When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band. Embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. The next day, we touched at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him permission to go to his friends and refresh himself. Putting to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. When we had sailed across the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us on board. When we had sailed slowly many days, and had come with difficulty opposite Cnidus, the wind not allowing us further, we sailed under the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone. With difficulty sailing along it we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
When much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because the Fast had now already gone by, Paul admonished them and said to them, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” But the centurion gave more heed to the master and to the owner of the ship than to those things which were spoken by Paul. Because the haven was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised going to sea from there, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, and winter there, which is a port of Crete, looking southwest and northwest.
When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to shore. But before long, a stormy wind beat down from shore, which is called Euroclydon. When the ship was caught and couldn’t face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. Running under the lee of a small island called Clauda, we were able, with difficulty, to secure the boat. After they had hoisted it up, they used cables to help reinforce the ship. Fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis sand bars, they lowered the sea anchor, and so were driven along. As we labored exceedingly with the storm, the next day they began to throw things overboard. On the third day, they threw out the ship’s tackle with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars shone on us for many days, and no small storm pressed on us, all hope that we would be saved was now taken away.
When they had been long without food, Paul stood up in the middle of them, and said, “Sirs, you should have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete and have gotten this injury and loss. Now I exhort you to cheer up, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel, belonging to the God whose I am and whom I serve, saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I believe God, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me. But we must run aground on a certain island.”
But when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven back and forth in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors surmised that they were drawing near to some land. They took soundings, and found twenty fathoms. After a little while, they took soundings again, and found fifteen fathoms. Fearing that we would run aground on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for daylight. As the sailors were trying to flee out of the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they would lay out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these stay in the ship, you can’t be saved.” Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat, and let it fall off.
While the day was coming on, Paul begged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you wait and continue fasting, having taken nothing. Therefore I beg you to take some food; for this is for your safety; for not a hair will perish from any of your heads.” When he had said this, and had taken bread, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all, then he broke it and began to eat. Then they all cheered up, and they also took food. In all, we were two hundred seventy-six souls on the ship. When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. When it was day, they didn’t recognize the land, but they noticed a certain bay with a beach, and they decided to try to drive the ship onto it. Casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time untying the rudder ropes. Hoisting up the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach. But coming to a place where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground. The bow struck and remained immovable, but the stern began to break up by the violence of the waves.
The soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim out and escape. But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, stopped them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should throw themselves overboard first to go toward the land; and the rest should follow, some on planks, and some on other things from the ship. So they all escaped safely to the land.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 9, 11, 15, 21, 23, 24, 25, 30, 33, 35, 37, 38, 41, 42 1. Luke setteth down Paul’s voyage by sea most…
1. Luke setteth down Paul’s voyage by sea most of all to this end, that we may know that he was brought to Rome wonderfully by the hand of God; and that the glory of God did many ways appear excellent in his doings and sayings even in the very journey, which did more establish his apostleship. He is delivered to be carried with other prisoners; but the Lord doth afterward put great difference between him and the evil-doers, who were in bonds as well as he. Yea, moreover, we shall see how the captain doth loose him, and let him be at liberty, when the rest lie bound. I know not what band that was which Luke calleth the band of Augustus, unless, peradventure, it be that which was commonly called the praetor’s band, before the monarchy of the Caesars. And Luke setteth down in plain words, that they were put in a ship of Adramyttium; because they should sail by the coast of Asia. For Adramyttium is a city of Aeolia. I cannot tell out of what haven they launched. Because they could not sail with a straight course to Sidon, unless the maps do greatly deceive me, we may well guess that they were brought thither, either because they could find a ship nowhere else, or else because they were to take the other prisoners, of whom mention is made, out of that region.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 7, 9, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 34, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44 Paul with many other prisoners, and through the midst…
Paul with many other prisoners, and through the midst of many deaths, is brought to Rome, but yet by God’s own hand as it were, and set forth and commended unto the world with many singular testimonies.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–44 1 And when it was determined that we should…
1 And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band.
Ver. 1. It was determined] First by God, Act 23:11, and then by the ordinary magistrate guided by God.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–44 It was determined; upon the solemn hearing of Paul’s…
It was determined; upon the solemn hearing of Paul’s case, it was resolved by Festus and Agrippa, with the rest that were taken by Festus to advise concerning it.
Julius; thought to have been a freed-man of the family of Julius, who thence took his name.
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A centurion of Augustus’ band; as Cornelius was a centurion of the Italian band: see Act 10:1. This band, or regiment, was called Augustus’s (or the emperor’s) because (as some will) it was part of his guard.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 12, 20, 27, 33, 38 The time being now come for the fulfilling of…
The time being now come for the fulfilling of God’s purpose and determinate counsel concerning Paul, recorded Be of good cheer, Paul, as thou hast testified of me at Jerusalem, so shalt thou bear witness also at Rome. Act 23:11
Pursuant to this purpose of God, Festus the Roman governor delivers the apostle and his associates, Luke, Timothy, and Aristarchus, to Julius, in order to their sending, with several other prisoners, who probably were great malefactors, to the city and court of Rome, where all appeals made to the Roman emperor were heard and determined before himself.
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Now here we have observable, 1. The person whom the apostle was delivered to: Julius, a very civil person to the apostle, who suffered him to see and receive the civilities of his friends. Thus God raises up his people friends in the midst of their sufferings, and when persecutors send his saints to prison, he will provide keepers for their turn. Julius, an heathen soldier, was kinder to him than his own countrymen the Jews.
Observe, 2. The villianous company of malefactors and prisoners that the innocent apostle was packed with, They delivered Paul, and certain other prisoners, to Julius. Saints and sinners, good and bad, innocent and nocent, share together in the same outward miseries: but though they be thus jumbled together in this world, (where all things come alike to all,) yet the righteous Judge will make a difference between them in the other world, according to their works.
Observe, 3. Though the apostle was thus yoked with malefactors and criminals in the ship, yet God favoured him with some companions which were according to his heart’s desire; namely, his dear associates, St. Luke, Timothy, and Aristarchus. It is a great comfort to the afflicted to have good companions in their afflictions; Optimum Solatium est Sodalitium.
But above all, it was the happiness of the apostle that he enjoyed the presence of God with him in so comfortable a manner, in and under all his sufferings, according to his promise, I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. Act 18:10
The gracious special presence of God with his children and people, is a sure and sufficient support unto them in and under all the difficulties and trials, which his wisdom seeth fit to exercise and try them with.
Observe, 4. What an additional favour it was from God, that St. Paul found friends in Sidon, such saints as he could comfortably converse with, and receive refreshments from, even needful accommodations for his tedious voyage.
Learn hence, That God’s care of, his compassion towards, and provision for, his children and people, is universal and perpetual, at all times and in all places.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 12, 21 It does not appear how long it was after…
It does not appear how long it was after Paul's conference with Agrippa that he was sent away for Rome, pursuant to his appeal to Caesar; but it is likely they took the first convenience they could hear of to do it; in the mean time Paul is in the midst of his friends at Caesarea - they comforts to him, and he a blessing to them. But here we are told,
I. How Paul was shipped off for Italy: a long voyage, but there is no remedy. He has appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar he must go: It was determined that we should sail into Italy, for to Rome they must go by sea; it would have been a vast way about to go by land. Hence, when the Roman conquest of the Jewish nation is foretold, it is said (Num 24:24), Ships shall come from Chittim, that is, Italy, and shall afflict Eber, that is, the Hebrews. It was determined by the counsel of God, before it was determined by the counsel of Festus, that Paul should go to Rome; for, whatever man intended, God had work for him to do there. Now here we are told, 1. Whose custody he was committed to - to one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus's band, as Cornelius was of the Italian band, or legion, Act 10:1. He had soldiers under him, who were a guard upon Paul, that he might not make his escape, and likewise to protect him, that he might have no mischief done him. 2. What bottom he embarked in: they went on board a ship of Adramyttium (Act 27:2), a sea-port of Africa, whence this ship brought African goods, and, as it should seem, made a coasting voyage for Syria, where those goods came to a good market. 3. What company he had in this voyage, there were some prisoners who were committed to the custody of the same centurion, and who probably had appealed to Caesar too, or were upon some other account removed to Rome, to be tried there, or to be examined as witnesses against some prisoners there; perhaps some notorious offenders, like Barabbas, who were therefore ordered to be brought before the emperor himself. Paul was linked with these, as Christ with the thieves that were crucified with him, and was obliged to take his lot with them in this voyage; and we find in this chapter (Act 27:42) that for their sakes he had like to have been killed, but for his sake they were preserved. Note, It is no new thing for the innocent to be numbered among the transgressors. But he had also some of his friends with him, Luke particularly, the penman of this book, for he puts himself in all along, We sailed into Italy, and, We launched, v. 2. Aristarchus a Thessalonian is particularly named, as being now in his company. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that Trophimus the Ephesian went off with him, but that he left him sick at Miletum (Ti2 4:20), when he passed by those coasts of Asia mentioned here (v. 2), and that there likewise he left Timothy. It was a comfort to Paul to have the society of some of his friends in this tedious voyage, with whom he might converse freely, though he had so much loose profane company about him. Those that go long voyages at sea are commonly necessitated to sojourn, as it were, in Mesech and Kedar, and have need of wisdom, that they may do good to the bad company they are in, may make them better, or at lest be made never the worse by them.
