{Paul and his company} (hoi peri Paulon). Neat Greek
idiom as in Plato, Cratylus 440 C hoi peri Herakleiton. On this
idiom see Gildersleeve, _Syntax_, p. 264. It means a man and his
followers, "those around Paul." Now Paul ranks first always in
Acts save in  14:2  15:12,25  for special reasons. Heretofore
Saul (Paul) held a secondary position ( 9:27  11:30  13:1f. ).
"In nothing is the greatness of Barnabas more manifest than in
his recognition of the superiority of Paul and acceptance of a
secondary position for himself" (Furneaux). {Set sail}
(anachthentes). First aorist passive participle of anag(935c).
Thirteen times in the Acts and  Lu 8:22  which see. They sailed
up to sea and came down (katag(932c) katabain(935c)) to land. So it
looks. {Departed from them} (apoch(9372)(8873)as ap' aut(936e)). First
aorist active participle of apoch(9372)e(935c), old verb to withdraw, go
away from. In the N.T. only here and  Mt 7:23  Lu 9:39 . He is
called John there as in verse  5  and Mark in  15:39 , though
John Mark in  12:12,25 . This may be accidental or on purpose
(Deissmann, _Bible Studies_, p. 317). Luke is silent on John's
reasons for leaving Paul and Barnabas. He was the cousin of
Barnabas and may not have relished the change in leadership.
There may have been change in plans also now that Paul is in
command. Barnabas had chosen Cyprus and Paul has led them to
Perga in Pamphylia and means to go on into the highlands to
Antioch in Pisidia. There were perils of many sorts around them
and ahead ( 2Co 11:26 ), perils to which John Mark was unwilling
to be exposed. Paul will specifically charge him at Antioch with
desertion of his post ( Ac 15:39 ). It is possible, as Ramsay
suggests, that the mosquitoes at Perga gave John malaria. If so,
they bit Paul and Barnabas also. He may not have liked Paul's
aggressive attitude towards the heathen. At any rate he went home
to Jerusalem instead of to Antioch, _zu seiner Mutter_
(Holtzmann). It was a serious breach in the work, but Paul and
Barnabas stuck to the work.