
- “Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed”
The departure is moving. Whole families, “with wives and children,” walked the travellers out of the city to the shore. There they knelt on the sand and prayed. The scene echoes the farewell at Miletus and shows how deep Christian fellowship could become. Then the travellers went aboard, and the disciples of Tyre “returned home again.”
The Significance of Acts 21:1-6
- Guidance and courage
God’s guidance does not always remove danger from the path. The Spirit told Paul plainly that hardship lay ahead, yet Paul was willing to go. He had said, “nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy” (Acts 20:24). Believers sometimes receive loving advice that conflicts with what they believe God has called them to do. Such advice deserves a careful, prayerful hearing, as Paul gave it, while the final decision rests on faithfulness to the Lord.
- Fellowship and prayer
The beach at Tyre is a picture of the church as a family. Strangers became brothers and sisters in a week, children were included, and parting was sealed with prayer rather than mere words. Paul later urged believers to be “given to hospitality” (Romans 12:13). Christians today can show the same warmth to visiting believers and send them on their way with prayer.
Cross-References:
Acts 20:22-23: “The Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.” Paul already knew suffering awaited him.
Acts 20:36: “When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.” The earlier farewell at Miletus.
Luke 9:51: “He intently set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus’ own resolute journey to Jerusalem.
Acts 11:19: “They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia.” How the gospel probably reached Tyre.
Conclusion: Acts 21:1-6 follows Paul from Miletus to Tyre, where he found disciples, stayed a week, and heard a warning through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. He went on, not out of stubbornness but out of a settled conviction that the Lord was leading him, even into suffering. The farewell on the beach, with whole families kneeling in prayer, shows the love and fellowship that bound the early believers together.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible