Acts 17:14

‘And then immediately the brethren sent forth Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy dwelt there still.'

The believers, however, were well up to it, and recognising that Paul was the main target, and not wanting their fellow-townsmen to be over-disturbed, they smuggled him away to the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. This smuggling of him to the coast may have been a ruse in order to deceive the Thessalonian gang-leaders, for his Berean companions then escorted him to Athens. Going by boat may all have been part of the ruse so that no one would know where he had gone. But it is equally possible that it was a red herring and that they then travelled overland.

The result of all this was that the believers in Berea were left untroubled, the work went on through Silas and Timothy, the people continued to ‘receive the word' (Acts 17:11), Paul was safe, and instead of the word of God being silenced, it prospered. And Athens also received the Good News. Once again Satan had overstepped himself.

The situation here with regard to Thessalonica and Berea was very similar to that of Lystra and Derbe. There too they had had to flee from crowds in the larger city of Lystra, only to find in Derbe a ready reception for their message (Acts 14:19). Being removed from one city they simply moved on to the next, leaving behind a prospering church.

Note on the Movements of Silas and Timothy.

Luke does not always give us full details of the movement of ‘minor players' and we therefore sometimes have to put them together from the information that we have. Thus when Paul arrives in Athens he immediately requests that Silas and Timothy join him (Acts 17:15). That Timothy did so we know from 1 Thessalonians 3:1. But Paul was so concerned for the Thessalonians that after some time he then sent Timothy back to Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 3:2). Meanwhile he also sent Silas somewhere else, presumably with equal concern, back to ‘Macedonia', thus to Berea or to Philippi. This is apparent because both of them later returned to him ‘from Macedonia' when he moved to Corinth (Acts 18:5). Thus while Paul was preaching in Athens, Timothy was at work in Thessalonica, and Silas elsewhere in Macedonia

End of note.