Why did Paul leave Trophimus sick at Miletus?

2 Timothy 4:20 tells us that a man named Trophimus was left in Miletus because he was sick.

Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus.  2 Timothy 4:20 (NASB)

We are told that Paul first meet Trophimus in Troas during his third missionary journey in the summer of A.D. 56 (Acts 20:3-38). Acts 20:4 states that Trophimus was from Asia. There was also another man who had the same name of Trophimus, and he was from Ephesus (Acts 21:29).

The “I” in 2 Timothy 4:20 refers to the apostle Paul. Apparently, Trophimus and other men had accompanied Paul when he left Troas and went to Miletus since 2 Timothy 4:20 says that Paul left him in Miletus because he was “ill.” The beautiful ancient city of Miletus was located on the west coast of Turkey.

The Greek word for “ill” is astheneo. It means to be weak. Since the tense of the verb “ill” is a present participle, that reveals Trophimus continued being ill while he was in Miletus. That implies that he had been ill for a long period of time. Therefore, it appears he was left in Miletus’s because he was not recovering from his illness. Likely, attempts had been made by others to help him get well. Eventually, Paul had to leave Trophimus in Miletus since he was not well enough to travel and assist Paul.

So, that raises an important question. Why did Paul not heal Trophimus ? This is a valid question since in Acts 14:8-11 Paul had healed a man in Lystra who had been lame from birth. Paul also had healed many people while he was in Ephesus (Acts 19:11-12). Since the book of Acts is chronological, that means these healings occurred before Paul met Trophimus in Acts 20:3-38. T We are told that Paul healed again in Acts 28:7-9.

Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us courteously three days. And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery; and Paul went in to see him and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. After this had happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured. Acts 28:7-9 (NASB)

Now we have learned that Paul did not heal Trophimus, but he healed people both before and after he met Trophimus. The answer to our question is that Scripture does not give us an explanation.

It is possible that Trophimus was sick due to some sin that he had committed, and consequently, he was being disciplined. Or, maybe Trophimus was made ill to prevent him from being proud. That happened to the apostle Paul according to 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. Paul tells us that God had given him a “thorn” in the flesh to keep him humble. Three times Paul prayed that the thorn” be removed, but God refused to remove it.  It is also clear from the book of Job, that the partriarch suffered the loss of family, possessions, had boils all over his body, but he had not committed any sin. The book of Job reveals that Job was part of a contest between Satan and God. The contest was to prove to Satan that Job would serve God even under great suffering. God won! Maybe Trophimus was in the process of dying and God was going to take him home. There may be other reasons why Trophimus was ill. Maybe Paul tried to heal Trophimus, but one of these situations prevented Paul from healing him. It is also possible that Paul did not heal him if God had told Paul why Trophimus was ill. The answer to our question is that we do not know if Paul tried to heal the man. So, we do not know why God chose to leave Trophimus ill. Scripture does not give us any information.