=20. The rest of the journey= to Jerusalem was on foot by Cæsarea. The occurrences at Cæsarea are narrated in Acts 21, and on his arrival at Jerusalem Paul was seized in the Temple by a mob comprised of resident Jews, urged on by some who were in attendance upon the feast from foreign parts who had seen Paul abroad in some Asiatic place.
Paul was now protected by the military interference of the Roman chief “captain of the band” stationed at the Temple. The history is minutely given us in Acts 21:32‒40. By the order of Festus the governor, called the procurator of Judæa, who succeeded Felix A. D. 61, Paul was taken to Cæsarea.
=21. On Paul’s appeal to Cæsar= he was taken on board a vessel sailing from Cæsarea and committed to the care of a centurion, Acts 27:1.
The course of the vessel, as stated Acts 27, was first to Sidon, where a short stay was made. Then “under Cyprus,” that is to the east of the island, as the winds were from the northwest and contrary, they “tacked” to Myra, a city of Lycia. This city stands upon a hill about two miles back from the shore. It is now called by its ancient name by the Greeks. Its port is Andriaca.
=22. The course thence= was to Cnidus, which is at the western end of a peninsula between the islands Rhodes and Cos; there they changed their course to the southward and passed Cape Salmone, on the extreme east of the island of Crete. The wind now was more ahead, that is, against them. Hence they “hardly,” meaning “with difficulty,” reached Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. It is ninety miles from Cnidus to Cape Salmone and seventy from Salmone to Lasea. The island of Crete is 160 miles long, and they remained under Crete and near the shore, hoping to reach Phœnice, which is about forty miles from Lasea.
=23. They had not sailed= more than about twenty miles before the wind, which had been from the south, changed around and blew so violently from the east that the vessel became unmanageable and they “let her drive.” The course was now west by north seven degrees, and this course was kept from Clauda to Melita, about 500 miles. Clauda is south of Crete twenty miles.
=24. Malta= is the largest of a group of islands, the one at that time called Melita, now Malta, being the easternmost. The shore is almost entirely precipitous; two or three small bays are found on the northern shore, one of which is supposed to be that into which Paul’s ship was driven. It is fifteen miles from the eastern end of the island, which is twenty miles in length, and this is the only bay on that side with a stream emptying into its waters. The stream is only a very small brook coming down from a source in the southwest. It was running in November when the writer visited the locality.