And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while. But during this long residence at Corinth it would appear that he took missionary excursions into the interior of the province, and not without fruit; for whether the expression at the opening of his Second Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 1:1) - "with all the saints which are in all Achaia" - refer to little churches, or only to individual believers scattered through the province, it certainly implies that they were not few in number.
And then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, х eis (G1519) teen (G3588) Surian (G4947).] - rather 'for Syria;' that is, for Antioch, its capital, and the starting-point of this mission to the Gentiles which he feels to be for the present concluded.
And with him Priscilla and Aquila. The order in which these names are here placed-the wife first-is the more remarkable, as it seems to be henceforward invariable (see the note at Acts 18:26; Romans 16:3; 2 Timothy 4:19. No doubt, the reason of it is to be found in her greater prominence and helpfulness to the Gospel. Silas and Timotheus accompanied him too, as also Caius (Gaius) and Aristarchus, as appears from Acts 19:22; Acts 19:29. Of Silas, as Paul's companion, we read no more. Probably (as Webster and Wilkinson conclude) he accompanied him as far as Jerusalem (from which he had come at first to Antioch, as one of the deputies of the council), and there remained. He appears to have after that put himself in connection with Peter, and the churches of Asia Minor, being mentioned by him for the last time in his First Epistle 1 Corinthians 5:12).
Having shorn his head. This may, according to the construction of the sentence, apply either to Paul or to Aquila. The Vulgate, Theophylact, Grotius, Meyer, and Howson, apply it to Aquila, partly as being the person immediately before mentioned, and partly regarding the act as too Jewish for Paul to have observed. But nearly every other critic and expositor regards it as obviously meant of Paul, the prominent person in this whole passage; and with them we agree.
In Cenchrea - it should be 'Cenchreae,' which was the eastern harbour of Corinth, about 10 miles distant, where (as appears from Romans 16:1) a church had been formed.
For he had a vow. That this was not the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:1-27; and see the note at Luke 1:15) is next to certain. It was probably one made in one of his seasons of difficulty or danger. The shaving of the hair was no part of the ceremony of taking the vow, but a token of release from it after its objects were accomplished. And if, to complete the ceremony, he designed to offer the usual sacrifice within the prescribed thirty days (see Josephus, Jewish Wars 2: 15. 1), that would explain the haste with which he left Ephesus (Acts 18:21), and-if he failed to reach it in time-explain also the subsequent observance of a similar vow at Jerusalem, on the recommendation of the brethren (Acts 21:24). The present one at Corinth was voluntary, and shows that even in pagan countries he systematically studied the prejudices of his Jewish brethren.