John Gill Commentary Acts 18:22

"And when he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and saluted the church, and went down to Antioch." — Acts 18:22 (ASV)

And when he had landed at Caesarea
This was Caesarea Stratonis, formerly called Strato's tower: it would have been nearest for the apostle to have landed at Joppa, in order to go to Jerusalem, but that haven was a dangerous one; this was the safest, and which therefore Herod had repaired at a vast expense, and in honour of Caesar had called it by this name: of the port at Caesarea, and what a convenient and commodious one, as it was made by Herod, Josephus ^F9 gives a particular account, and who often calls this place Caesarea, (paraliov) , "Caesarea by the sea" ^F11 ; and in other Jewish ^F12 writings mention is made of this place as a sea port, and of (Nyroyqd amyd atnwv) , "the shore of the sea of Caesarea": Josephus ^F13 sometimes calls it the port Sebastus, or Augustus, it being, as before observed, made by Herod, and so called in honour of Augustus Caesar; and in another place ^F14 , Sebastus the port of Caesarea: according to Jerom ^F15 , or a writer under his name, this was neither Caesarea Philippi, which indeed it could not be, that being an inland town; nor Caesarea formerly called Strato's tower, but a third Caesarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia:

In which he must be mistaken, seeing that was no sea port, and the apostle could not be said to land there; nor did it lie in the way to Jerusalem from Ephesus; but this city was in Phenice, and lay between Joppa and Dora; which cities were maritime ones, but very disagreeable havens, because of the vehement strong winds from Africa: from which rolling up the sand out of the sea upon the shore, would not admit of a quiet station ^F16 ; therefore the apostle chose to land here, and not at either of the said ports;

and gone up ;
not to Caesarea, but to Jerusalem, from thence, which lay higher; and going to and from these places, is signified by a going up and down, (Acts 9:30) (25:1) . Moreover, the apostle had told the Ephesians, that he must go and keep the feast in Jerusalem, as he undoubtedly did:

and yet if this does not refer to his going up thither, it will not be easy to observe that he went thither at all before his return to Ephesus; and besides, to suppose him to go from Caesarea to Antioch, was all one as to go back to Ephesus; and so to go, as one observes, by the same place to Jerusalem, into which he promised, in his return from Jerusalem, to come again, if God would:

and saluted the church ;
at Jerusalem, the mother church:

he went down to Antioch ;
in Syria, from whence he first set out.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Antiqu. l. 15. c. 9. sect. 6. & de Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 21. sect. 5, 6, 7.
• F11: Ib. de Bello l. 1. c. 3. sect. 5. & l. 3. c. 8. sect. 1. & l. 7. c. 1. sect. 3. c. 2. sect. 1.
• F12: Midrash Kohelet, fol. 71. 4. & 82. 2.
• F13: Antiqu. l. 17. c. 5. sect. 1.
• F14: De Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 31. sect. 3.
• F15: De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. A.
• F16: Joseph. Antiqu. l. 15. c. 9. sect. 6.