Acts Chapter 21 verse 7 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 7. - The voyage for our course, A.V.; arrived at for came to, A.V.; we saluted for saluted, A.V. When we had finished; διανύσαντες, only found here in the New Testament, but not uncommon in classical Greek for finishing a voyage, or a journey, or a race-course (Euripides, Hesiod, Xenophon, etc.). St. Luke seems to indicate by the phrase that the sea-voyage ended here. Arrived at; κατηντήσαμεν, a favorite word of St. Luke's for arriving at a place (Acts 16:1; Acts 18:19, 24; Acts 20:15; Acts 25:13; Acts 27:12, etc.), Ptolemais. The ancient Accho of Judges 1:31, then a Canaanite city in the tribe of Asher, but not subsequently mentioned in the Old Testament. In 1 Macc. 5:15, 22 and elsewhere it is called, as here, Ptolemais, having received the name from one of the Ptolemies, probably either Sorer or Lagi; but in the Middle Ages it appears as St. Jean d'Acre, and is now commonly called Acre. It lies on the north side of the spacious bay of Carmel, but is not in all weathers very safe harborage. It is an easy day's sail, under thirty miles, from Tyre. When St. Paul was there it had recently been made a Roman colony by the Emperor Claudius, and was important as a commercial city. Saluted the brethren. The Christians there. We have no account of the evangelization of Ptolemais. Perhaps the gospel was first preached there to the Jewish colony by those who traveled "as far as Phoenico," after "the persecution that arose about Stephen" (Acts 11:19); for Ptolemais was reckoned as belonging to Phenicia (Ptol., 5:15; Strabo, 16. p. 758; Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.,' 5:17; all quoted by Meyer).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(7) We came to Ptolemais.--This city is memorable both for its antiquity and for the varied fortunes of its city. As Accho it appears in Judges 1:31 as one of the old cities of the Canaanites which the Israelites of the tribe of Asher failed to conquer. It was conquered, rebuilt, and re-named by Ptolemy Soter King of Egypt. The old name, however, ultimately revived, or perhaps was never entirely disused; and the natives of the region still speak of it as Accho, while to Europeans it is familiar as Acre, or, more fully, St. Jean d'Acre. Here, also, as through all the line of cities along the coast, we find a church already organised, founded probably, as already suggested, by Philip the Evangelist. Here the stay of the travellers was shorter than at Tyre, probably because the ship only put into the harbour for the night. The passengers had time, however, to land and refresh themselves by intercourse with those who were sharers in their faith and hope.