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II. What course they steered, and what places they touched at, which are particularly recorded for the confirming of the truth of the history to those who lived at that time, and could by their own knowledge tell of their being at such and such a place. 1. They touched at Sidon, not far off from where they went on board; thither they came the next day. And that which is observable here is, that Julius the centurion was extraordinarily civil to Paul. It is probable that he knew his case, and was one of the chief captains, or principal men, that heard him plead his own cause before Agrippa (Act 25:23), and was convinced of his innocency, and the injury done him; and therefore, though Paul was committed to him as a prisoner, he treated him as a friend, as a scholar, as a gentleman, and as a man that had an interest in heaven: He gave him liberty, while the business of the ship detained it at Sidon, to go among his friends there, to refresh himself; and it would be a great refreshment to him. Julius herein gives an example to those in power to be respectful to those whom they find worthy of their respect, and in using their power to make a difference. A Joseph, a Paul, are not to be used as common prisoners. God herein encourages those that suffer for him to trust in him; for he can put it into the hearts of those to befriend them from whom they least expect it - can cause them to be pitied, nay, can cause them to be prized and valued, even in the eyes of those that carry them captive, Psa 106:46. And it is likewise an instance of Paul's fidelity. He did not go about to make his escape, which he might have easily done; but, being out upon his parole of honour, he faithfully returns to his imprisonment. If the centurion is so civil as to take his word, he is so just and honest as to keep his word. 2. They thence sailed under Cyprus, Act 27:4. If the wind had been fair, they had gone forward by direct sailing, and had left Cyprus on the right hand; but, the wind not favouring them, they were driven to oblique sailing with a side wind, and so compassed the island, in a manner, and left it on the left hand. Sailors must do as they can, when they cannot do as they would, and make the best of their wind, whatever point it is in; so must we all in our passage over the ocean of this world. When the winds are contrary yet we must be getting forward as well as we can. 3. At a port called Myra they changed their ship; that which they were in, it is probable, having business no further, they went on board a vessel of Alexandria bound for Italy, Act 27:5, Act 27:6. Alexandria was now the chief city of Egypt, and great trading there was between that city and Italy; from Alexandria they carried corn to Rome, and the East-India goods and Persian which they imported at the Red Sea they exported again to all parts of the Mediterranean, and especially to Italy. And it was a particular favour shown to the Alexandrian ships in the ports of Italy that they were not obliged to strike sail, as other ships were, when they came into port. 4. With much ado they made The Fair Havens, a port of the island of Crete, Act 27:7, Act 27:8. They sailed slowly many days, being becalmed, or having the wind against them. It was a great while before they made the point of Cnidus, a port of Caria, and were forced to sail under Crete, as before under Cyprus; much difficulty they met with in passing by Salmone, a promontory on the eastern shore of the island of Crete. Though the voyage hitherto was not tempestuous, yet it was very tedious. They many that are not driven backward in their affairs by cross providences, yet sail slowly, and do not get forward by favourable providences. And many good Christians make this complaint in the concerns of their souls, that they do not rid ground in their way of heaven, but have much ado to keep their ground; they move with many stops and pauses, and lie a great while wind-bound. Observe, The place they came to was called The Fair Havens. Travellers say that it is known to this day by the same name, and that it answers the name from the pleasantness of its situation and prospect. And yet, (1.) It was not the harbour they were bound for; it was a fair haven, but it was not their haven. Whatever agreeable circumstances we may be in in this world, we must remember we are not at home, and therefore we must arise and depart; for, though it be a fair haven, it is not the desired haven, Psa 107:30. (2.) It was not a commodious haven to winter in, so it is said, Act 27:12. It had a fine prospect, but it lay exposed to the weather. Note, Every fair haven is not a safe haven; nay, there may be most danger where there is most pleasure.
III. What advice Paul gave them with reference to that part of their voyage they had before them - it was to be content to winter where they were, and not to think of stirring till a better season of the year. 1. It was now a bad time for sailing; they had lost a deal of time while they were struggling with contrary winds. Sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was already past, that is, the famous yearly fast of the Jews, the day of atonement, which was on the tenth day of the seventh month, a day to afflict the soul with fasting; it was about the 20th of our September. That yearly fast was very religiously observed; but (which is strange) we never have any mention made in all the scripture history of the observance of it, unless it be meant here, where it serves only to describe the season of the year. Michaelmas is reckoned by mariners as a bad time of the year to be at sea as any other; they complain of their Michaelmas-blasts; it was that time now with these distressed voyagers. The harvest was past, the summer was ended; they had not only lost time, but lost the opportunity. 2. Paul put them in mind of it, and gave them notice of their danger (Act 27:10): "I perceive" (either by notice from God, or by observing their wilful resolution to prosecute the voyage notwithstanding the peril of the season) "that this voyage will be with hurt and damage; you that have effects on board are likely to lose them, and it will be a miracle of mercy if our lives be given us for a prey." There were some good men in the ship, and many more bad men: but in things of this nature all things come alike to all, and there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked. If both be in the same ship, they both are in the same danger. 3. They would not be advised by Paul in this matter, Act 27:11. They thought him impertinent in interposing in an affair of this nature, who did not understand navigation; and the centurion to whom it was referred to determine it, though himself a passenger, yet, being a man in authority, takes upon him to overrule, though he had not been oftener at sea perhaps than Paul, nor was better acquainted with these seas, for Paul had planted the gospel in Crete (Tit 1:5), and knew the several parts of the island well enough. But the centurion gave more regard to the opinion of the master and owner of the ship than to Paul's; for every man is to be credited in his own profession ordinarily: but such a man as Paul, who was so intimate with Heaven, was rather to be regarded in seafaring matters than the most celebrated sailors. Note, Those know not what dangers they run themselves into who will be governed more by human prudence than by divine revelation. The centurion was very civil to Paul (Act 27:3), and yet would not be governed by his advice. Note, Many will show respect to good ministers that will not take their advice, Eze 33:31.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–43 And entering into a ship of Adramyttium,.... Which was…
And entering into a ship of Adramyttium,.... Which was in the port of Caesarea; for from thence they set sail to the place where this ship was bound, which very likely was the place here mentioned; there was a city of this name in Africa, and which was built upon the sea shore, and is sometimes called Hadrumentum (g), as this is called Adramantos, in the Syriac version; and in the Alexandrian copy, and in another manuscript, "a ship of Adramyntum"; it is mentioned with Carthage, a city in Africa, by Pliny (h) and Solinus (i); the one calls it Adrumetum, and the other Adrymeto; and the latter says, that it, as well as Carthage, was built by the people of Tyre; and so Sallust (k) says, that the Phoenicians built Hippo, Adrumetum, Leptis, and other cities on the sea coast; and the name seems to be a Phoenician name, "Hadarmuth", which signifies "the court of death"; perhaps it might be so called, either from the badness of the air in which it was, or the dangerousness of its haven: Jerom calls it Hadrumetus, and says (l) it is a city in Byzacium, a country in Africa; he seems to design another place, the metropolis of the Byzacian country, the most fruitful of all the parts of Africa, and which in the Phoenician language was "Hadarmeoth"; which signifies "the court of a hundred"; that is, it was a place so fruitful that it brought forth an hundred fold; and agreeably to which is what Pliny says (m), they are called Libyphoenicians, who inhabit Byzacium, a country so named, in circuit two hundred and fifty miles, and of such great fruitfulness that the land returns to the husbandmen an hundred fold. The former of these is most likely to be the place here meant; and though we nowhere read of the apostle being here, nor of the Gospel being preached here in the early times of Christianity; yet in the "fourth" century there was a church in this place, and Philologus was bishop of it, who subscribed at a council held at Carthage in this century; and in the "fifth" century we read of several bishops of this place, as Aurelius, who was in the Chalcedon council, Flavianus in that at Ephesus, which was reckoned an infamous one, and Helladius, who was in the first Ephesine council, and Felix, who was banished by Gensericus (n). There was another city of the same name in Aeolia, or Mysia (o), and which was formerly called Pedasus, and since Landermiti, and was a seaport, and bids fair to be the place here intended; though since there was an island of Lycia called Adramitis (p), now Audromety, and it was at Myra, a city of Lycia, where this ship stopped, Act 27:5 and where the passengers changed their ship, this seems most likely to be designed:
we launched; in the said ship from Caesarea:
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meaning to sail by the coast of Asia; the lesser Asia, along by Ephesus and Miletus, as they did; for in this last place, as before observed, Trophimus was left sick; the Alexandrian copy reads, "that was about to sail"; that is, the ship of Adramyttium was about to sail, or just ready to sail by the coast of Asia, wherefore the company entered, and set forth in it on their voyage:
one Aristarchus a Macedonian, of Thessalonica, being with us; the same person that was with the apostle at Ephesus, and accompanied him into Asia, Act 19:29 the same went through with him to Rome, and became his fellowlabourer, and fellow prisoner there, Plm 1:24 Col 4:10.
