[“This journey is to be looked upon not as having for its object a quiet preparation, but as a first experiment of extraneous ministry.”—Meyer. Farrar, Life and Work of Paul. Ch. xi. takes the opposite view and says, “No one, I think, who reads this passage attentively can deny that it gives the impression of an intentional retirement from human intercourse.” So also Schaff, who says it was a sort of substitute for the three years intercourse with Jesus enjoyed by the other Apostles. Ap. Ch. 236.—G.A.]