Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 20:1

"And after the uproar ceased, Paul having sent for the disciples and exhorted them, took leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia." — Acts 20:1 (ASV)

Leaving Ephesus, Paul moved north either by land or by ship to Troas. There he hoped to find Titus, whom he had earlier sent to Corinth to deal with and report on the situation in the church there. Not finding him and being disturbed about conditions at Corinth, he went on to Macedonia without any further preaching in either Troas itself or the surrounding region (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:12–13). As at Athens and Corinth when his concern for the Christians at Thessalonica prevented him from giving full attention to an evangelistic outreach (cf. introductory comments on 18:1–17), so at Troas Paul seems to have been consumed with concern about the Christians at Corinth and was unable to launch out into any new missionary venture.

The large theater in Ephesus in which the riot of ch. 19 took place still stands, though in ruins. Excavations at Ephesus have uncovered statues of the multibreasted goddess Artemis, probably similar to the ones made and sold by Demetrius and the other silversmiths.