(g) Mela, l. 1. c. 7. (h) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 34. (i) Polyhistor. c. 40. (k) Bellum Jugurth. p. 52. (l) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. B. (m) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 4. (n) Magdeburg. Eccl. Hist. cent. 4. c. 9. p. 496, 497. cent. 5. c. 10. p. 648. (o) Plin. l. 5. c. 30. Ptolom. l. 5. c. 2. Mela. l. 1. c. 18. Pausan. Messenica sive l. 4. p. 268. Herodot. l. 7. c. 42. (p) Stephanus de urbibus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44 As soon as it was determined to sail -…
As soon as it was determined to sail - As being a shorter and less expensive passage to Rome.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 It being determined that Paul should be sent to…
CHAPTER XXVII.
It being determined that Paul should be sent to Rome, he is
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delivered to Julius, a centurion, 1.
They embark in a ship of Adramyttium, and come the next day to
Sidon, 2, 3.
They sail thence, and pass Cyprus, Cilicia, and Pamphylia, and
come to Myra, 4, 5.
They are transferred there to a ship of Alexandria going to
Italy; sail past Cnidus, Crete, Salmone, and come to the Fair
Havens, 6-8.
Paul predicts a disastrous voyage, 9-11.
They sail from the Fair Havens, in order to reach Crete, and
winter there; but, having a comparatively favourable wind,
they sail past Crete, and meet with a tempest, and are brought
into extreme peril and distress, 12-20.
Paul's exhortation and prediction of the loss of the ship,
21-26.
After having been tossed about in the Adriatic Sea, for many
days, they are at last shipwrecked on the island of Melita;
and the whole crew, consisting of two hundred and seventy-six
persons, escape safe to land, on broken fragments of the ship,
27-44.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVII.
Verse 1. And when it was determined, c.] That is, when the governor had given orders to carry Paul to Rome, according to his appeal together with other prisoners who were bound for the same place.
We should sail] By this it is evident that St. Luke was with Paul; and it is on this account that he was enabled to give such a circumstantial account of the voyage.
Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.] Lipsius has found the name of this cohort on an ancient marble; see Lips. in Tacit. Hist. lib. ii. The same cohort is mentioned by Suetonius, in his life of Nero, 20.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23, 27, 33, 39, 42 Act 27:1-2. When it was determined that we should…
Act 27:1-2. When it was determined that we should sail into Italy — The apostle having, by appeal, transferred his cause to the emperor, Festus determined to send him to Italy by sea, as being a shorter and less expensive passage to Rome; and for that purpose delivered him, with certain other persons, who were also to be judged at Rome, to one Julius, a centurion of the Italian legion. All these prisoners, with the soldiers who guarded them, went aboard a ship of Adramyttium, a seaport of Mysia, and sailed from Cesarea in the autumn of A.D. 62. From the history here, it appears that the messengers of the churches, who accompanied Paul into Judea with the collections, (Act 21:4,) were not intimidated by the evils which the Jewish rage brought upon him in Jerusalem. For, while he continued there, they remained with him; and when he was sent a prisoner to Cesarea, they followed him thither, and in both places, doubtless, ministered to him, and perhaps attended him on his trials. And when it was determined to send him to Italy, two at least of these affectionate friends went in the same ship with him; namely, Luke, the writer of this book, as appears from his style here, and Aristarchus, a Thessalonian.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 And when it was determined - By Festus Act…
And when it was determined - By Festus Act 25:12, and when the time was come when it was convenient to send him.
That we should sail - The use of the term “we” here shows that the author of this book, Luke, was with Paul. He had been his traveling companion, and though he had not been accused, yet it was resolved that he should still accompany him. Whether he went at his own expense, or whether he was sent at the expense of the Roman government, does not appear. There is a difference of reading here in the ancient versions. The Syriac reads it, “And thus Festus determined that he (Paul) should be sent to Caesar in Italy,” etc. The Latin Vulgate and the Arabic also read “he” instead of “we.” But the Greek manuscripts are uniform, and the correct reading is doubtless what is in our version.
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Into Italy - The country still bearing the same name, of which Rome was the capital.
And certain other prisoners - Who were probably also sent to Rome for a trial before the emperor. Dr. Lardner has proved that it was common to send prisoners from Judea and other provinces to Rome (Credibility, part i. chapter 10, section 10, pp. 248, 249).
A centurion - A commander of 100 men.
Of Augustus’ band - For the meaning of the word “band,” see the Mat 27:27 note; Act 10:1 note. It was a division in the Roman army consisting of from 400 to 600 men. This was called “Augustus’ band” in honor of the Roman emperor Augustus (see the notes on Act 25:21), and was probably distinguished in some way for the care in enlisting or selecting them. The Augustine cohort or band is mentioned by Suetonius in his Life of Nero, 20.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 27, 30, 31, 33, 40, 41, 44 Adrumetum. In the Greek, Adrametum, which seems to be…
Adrumetum. In the Greek, Adrametum, which seems to be the best reading: the former was in Africa, the latter in Asia; and the ship was to make for the coasts of Asia and not those of Africa. --- Being about to sail [1] by the coast of Asia. Literally, beginning to sail; the sense can only be designing to sail that way, as appears also by the Greek. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Incipientes navigare, Greek: mellontes plein, navigaturi.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Acts Chapter 27
Acts Chapter 27
His innocence fully established and acknowledged by his judges, the purposes of God must still be accomplished. His appeal to Caesar must carry him to Rome, that he may bear testimony there also. In his position here he again resembles Jesus. But at the same time, if we compare them, the servant, blessed as he is, grows dim, and is eclipsed before Christ, so that we could no longer think of him. Jesus offered Himself up in grace; He appealed to God only; He answered but to bear testimony to the truth-that truth was the glory of His Person, His own rights, humbled as He was. His Person shines out through all the dark clouds of human violence, which could have had no power over Him had it not been the moment for thus fulfilling the will of God. For that purpose He yields to power given them from above. Paul appeals to Caesar. He is a Roman-a human dignity conferred by man, and available before men; he uses it for himself, God thus accomplishing His purposes. The one is blessed, and his services; the other is perfect, the perfect subject of the testimony itself.
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Nevertheless, if there is no longer the free service of the Holy Ghost for Paul, and if he is a prisoner in the hands of the Romans, his soul at least is filled with the Spirit. Between him and God all is liberty and joy. All this shall turn to his salvation, that is, to his definitive victory, in his contest with Satan. How blessed! Through the communications of the Spirit of Jesus Christ the word of God shall not be bound. Others shall gain strength and liberty in view of his bonds, even although, in the low state of the church, some take advantage of them. But Christ will be preached and magnified, and with that Paul is content. Oh how true this is, and the perfect joy of the heart, come what may! We are the subjects of grace (God be praised!), as well as instruments of grace in service. Christ alone is its object, and God secures His glory-nothing more is needed: this itself is our portion and our perfect joy.
It will be remarked in this interesting history, that at the moment when Paul might have been the most troubled, when his course was perhaps the least evidently according to the power of the Spirit, when he brought disorder into the council by using arguments which afterwards he hesitates himself entirely to justify-it is then that the Lord, full of grace, appears to him to encourage and strengthen him. The Lord, who formerly had told him at Jerusalem to go away because they would not receive his testimony, who had sent him warnings not to go thither, but who accomplished His own purposes of grace in the infirmity and through the human affections of His servant, by their means even, exercising at the same time His wholesome discipline in His divine wisdom by these same means-Jesus appears to him to tell him that, as he had testified of Him at Jerusalem, so should he bear witness at Rome also. This is the way that the Lord interprets in grace the whole history, at the moment when His servant might have felt all that was painful in his position, perhaps have been overwhelmed by it, remembering that the Spirit had forbidden him to go up; for, when in trial, a doubt is torment. The faithful and gracious Saviour intervenes therefore to encourage Paul, and to put His own interpretation on the position of His poor servant, and to mark the character of His love for him. If it was necessary to exercise discipline for his good on account of his condition and to perfect him, Jesus was with him in the discipline. Nothing more touching than the tenderness, the opportuneness, of this grace. Moreover, as we have said, it all accomplished the purposes of God with regard to the Jews, to the Gentiles, to the world. For God can unite in one dispensation the most various ends.
