Acts 18:19

He came to Ephesus. Textual evidence favors (cf. p. 10) the reading, “they came to Ephesus.” The Greek verb translated “he came” is a nautical term meaning, “coming to land.” Ephesus was a famous city, capital of the Greek district of Ionia and later of the Roman province of Asia. It became the scene of the apostle John’s later labors. The city stood not far from the sea, on hilly ground at the mouth of the Cayster, between the larger rivers Hemius and Maeander. Ephesus had been an early Greek settlement on the western coast of Asia Minor, but in the 6th century B.C. it fell under the power of the kings of Lydia. From the first it had been a center for the worship of Artemis (the Roman Diana; see on ch. 19:24) whose temple there was visited by pilgrims from all over the known world. For centuries East and West had come into close contact at Ephesus, and there the religion of Greece took on a more Oriental character and involved magic, mysteries, and charms. In Paul’s day Ephesus was by far the busiest and most popular city in proconsular Asia. There were enough Jews for at least one synagogue. Left them there. Presumably Aquila and Priscilla settled for some time at Ephesus. For their various moves see on v. 2. Into the synagogue. This was Paul’s usual practice; he could not give up his own people, although constantly exposed to hard usage by them, but sought them out again here as soon as he arrived. However, what he preached here seems to have been received with less hostility, for the Jews of Ephesus begged him to stay longer (v. 20). It may be that the cosmopolitan character of the Ephesian population had something to do with this difference in attitude. Reasoned. Gr. dialegomai (see on ch. 20:7).