| “And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so he had appointed, minding himself to go afoot [to walk]” (Acts 20:13). |
| Today’s verse has an interesting detail recorded in Scripture that tells us something about Paul — another example of what we were talking about yesterday. |
| It is a nice idea to find yourself a Bible atlas and keep it handy when you are reading. Then you can look up places like Assos and Troas. If you read the story that precedes our verse, you’ll remember that this was the occasion when Paul preached all night in Troas and a young man named Eutychus fell asleep and fell out of the window. It says that Paul continued preaching till the break of day. |
| Then he, and the disciples with him, were going to get on a ship and sail to the next place. But … . we are told that Paul decided to walk to the next city and the others would sail there, and pick him up. So Paul loved to hike and walk! And maybe too, he liked some time alone to “recharge” before he was to preach again! This is where your Bible atlas would come in handy as you would find that this was a hike of 20 miles (or about 32 kilometers). This would have been hiked wearing sandals and was likely over rough paths. |
| It is also nice to have a Bible dictionary, as the Bible often refers to distances and measures that we do not use today. With the two walking away from Jerusalem in Luke 24, we are told that they walked threescore furlongs. What is a score and what is a furlong? See if you can find out. |
| In Acts 27:28 we find the sailors measuring and finding the depth of the ocean twenty fathoms, and then fifteen fathoms. What is a fathom? And then we read about shekels and cubits. The Lord has put all these details in His Word for us, and you will find some interesting things if you search them out. |