And now, restored, reanimated by grace, Paul shews himself in his journey to be master of the position. It is he who counsels, according to the communication he receives from God, he who encourages, he who acts, in every way, on God’s part, in the midst of the scene around him. The description, full of life and reality, which Luke his companion, gives of this voyage, needs no comment. It is admirable as a living picture of the whole scene. Our concern is to see what Paul was amid the false confidence, or the distress of the whole company.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Act_27:1 to Act_28:15
SECTION IV
THE APOSTLE’S JOURNEY BY SEA FROM CESAREA TO ROME
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Act_27:1 to Act_28:15
A.—THE VOYAGE TO ITALY, AND ITS DANGERS, BUT ALSO THE DIVINE PROTECTION GRANTED TO THE APOSTLE AND THOSE WHO WERE WITH HIM. THE SHIPWRECK, AND THE ESCAPE FROM DEATH AT THE ISLAND OF MALTA
Act_27:1-44
1And [But] when it was determined [resolved] that we should sail into [to] Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion ofAugustus’ band [to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band] 2And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one [We embarked, then (δὲ), in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail1 to the places [τόπους] in Asia; and we put to sea,] Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica,being with us. 3And the next day we touched [landed] at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul [treated Paul with kindness], and gave him liberty [permitted him] to go2 unto his friends to [friends and] refresh himself. 4And when we had launched [put to sea] from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the windswere contrary [to us]. 5And when we had sailed over [through] the sea of [sea, along (the coast of)] Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra3, a city of Lycia [to Myra in Lycia].
6And there [There] the centurion found a ship of Alexandria [which was] sailinginto [to] Italy; and he put us therein [us on board of it]. 7And when we had [But we] sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, [and with difficulty reached the region of Cnidus; but as the wind did not allow us to land,] we sailed under Crete4, over against Salmone; 8And, hardly [with difficulty] passing it, came unto a place which is called the [om. the] Fair Havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea5.
9Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now [was already] dangerous, because [also, χαὶ] the fast was now already [was now] past, Paul admonished them,10And said unto them, Sirs [Ye men, Ἄνδρες], I perceive that this [the, τὸν] voyage will be [will terminate, μέλλειν ἔσεσθαι] with hurt6 [injury] and much damage, not only of the lading [cargo7] and ship, but also of our lives. 11Nevertheless [However, δὲ] the centurion believed the master [steersman] and the owner of the ship [ship-owner],more than those [the, τοῖς] things which were spoken by Paul. 12And [But] because the haven [harbor] was not commodious [suited] to winter in, the more [greater] part advised [resolved] to depart thence also8, if by any means [if perhaps, εἴπως] they might attain to Phenice [might be able to reach Phoenix], and there to winter [and winter there]; which is a haven of Crete, and lieth toward the southwest and north-west.13And when [as] the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing [setting sail] thence, they sailed close9 by [close along the coastof] Crete. 14But not long after [this,] there arose10 against it [against the ship] a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon [which is called Northeasterly11]. 15And when [Now as] the ship was caught [carried along], and could not bear up into [against]the wind, we let her drive [wind, we gave her up, and were driven onward]. 16And running under a certain [But when we came near to a small] island which is called Clauda12, we had much work to come by [much difficulty in obtaining control of] theboat: 17Which when they had taken [raised] up, they used helps [aids], undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands [should be drivenupon the sand-banks], strake sail [lowered the tackling], and so were driven. 18And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest [And as we suffered exceedingly from the storm], the next day they lightened the ship [they threw merchandise overboard];19And [on] the third day we13 cast out with our own hands the tackling [the furniture]of the ship. 20And [Now (δὲ)] when neither sun nor stars in [for] many days appeared, and no small [slight] tempest lay [pressed] on us, all hope that we should be saved was then [all hope that our lives would be saved was at last (λοιπὸν)] taken away. 21But after [a] long abstinence [from food], Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, [Ye men], ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed [sailed] from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss [Crete; ye would thus haveavoided this injury and this damage]. 22And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall [will] be no loss of any man’s life among you, but [only that] of theship. 23For there stood by me this night the [an] angel of God, whose I am, andwhom I serve, 24Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cesar [must stand before the emperor]: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.25Wherefore, sirs [ye men], be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall [will] be even as it was told me. 26Howbeit [Yet (δὲ)] we must be cast upon [be wrecked at] a certain island.
27But when the fourteenth night was come14 [came], as we were driven up and down in Adria [in the Adriatic sea], about midnight the shipmen [mariners] deemed [conjectured] that they drew near to some country [that some land was approaching them];28And sounded, and [heaving the lead, they] found it twenty fathoms [deep]: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it [deep; after ashort interval they again cast the lead, and found] fifteen fathoms. 29Then fearing lest we [lest they, ἐχπέσωσιν]15 should have fallen [should be wrecked] upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of [at] the stern, and wished for the day [wished that daywould come]. 30And as the shipmen were about [But when the mariners sought, ζητούντων] to flee out of the ship, when they had [ship, and] let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of [on the pretextthat they were about (μελλόντων) to let go anchors at] the foreship, 31Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these [If these do not] abide in the ship, ye can-not be saved. 32Then the soldiers cut off [cut away] the ropes of [from] the boat, andlet her fall off. 33And while the day was coming on [But until it began to be day], Paul besought [exhorted] them all to take meat [nourishment], saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried [waited] and continued fasting, having [and have]taken nothing. 34Wherefore I pray [exhort] you to take16some meat [nourishment]; for this is for your17 health [preservation,σωτηρίας]: for there shall not a hair fall from the head of any of you [for not a hair of the head of any one of you will perish18]. 35And when [When] he had thus spoken19, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all; and when he had broken it, he [all, broke it, and] began toeat. 36Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat [took nourishment.37And [But] we were20 in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen [two hundred and seventy-six] souls. 38And [But] when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat [grain] into the sea. 39And [But] when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek [inlet] with a shore [beach], into the [om. the] which they were minded [they resolved21], if it werepossible, to thrust in [drive] the ship. 40And when they had taken up the anchors [Therefore, cutting away the anchors], they committed themselves unto the sea [they let them fall into the sea22], and loosed the rudder bands [and, at the same time (ἅμα) loosened the fastenings of the rudders], and hoised [hoisted] up the mainsail [foresail23]to the wind, and made toward the shore [beach]. 41And [But] falling into a place where two seas met [which had the sea on both sides], they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves [broken by the violence (om. of thewaves)24]. 42And the soldiers’ counsel was [But the soldiers formed the resolution] to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out and escape25 [that no one mightescape by swimming]. 43But the centurion, willing [The centurion, however (δὲ), wished] to save Paul, [and] kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which [who] could swim should cast themselves first into the sea [water], and get toland: 44And the rest, some [partly] on boards, and some [partly] on broken pieces [on pieces] of the ship. And so [thus] it came to pass, that they escaped all [they all came] safe to land.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act_27:1. And when it was determined [resolved].—The resolution which was now adopted, did not refer to the voyage itself, which had already been determined, but to the mode and the time of the journey to Italy; it was, namely, decided that the party should set forth immediately, and go by sea. [“When Vespasian went to Rome, leaving Titus to prosecute the siege of Jerusalem, he went on board a merchantship, and sailed from Alexandria to Rhodes, and thence pursued his way through Greece to the Adriatic, and finally went to Rome through Italy by land. Jos. B. J. vii. 2. 1.”(Conyb. and Howson, etc., II. 318).—Tr.]. It was now late in the autumn of the year A.D. 60 [Act_27:9]. By the word ἡμᾶς the narrator indicates, in addition to Paul, both himself and also the Macedonian Christian Aristarchus of Thessalonica, Act_27:2; see Act_19:29; Act_20:4 [and Col_4:10; Philem. Act_27:24.—“Our English translators speak of him, very strangely, as ‘one Aristarchus,’ as if he were otherwise unknown.” (Hackett).—Tr.]; both voluntarily accompanied the apostle. Hence Luke here speaks communicatively for the first time since the mention of the arrival at Jerusalem (Act_21:15-18), and retains the same form of speech until the party reaches Rome.—The expression τοῦ ἀποπλεῖν excites attention in a grammatical point of view, since it presents the object to which the resolution referred as the purpose or design of that resolution. [On the later usage with regard to this construction (the article in the genitive, with the infinitive, see Winer’s remark on the passage, Gram. N. T., § 44. 4, under the second a).—Tr.]. In accordance with the resolution already mentioned, Paul, with his voluntary attendants, on the one hand, and, on the other, the rest of the prisoners who were to be sent forward, and who belonged to a different class (ἕτεροι, i.e., of another sort), were officially given in charge to a centurion named Julius, who was thus made responsible for the safe delivery of all the prisoners. [De Wette denies that ἑτέρους is here intentionally employed instead of ἄλλους, (as Meyer and Lechler assume), in order to imply that the other prisoners were of another kind, i.e., not Christians; and, to show that ἄλλος and ἕτερος are used promiscuously, appeals to Act_15:35; Act_17:34.—They delivered.—“Who? Perhaps the assessors with whom Festus took counsel on the appeal, Act_25:12; but, more likely, the plural is used indefinitely, the subject being ‘they,’ like the French ‘on,’ or the German ‘man.’ ” (Alf.).—See Winer, Gr. N. T., § 64. 3.—Tr.].—Different views have been entertained by interpreters respecting the cohors Augusta, to which the centurion Julius belonged. Kuinoel, who adopted the opinion of Schwarz (Diss. de cohorts Italica et Augusta, 1720, p. 43), assumed that a cohort of soldiers from Sebaste (Samaria) was meant. [After Herod had rebuilt the city of Samaria, he gave it the name of Σεβαστή, in honor of Augustus; Jos. Ant. xv. 7. 7 and 8. 5.—Tr.]. But this supposition is, for various reasons, entitled to very little consideration. [If, for instance, the fact had been as Schwarz supposes, the cohort would have been described as σπ. καλουμένη Σεβαστηνῶν. (De Wette).—Tr.]. Wieseler: (Ap. Chron., p. 389 ff.) conjectures that Julius belonged to the special imperial bodyguard of Nero (cohors Augustanorum), that he had been sent to the East for the purpose of fulfilling some official duty, and that, when he was returning to Rome, Festus availed himself of the opportunity, in order to send the prisoners, under his care, to that city. But the terms of the text before us, convey the impression that both the centurion and the cohort in question, were stationed at Cesarea, and were under the command of Festus. Hence the name is still involved in a certain obscurity, which we cannot remove by any arbitrary conjectures.
