Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
Which when the brethren knew, [ epignontes (G1921 ), or 'came to the knowledge of,'] they brought him down to Cesarea - on the coast (see the note at Acts 8:40); accompanying him thus far. But Paul left Jerusalem thus abruptly for another reason than the danger to which his life was, for the second time, exposed. He received express instructions to that effect from his glorified Lord: "It came to pass (says he, in his defense before the people), that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; and saw Him (the glorified One) saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him:" - q.d., 'Can it be, Lord, that they will resist the testimony of one whom they knew to be the bitterest of all the persecutors of Thy name, whom only resistless evidence could have overpowered and won to Thee?' "And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles:" - q.d., 'Enough; Jerusalem is steeled against all evidence; the Gentiles afar off are to be thy special sphere' (Acts 22:17-21). Under these solemn impressions-communicated probably to the brethren, who would be glad of this confirmation of their own urgent entreaties to him to hasten away-he would yield himself to their affectionate solicitations; and so they brought him to Caesarea.
And sent him forth to Tarsus. The natural conclusion from this would be that he went by sea, direct to Tarsus, sailing due north from Caesarea, and landing at the mouth of the river Cydnus, the harbour for Tarsus. But since he himself tells us that, after this departure from Jerusalem, he "came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia" (Galatians 1:21), the probability is that he landed at Seleucia (see the note at Acts 13:4), proceeded thence by land to Antioch, and from this penetrated northward into Cilicia, ending his journey at Tarsus. For some interesting particulars regarding Tarsus, see the note at Acts 21:39. As this (says Howson) was his first visit to his native city since his conversion, so it is not certain that he ever was there again (see the notes at Acts 11:25-26). Now it probably was that he became the instrument of gathering into the fold of Christ those "kinsmen," that "sister," and perhaps her "son," of whom mention is made in Romans 16:7; Romans 16:11; Romans 16:21; and in Acts 23:16, etc.