Bibliography

Aḥituv, Shmuel. Echoes from the Past: Hebrew and Cognate Inscriptions from the Biblical Period. Translated by Anson F. Rainey. Jerusalem: Carta, 2008.

van der Veen, Peter. “Milkom.” Pages 169–70 in Iconography of Deities and Demons in the Ancient Near East. (Forthcoming).

Heider, George C. The Cult of Molek: A Reassessment. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987.

Bryan D. Bibb

Miletus (Μίλητος, Milētos). A declining center of commerce on the western coast of Asia Minor during the New Testament period. The site of Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:15) and the place where Paul left Trophimus to recover from his illness (2 Tim 4:20).

Biblical Relevance

It is unclear why Paul would have stopped in the dying seaport of Miletus rather than Ephesus—especially since Ephesus was by this time a dominant seaport and city where Paul was well-loved. Paul may have stopped at Miletus because of the increasing urgency he felt in traveling to Jerusalem. If he had stopped in Ephesus, Paul would have received enthusiastic Hellenistic hospitality and been obligated to stay for several weeks. By stopping in Miletus instead, Paul could avoid offending the Ephesians by refusing their hospitality; yet he could still communicate to the whole of his Ephesian community via its elders (Rapske, “Acts, Travel and Shipwreck,” 17; see also Witherington, The Acts of the Apostles, 609).