Act_27:2. And entering into a ship.—The prisoners, with a body of Roman soldiers, who served as a guard, accordingly embarked at Cesarea on a trading vessel which came from Adramyttium, a seaport of Asia Minor, in the province of Mysia, not far from Troas and Assos, and opposite to the island of Lesbos. The ship was homeward bound, but previously to the conclusion of the voyage, was yet to touch at several seaports along the coast, of Asia proconsularis.[Πλεῖν τοὺς - - τόπους is the reading of the text. rec. with G. H.—Lachm. inserts εἰς after πλεῖν, on the authority of A. B., to which Cod. Sin. is now also to be added. Alford. with de Wette and Meyer, rejects the preposition as a later attempt to correct an apparently harsh construction; for the latter, see Winer: Gr. § 32. 1 ult. on the passage.—Tr.]. It was intended that this ship should be exchanged for another which was on its way to Italy, and which could be readily found in some one of the seaports of Asia Minor.—The nautical and topographical points which occur in the narrative of Luke, have been explained in a manner which claims all our gratitude, in the work of a learned Englishman, entitled: “The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul: with Dissertations on the Life and Writings of St. Luke, and the Ships and Navigation of the Ancients. By James Smith, Esq., of Jordanhill, F.R.S. 1848. Second edition, London, 1856.” This writer employed a winter’s residence in Malta, in carefully examining all the localities of the island; he consulted educated and experienced seamen on the subject of the navigation of the Levant, and collected all the information which modern log-books and descriptions of seavoyages could furnish. He devoted special attention to the ship-building and the navigation of the ancients, and availed himself of all accessible documents and aids, in order to shed all possible light on the narrative in the Acts. The result was, that he clearly explained many points which had hitherto been involved in obscurity, and, at the same time, essentially contributed to the evidences of the historical truth and of the credibility of the Book of the Acts. He has, in particular, demonstrated in the clearest manner, in many passages of the work, that the writer of the narrrative before us, 1, could not have himself been a seaman, inasmuch as his language, when he speaks of nautical matters, is not that which any one who was professionally and practically acquainted with the subject, would have employed. He has demonstrated that, for this very reason, the writer must, 2, have been an eye-witness of all that he records; this point is proved both by the statements respecting all that occurred on board, and by the geographical details which are interwoven with the narrative; for no man who was not professionally acquainted with marine affairs, could have furnished a description of a sea-voyage so consistent in all its parts, unless he related that which he had personally observed and experienced. [Similar testimony is borne to the value of the services of J. Smith, by Meyer, Alford, Alexander, Hackett, Howson, etc., in their respective works; all gladly express their sense of the obligations which he has conferred on those who interpret the Acts of the Apostles.—Tr.]
Act_27:3. And the next day we touched [landed] at Sidon.—If they reached Sidon the day after they left Cesarea, the wind must have been favorable, as the distance between the two places is about 67 miles. [Sidon is mentioned in Act_12:20.—Tr.]. At the season of the year which had now arrived, Act_27:9, westerly winds prevail in that part of the Mediterranean, and such a wind would be desirable for the ship, in view of the course in which it was proceeding. The courteous treatment of Paul by the centurion may possibly have been originally due to certain instructions received from the procurator, although there can be no doubt that, at the same time, the personal character and conduct of the apostle must have made a most favorable impression on every unprejudiced and intelligent mind. The vessel doubtless touched at Sidon for the purposes of trade; during the delay, Paul was permitted to spend his time among the Christians of that city, accompanied, of course, by a guard.
Act_27:4-5. When they sailed from Sidon, contrary winds compelled them to sail under Cyprus, that is, instead of sailing in the open sea, they tacked, and sailed on the lee side of the island. Interpreters had hitherto been divided in their opinions respecting the side of the island along which the vessel proceeded. Some (e. g., Falconer; J. F. v. Meyer [not the commentator, H. A. W. Meyer], etc.), understand the text as if the vessel had left Cyprus on the right, and sailed along its southern coast; but Erasmus, wetstein, Bengel, etc., suppose that they passed by Cyprus on the left, that is, north of it. The latter is, without doubt, the correct view [and accords with that of J. Smith.—Tr.]; for we are informed in Act_27:5, that they sailed through [the whole length of (Alf.)] the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia (διαπλεύσαντες); hence, they must have, at first, sailed between Syria and the eastern coast of Cyprus, and then between the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, on the one hand, and the northern coast of Cyprus, on the other. (J. Smith). [“Modern nautical investigation has brought to light that from Syria to the Archipelago, along the coast of Asia Minor, there is a constant current to the westward .… By getting into this strong current they would be able to make some way westward, even in the face of an unfavorable wind.” (Alex.).—Tr.].—Myra, where they landed, was, at that time, a flourishing seaport of Lycia, about twenty stadia [between two and three miles] distant from the sea, according to Strabo, but was situated on a stream which was navigable to the city.
Act_27:6-8. a. And there the centurion found a ship.—At Myra the centurion Julius transferred the soldiers who accompanied him, together with the prisoners, to a merchant-vessel which had arrived from Alexandria, and was on its way to Italy. The cargo consisted of wheat, according to Act_27:38, Egypt at that time being one of the granaries of Italy. Grain was usually transported from that country to Italy in very large vessels; according to a statement of Lucian, they could not have been inferior in size to the largest merchant-vessels of modern times. [“Josephus states (Life, § 3) that the ship in which he was wrecked in his voyage to Italy, contained six hundred persons.” (Hackett).—Tr.].—This circumstance explains the fact that not less than 276 persons (Act_27:37) found room on board of this vessel.
b. The travellers had at first proceeded from Cesarea to Myra, Act_27:1-5; the second part of the voyage, from Myra to Crete, is next described, Act_27:6-8. They now made unusually slow progress, as they encountered contrary winds; that it was not merely a calm which occasioned the delay, J. Smith infers from the word μόλις, which implies an effort, a struggle with the wind; besides, the words μή προςεῶντος ἡμᾶς τοῦ ἀνέμον seem intended to explain μόλις γεν. κατὰ τὴν Κνίδον. Cnidus, a peninsula between Cos and Rhodes, was not too distant from Myra [130 miles], to have been reached in a single day, with favorable winds. The voyage from the vicinity of Cnidus to Italy, should, properly, have been in a south-western direction, so that the travellers would pass along the northern coast of Crete. But as the wind continued to be contrary, they chose another course, namely, to the south-south-west, towards the eastern shore of Crete, the extreme point of which, to the east, is formed by the promonotory of Salmone. The voyage was thence continued along the southern shore of the island, and the ship was constantly struggling with the wind and the waves (μόλις) [occurring in Act_27:7, find repeated in Act_27:8.—Tr.], until it reached a place called Fair Havens, not far from the city of the name of Lasea. [Αὐτὴν, Act_27:8, refers to τ. Κρήτην. (Meyer).—Tr.]. There is a bay on the southern shore of Crete, which, as J. Smith has proved, still bears the name of Λιμένες Καλοί, and in which a ship is sheltered from north-west winds.
