Acts 18:21
But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
But bade them farewell, saying,.... As follows:
I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem; which perhaps was the passover, since that often went by the name of the feast: the why he must by all means keep it, was not because it was obligatory upon him; nor did he always observe it, as appears from his long stay at Corinth, and other places; and besides, as a Christian, he had nothing to do with it; but either because of his vow, Acts 18:18 or because he knew he should have an opportunity of preaching the Gospel to great numbers; the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions omit this clause:
but I will return again unto you, if God will; he promises to return to them, but not peremptorily as knowing that he was altogether subject to the will of God, who disposes and orders all things according to his sovereign pleasure; see James 4:15 and he sailed from Ephesus; which was near the Aegean sea: such was the situation of Ephesus, according to Apollonius {f}; who says, that it stood out to the sea, which encompassed the land on which it was built; so Pausanias {g} relates, that Lysimachus passing into Asia by shipping, took the kingdom of Antigonus from him, and built the city the Ephesians now inhabit near the sea; so Josephus {h} reports of Herod and Agrippa, that travelling by land to Phrygia Major, they came to Ephesus, and again, diepleusin, "they sailed from Ephesus" to Samos.
{f} Philostrat. Vita Apollonii, l. 8. c. 3.
{g} Attica sive, l. 1. p. 16.
{h} Antiqu. l. 16. c. 2. sect. 2.