Act_27:9-12. Paul admonished them.—[Πλοὸς, in later Greek, occurred also as a genitive, instead of πλοῦ, Winer, Gr. § 8. 2.—Tr]. A crisis had now arrived in the affairs of the voyagers. The favorable season for sailing had passed by, for the time of the fast (νηστεία)—that is, the fast of expiation—was already over, and they had accordingly reached a period which was subsequent to the autumnal equinox. [This fast of the day of atonement was observed on the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev_16:29 ff; Lev_23:26 ff.), that is, of Tisri; this was the seventh month of the Jewish ecclesiastical or sacred year, but the first of the civil year. The fast occurred about the close of September, or the beginning of October, soon after which navigation was suspended in those waters. It is here mentioned simply to specify the season of the year, and is designated as the fast (τὴν νὴσ.), as it was the only annual, public and rigid fast, which Moses instituted. See Horne’s Introd. Part III. Ch. 5 Sect. II. p. 132; Keil’s Bibl. Arch. § 69; Winer’s Realw, art. Fasten; Herzog’s Real-Encyk. IV. 332.—Tr.]. Hence Paul warned the centurion and the owner of the vessel not to continue the voyage, and advised that they should winter in the harbor which they had succeeded in reaching, as any other course of action would expose the vessel to great danger.—The construction, in Act_27:10, is loose: ὅτι—μέλλειν ἔσεσ. [The sentence begins with ὅτι but closes with the infinitive and accusative (μέλλειν ἔσ. τὸν πλοῦν), as if ὅτι had not been used. Analogous cases occur in the best classic writers. (Winer: Gr. § 44. 8. Anm. 2, and § 63. 2. c.)—Tr.].—Meyer and Ewald understand ὕβρις, in Act_27:10, in a moral sense, viz., presumption; but then it would be necessary to take the word in the same sense in Act_27:21, where it is again combined with ζημία, but where, according to the context, it would be inappropriate in that sense (see the Exeg. note below on Act_27:21-26). It must, accordingly, be understood in the natural sense, according to the usual interpretation, as referring to the evils occasioned by the violence of the storm. The language of Paul on this occasion expresses the results of his own intelligent observation (θεωρῶ) and reflection; afterwards, he speaks in consequence of a divine revelation which he had received, Act_27:21 ff. The event demonstrated that his fears had been well founded, although all escaped with their lives. At the consultation which was held, the centurion attached more weight to the opinion of the steersman and the ship-owner than to the advice of Paul—and naturally, as the former were professionally and practically acquainted with such subjects. Besides, the reason which they assigned for objecting to the plan of wintering in that spot, claimed consideration: the bay was not suited for that purpose; for the words ἀνενθ.—παραχειμ. in Act_27:12, obviously state the grounds of their opposition to Paul’s advice. They agreed with him that the voyage to Italy could not at present be continued; but the majority of those who had a voice in the matter (οἱ πλείονς) decided in favor of selecting a more favorable place for passing the winter, namely, a harbor on the south-western coast of Crete, named Phœnix, provided that they could reach it. Luke describes this harbor as lying toward Λίψ, Africus [the south-west wind], and Χῶρος [Corus, or Caurus, the north-west wind]. This language has usually been understood to mean that of the two sides of the harbor, the one extended in the direction of the south-west, the other, in that of the north-west, [the irregular coast itself, in the interior of the harbor, looking due west.—Tr.]. J. Smith adopts the opposite view, p. 47 ff. [second ed. pp. 84–89], in order to sustain his opinion that a harbor which is now known as Lutro [Loutro] is identically the same spot. In that case κατὰ Λίβα καὶ κατὰ Χῶρον would denote the direction in which these winds blew, that is, the north-east and the south-east. But such an interpretation does violence to the usus loquendi, and is adopted merely to sustain a certain hypothesis. See the Commentary of Hackett, of North America, 1858, p. 420 ff. [Prof. Hackett, in his second edition (1863, p. 421 f.), adheres to his original opinion, which agrees with that of Lechler, as given here; he is not willing to identify Phœnix with the modern Lutro, which, as J. Smith states: “looks or is open to the east.” Alford agrees with J. Smith; Howson (Conyb. and H. II. 382) also adopts the conclusion at which Smith arrives, but admits that at least the philological arguments of the latter, are not conclusive.—Tr.].
Act_27:13. And when the south wind blew softly.—The voyage from Crete to Malta, terminating with the shipwreck, is next described, Act_27:13-44. A moderate south wind began to blow ὑποπν. is applied to a gentle breeze). It was supposed to be favorable for their purpose, inasmuch as at Cape Matala, not far from Fair Havens [four or five miles], the coast of Crete turns to the north-west, and for a voyage in that direction a south wind was precisely the one which sailors would desire. Hence they weighed anchor (αἴρειν was a common term in nautical language, used in this sense, even without the addition of τὰς ἀγκύρας).—The word ἆσσον was formerly believed to be the name of a city of Crete [see note 9 above, appended to the text.—Tr.], and was connected with ἄραντες, as the place from which they sailed, or else as indicating the direction in which they proceeded. [Assos, in Mysia, Asia Minor, is mentioned in Act_20:14.—Tr.]. It should, however be written with a small initial letter, as it is here the comparative of ἐγγύς [of ἄγχι (Passow).—Tr.], and signifies “nearer,” that is, nearer than was usual, or, quite near to the coast.
Act_27:14-15. But not long after.—Ἔβαλε, i.e., struck against [intransitively, fell upon, beat against, as frequently in classic writers, after the age of Homer. (Meyer).—Tr.].—Κατʼ αὐτῆς; Luther supposed that these words referred to προθέσεως, Act_27:13 [“their purpose”], which, however, would be a forced construction: Meyer refers them to Κρήτην. But it is more natural, in accordance with the context, to assume that ναῦς is the subject, [Win. Gr. § 47. 5. k. note.—Tr.], although this word does not here actually occur. [“Luke employs αὐτῆς, because the mental antecedent is ναῦς, which actually occurs in Act_27:41, though his ordinary word is πλοῖον.” (Hackett).—Tr.].—Τυφωνικός is derived from τυφών, a whirlwind, a hurricane.—Εὐρακύλων is compounded of Eurus and Aquilo, that is, northeast; this reading [see note 11 above, appended to the text.—Tr.] is preferable to Εὐροκλύδων. [The latter form, adopted by the Engl. version is, according to de Wette, derived from εὖρος, the south-east wind, and κλύδων, billow, wave. Other explanations have been furnished, but no one has met with general approbation. Howson remarks (Conyb. and H. II. 825 n. 7): “The addition of the words ὁ καλούμενος seems to us to show that it was a name popularly given by the sailors to the wind: and nothing is more natural than that St. Luke should use the word which he heard the seamen employ on the occasion.”—Tr.]. The term τυφωνικός describes the violence of the wind, εὐρακύλων states its direction; for it was only a north-east wind which could have produced the effects that are subsequently described. The wind had veered around in an opposite direction.—Ἀντοφθαλμεῖν, i.e., to look [the wind] in the face, to bear up against, to strive against.—Ἐπιδόντες, i.e.,τὸ πλοῖον. [“They were compelled to scud before the gale.” (Howson, l. c.)—Tr.]
Act_27:16; Acts 17. a. And running under a certain island [But when we came near to a small island],—Ὑποτρέ χειν is, as J. Smith remarks (p. 61, Note [2d ed. p. 100, Note], the most appropriate nautical term which could have here been employed. It states, first, that the ship had the wind behind it, and, secondly, that the wind was between the ship and the island, so that the former went to the south-east of the island. Clauda (also called Claudus by Ptolemy), [“a small island about twenty miles from the south coast of Crete” (Sir C. Penrose)—Tr.], now bears the name of Gozzo. Here they endeavored to hoist on board the boat with which the ship had been provided, so that, if the circumstances should render it necessary, they might make use of it; otherwise, the violence of the winds and the waves might tear it loose from the ship by which it had been towed, and it would then have been irretrievably lost. This work was performed with some difficulty [μόλις, a third time, see Act_27:7-8]; Luke does not, however, explain wherein the difficulty consisted. [“After towing so long, it must have been nearly filled with water.” (Conyb. and H. II. 337.)—Tr.]. It was, next, considered to be indispensably necessary, that the ship should be undergirded, in order to prevent it from foundering at sea. This work was accomplished by means of certain βοήθειαι; such aids or helps consisted of cables, chains, etc., which were passed under the keel of the vessel, in order to bind the planks together as tightly as possible. In mechanics, the ancients understood by βοήθειαι, props or supports. [Undergirding, technically termed frapping, consists in “passing cables or other large ropes under the keel and over the gunwales, and then drawing them tight by means of pullies and levers.” (Sir C. Penrose, quoted in Conyb. and H. II. 336, note 6).—Tr.]
b. And fearing lest, etc.—They were apprehensive of being driven on the Syrtis, i.e., Syrtis Major, between Tripoli and Barca on the African coast, which, on account of the rocks found in it, is still regarded by navigators as a dangerous shallow (ἐκπέσωσι, i.e., driven from the open sea against the land or rocks). The men had reason to entertain such fears, as the north-east wind was blowing at the time directly toward that quarter. The other, Syrtis Minor, cannot be here meant, it lay too far to the west [near Carthage]; they were, accordingly, in imminent danger of being driven upon the greater Syrtis. (There is, therefore, no reason to assume that Σύρτιν is here an appellative, in the general sense of sand-bank, particularly as the definite article is prefixed). [Nevertheless Lechler translates the word in the text above, Act_27:17, “sandbanks.”—Tr.]. In order to avoid this danger, they lowered the tackling. [“They lowered the gear. This is the most literal translation of the Greek expression.” (Conyb. and H. II. 337.)—“Strake sail (Engl. version) is regarded by the latest nautical interpreters as not only incorrect but contradictory, denoting not a wise precaution against danger, but a reckless rushing into it.” (Alex.).—Tr.]. The expression τὸ σκεῦος no doubt here means, in accordance with the context, the sails, which were furled, in order that the storm might not have too much power over the vessel; in that case, the wordsυὅτως ἐφέροντο mean that the latter was allowed to be driven without sails. But it is precisely this expression which shows that, if the narrator had been practically acquainted with nautical affairs, he would, unquestionably, if he at all mentioned the subject, have been more definite and full in his statements. [“What precise change was made we are not able to determine, in our ignorance of the exact state of the ship’s gear at the moment. It might mean that the mainsail was reefed and set. (Such is Mr. Smith’s view). Or it might mean that the great yard was lowered upon deck, and a small storm sail hoisted, etc.” (Conyb. etc. II. 337, 338).—Tr.]. J. Smith, who it is true, interprets here a priori, that is, according to the course which under the circumstances, ought to have been adopted, rather than according to the direct sense of the words themselves, speaks of the lowering of the gear, of the hoisting of the storm sail, and of tacking, p. 68 ff. [Second ed. p. 108, 109].—These (Act_27:13-17) were the events of the first day, after the vessel had left Pair Havens.
Act_27:18-19. And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest.—In consequence of the violence of the storm, many things were, on the following day, thrown overboard; the articles thus sacrificed for the purpose of lightening the ship, were probably the heavier and less valuable parts of the cargo. But on the third day, they were compelled to proceed even further [as the leaks no doubt admitted an increasing quantity of water.—Tr.], and cast out even a part of the furniture of the ship, such as tables, chests, etc. And the passengers themselves were now required to lend their assistance (αὐτόχειρες). [Lechler, namely, prefers the reading which exhibits the verb ἐῤῥιψ. in the first person. See note 13, above, appended to the text.—Tr.]
Act_27:20. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared.—[“The sun and stars were the only guides of the ancients when out of sight of land.” (Alf.).—Tr.]. The voyagers were now exposed to the most severe trial; during eleven days they were in imminent danger of perishing; comp. Act_27:27. As the violence of the storm did not abate, and heavy clouds obscured the sky both by day and by night, they abandoned all hope of escaping with their lives, especially as the vessel appears to have suffered serious damage. [The leaky state of the ship increased upon them. (J. Smith).—Tr.]
Act_27:21-26. But after long abstinence.—This πολλὴ ἀσιτία, that is, the long-continued and rigid abstinence from regular meals, cannot have been occasioned by an actual want of provisions, as the ship’s cargo consisted of wheat, which had not yet been cast overboard, Act_27:38. It was, partly, the impossibility of properly cooking food, and, partly, the incessant labors which were performed, together with the mental distress occasioned by fear and despair, which had prevented the voyagers from eating.—Paul stood forth … and said.—During this period of danger and painful anxiety, Paul came forward (the precise time previously to the catastrophe mentioned below, is not stated), and spoke to the company in encouraging terms; he promised all, on the authority of a divine revelation which he had received, that they should escape with their lives. If he, nevertheless, begins by saying that the advice which he had previously given (Act_27:10), should have been adopted, he is not influenced by an undue tenaciousness in adhering to his own opinion, but simply desires to demonstrate that he is justified in claiming the faith and confidence of his hearers, by reminding them that the result had so far fully established the soundness of his advice. [Μέν after ὲδει is not connected with καὶ at the beginning of Act_27:22; the clause expressing the contrast (e. g., “but such I was not the case”) is omitted. See Kuehner. Gram. § 322. 5: 100. Rem. 4. (Meyer).—Tr.]. He uses the word κερδαίνειν in a sense in which it often occurs in later Greek, after the time of Aristotle; it indicates, in that case, a certain gain which consists, not, positively, in securing an advantage, but, negatively, in avoiding an injury or a loss against which precautions had been successfully adopted: and it is precisely for this reason that ὕβρις cannot here with any propriety be understood in a moral sense, which is the interpretation of Meyer and Ewald. [See the Exeg. note above on Act_27:9-12.—Tr.]. The construction of the clause in Act_27:22, beginning with ἀποβολή, is the following: ‘for there will be no loss of life in the case of any of you, unless it be of the ship,’ that is, there will be a loss: the less precise πλήν is used instead of πλήν μόνου. [Winer. Gr. § 67. 1. e.—Tr.].—This night. Act_27:23. that is, the preceding night, as Paul undoubtedly made this address to the company in the day-time. Οὖ εἰμί, that is, ‘whose property I am’; a different thought is conveyed by ῷ λατρεύω [comp. Rom_1:9], ‘to whom I offer worship.’ The latter refers to acts of prayer on the part of Paul, which the people on board may at times, have noticed. We can hardly suppose that the vision occurred in a dream (Ewald); it was doubtless granted at a time when Paul was awake. If the promise made in Act_23:11, and which is here more fully explained in reference to the person of the emperor, was to be fulfilled, it also included an assurance of the safety of the life of Paul in the present danger. The words κεχάρισταί etc. do not merely furnish a general promise that the follow-travellers of the apostle shall escape with their lives, but also state in particular that they will be saved from death for the sake of Paul, inasmuch as God assures Paul of their safety, as an act of grace to him. Paul had, without doubt, offered prayers (λατρεύω) not only in behalf of himself, but also in behalf of all who were around him, and God had now accepted his intercessory petitions. Δέ, in Act_27:26, implies that their lives would indeed be spared, but that they would, nevertheless, experience much evil. The knowledge that they would be cast upon a certain island, appears to have been derived from the vision, but ‘Where?’ and ‘When,’—were questions which Paul could not yet answer.
Act_27:27-28. But when the fourteenth night was come.—The days and nights continue to be counted from the time when the vessel left the bay in Crete. The name of Adria was occasionally employed, it is true, in a restricted sense, even by the ancients, and designated that which is now known as the Adriatic Sea, namely, the gulf on the north of the straits of Otranto (N. lat. 40°—45°). But the name also frequently embraced, as in the present case, in addition to the Adriatic, also the Ionian Sea, so that it was applied to the sea on the east of Lower Italy and Sicily, in which Malta is also found. [For the anecdote of Cæsar, see below, Hom. and Pr. Act_27:27.—Tr.]. The conjecture of the sailors that they were in the vicinity of land, is expressed by the word ὑπενόουν, suspiciebant, as this circumstance would necessarily expose them to a new danger. [“The roar of breakers is a peculiar sound, which can be detected by a practised ear.” (Conyb. and H. II. 344).—Tr.]. The language προςάγειν - - χώραν is adapted to an optical illusion [“according to which the vessel seems to stand still and the land to move.” (Alex).—Tr.]: the converse is found in the following: “terraque urbesque recedunt.” [Æn. III. 72]. Luke does not state the grounds of the conjecture, but it was no doubt, suggested by the increasing sound which proceeded from the surf. J. Smith refers, on p. 81 ff. [118, 119], to a case which is, in a striking manner, similar to the one before us; it is that of the British frigate Lively, which was wrecked, Aug. 10, 1810, in the same region in which Paul is now found, not far from the point of Koura. He refers to the records of the Admiralty, and exhibits the remarkably analogous circumstances in the case of the English frigate, as given in evidence at the court-martial held on its officers. [“The mean rate of a drift of a ship circumstanced like that of Paul,” says J. Smith, “would be thirty six and a half miles in twenty-four hours. … Hence, according to the calculations, a ship starting late in the evening from Claude (476 miles distant from the point of Koura), would, by midnight on the fourteenth, be less than three miles from the entrance of St. Paul’s Bay.” See the Exeg. note on Act_27:39, bellow.—Tr.].—In order to learn whether there was reason to entertain fear, the sailors sounded and found at first a depth of 20 fathoms (120 feet), and after proceeding a little further, ascertained that the depth was only 15 fathoms (90 feet). [“The ancient fathom and the modern coincide so nearly, that the nautical interpreters, in their calculations, treat them as identical.” (Alex.).—Tr.]. Such a rapid decrease of the depth afforded just grounds for apprehending that they would be carried on the rocks or reef (τραχεἴς τόπους).
Act_27:29. They cast four anchors out of the stern.—They had a twofold purpose in anchoring: first, to keep the ship from foundering on a reef, and, secondly, to wait for day-light, so that the vessel might strand at a point which would, with the greatest probability, afford means of escaping to land. Not less than four anchors were let down; for vessels in ancient times did not possess those colossal anchors which modern vessels carry, and therefore took a larger number of them on board. They acted with prudence in letting go the anchors at the stern, for if they had anchored by the bow [the head of the Ship], the north-east wind, which still continued to blow, would have the more easily obtained control of the ship, and the wreck would have occurred under still more unfavorable circumstances [“the vessel would have swung round and gone upon the rocks.” (Conyb. and H. II., 345).—Tr.]. J. Smith has shown that these seamen acted with much prudence, and exhibited great skill. Howson, an English writer, mentions, that when Nelson appeared before Copenhagen, April, 1801, he ordered that each ship [as she arrived nearly opposite her appointed station], should let go her anchors astern—that this procedure was of advantage to the fleet—and that Nelson stated, after the battle, that he had that morning been reading the twenty-seventh chapter of the Acts, which had suggested this measure to him. [Lechler refers to Conybeare and Howson’s Life, etc., of St. Paul, II., 345.—Tr.]
Act_27:30. To flee out of the ship.—The sailors doubtless believed that the ship was in such a shattered state, that it would entirely go to pieces before the night was over; they may have, at the same time, apprehended that the character of the coast was so unfavorable, that when the ship would be finally wrecked, no hope of escape would remain. Hence they designed to flee out of the ship, by resorting to the boat, which had previously been secured on board, Act_27:16-17. The ship itself, and the company, they had cruelly intended to leave to their fate. They accordingly let down the boat into the sea, under the pretext that they proposed to cast anchors out of the foreship or prow. [“Μελλόντων must be regarded as the genitive absolute, like the foregoing (τῶν δὲ ναυτῶν ζητ.), and προφάσει (comp. Thuc. V. 53.1, and VI. 76. 1) is used adverbially (Bernhardy, p. 130), while, in the classic writers the accusative, πρόφασιν is more usual, etc.” (Meyer).—Tr.]
Act_27:31-32. Except these abide in the ship.—[“For the third time in this memorable voyage and tempest (see Act_27:10; Act_27:21), Paul the prisoner comes forward as the counsellor of those who seemed to have his life and liberty at their disposal.” (Alex.).—It may seem singular that Paul, even after the divine promise (Act_27:22-24), should regard the safety of the whole company as depending on the presence of the sailors. It must, however, be remembered that the efficacy of any divine interposition is not here represented as depending on human means and ends. But when God has prescribed a certain course of action, which men are to pursue, he requires that they should adopt that course, and employ the means appointed by Him, if they desire the aid of His omnipotence. (Calvin).—Tr.] Paul defeated the plan of the faithless and treacherous sailors by communicating it to the Roman military force. [“He penetrated the design of the former, and either from some divine intimation of the instruments which were to be providentially employed for the safety of all on board,—or from an intuitive judgment, which showed him that those who would be thus left behind, the passengers and soldiers, would not be able to work the ship in any emergency that might arise,—he saw that, if the sailors accomplished their purpose, all hope of being saved would be gone. With his usual tact, he addressed not a word to the sailors, but spoke to the soldiers and his friend the centurion; and they, with military promptitude, held no discussion on the subject, but decided the question by immediate action.” (Conyb. and Howson, etc., II. 347 f.).—Tr.]. The soldiers were, as a matter of course, not acquainted with the art of navigation, and would have been left without any resource, if all the sailors had withdrawn. They therefore cut the ropes by which the boat was still attached to the ship, and abandoned it to the waves.
Act_27:33-37. And while the day was coming on.—[But until it began to be day]. Ἄχρι, i.e., before it was day, and, accordingly, before they could begin to work and resort to the final measures which were to be adopted for saving their lives. As the strength of each individual would be taxed to the utmost by the effort to reach the shore, and as each one should be as fully as possible prepared to meet the emergency, Paul encouraged all, both by his words and his acts, to take a full meal. [“For the fourth time Paul the prisoner assumes, as it were, the command of the vessel, or at least the direction of the company, etc. … The words ‘having taken nothing’ are not to be strictly understood, but as a natural and popular hyperbole, denoting the omission of all stated meals, etc.” (Alex.).—Tr.]. The apostle himself showed a good example, after having given thanks to God aloud in the presence of all. [“Paul does not here observe a love-feast (Olsh.), nor does he act as the head of a family (Meyer), but simply proceeds as a devout Jew, who offers the prayer of thanks before he eats.” (De Wette).—Tr.]
Act_27:38. And when they had eaten enough.—It was now time to adopt active measures for their rescue. The first step which they took was that of lightening the ship by casting the wheat [τὸν σῖτον] overboard. Meyer maintains that this word designates the ship’s provisions; these could not, however, under any circumstances, have been merely grain, but must have consisted of biscuit and other articles of food, and had, no doubt, been already so far reduced in quantity that their weight could not attract attention in the present emergency. It was, namely, the main object of the voyagers to bring the vessel as near to the shore as possible, before it actually struck. [“The cargo of wheat was now probably spoilt by the salt water. … Besides this, it is probable that, the ship having been so long in one position, the wheat had shifted over to the port side, and prevented the vessel from keeping that upright position, which would be most advantageous when they came to steer her towards the shore.” … “Sir C. Penrose says: ‘I doubt not that it was found, that, from the ship having been so long pressed down on one side, the cargo had shifted—towards the larboard side, etc.’ ” (Conyb. and Howson, II. 349, and note 3).—Tr.]. The cargo, accordingly, consisted chiefly of grain, and this opinion is the more probable, as the ship had come from Alexandria, and was proceeding to Italy, while it is well known that grain was the principal article which was exported from Egypt. This view, viz., thatὁ σῖτος was the cargo of the ship, had already been entertained by Erasmus, Luther, Beza, etc., and has recently been sustained by James Smith, Hackett, and also Baumgarten. Hackett, the American commentator, has, in particular, here adduced a very ingenious remark of Blunt, namely, that various incidental notices in different parts of the chapter, when properly combined, throw light on this subject. Thus, we are told in Act_27:6, that the ship belonged to Alexandria, and was on its way to Italy; we learn next, from Act_27:10, where the “lading” is mentioned, that it was a merchant-vessel (although we do not yet receive any information respecting the nature of the freight, τὸ φορτίον); at length we ascertain from Act_27:38, that the lading consisted of wheat [“the very article which such vessels were accustomed to carry from Egypt to Italy.” (Blunt, quoted by Prof. Hackett, 2d ed., p. 440).—Tr.]. The freight had very naturally been kept as long as it was possible to preserve it from injury.
Act_27:39. And when it was day.—The seamen did not recognize the land which had now become visible, although Malta was necessarily well known to Egyptian sailors. [For the identity of the island, see the Exeg. note on Act_28:1.—Tr.]. It is, however, to be considered that they were at a part of the island which was remote from the harbor best known to them [“and which possesses no marked features by which it might be recognized.” (J. Smith).—Tr.]. It has been proved, beyond all doubt, by J. Smith, that this shipwreck must have occurred on that spot which the Maltese tradition has always designated as “St. Paul’s Bay.” It is found on the north-east extremity of the island, and forms a tolerably deep incisure into the land, between two beaches, of which the one to the south-east terminates with Koura point, while the one to the north-east ends at the small island of Salmonetta. The men observed that this bay [“creek,” Engl. version] had an ἀιγιαχός [“shore,” Engl. version], that is, a flat beach, whereas the word ἀκτή [which does not occur in the N. T.] denotes a coast which is considerably elevated above the margin of the sea. Hence Luke here uses the correct hydrographical term (J. Smith, p. 136, note [Engl. ed.]). The coasts of that bay consist of an unbroken chain of rocks, with the exception of two points, each of which presents a flat beach. It was one of these which the seamen chose, as suited for running the ship aground, if it were possible to do so (ἐξωθεῖν, ejicere navem [i.e., ashore, out of (ἐκ) the sea (Rob. Lex.).—Tr.].
Act_27:40. And when they had taken up the anchors.—[Therefore, cutting away the anchors.—“The verb is here more correctly rendered in the margin of the English Bible ‘cut the anchors.’ The same remark applies to the words following: ‘committed themselves unto the sea,’ which the margin properly explains as still referring to the anchors, etc.’ ” (Alex.). So, too, Meyer: “εἴων refers to ἀγκύρας; the interpretation of the Vulg.: committebant se is arbitrary;” also Alford (“they cut away all four anchors”), and others.—Tr.]. In order to set the ship in motion, they let the anchors fall into the sea, as they had not time to draw them up, [and, besides, the anchors would have encumbered the water-logged ship with their additional weight. (Alford).—Tr.]. At the same time [ἅμα] they unloosed the lashings with which the rudders had been secured. The vessels of the ancients were usually supplied with two rudders, one being placed on each side of the stern; they were, respectively, named the right and the left rudder. These had been hoisted up out of the water, and lashed to the ship [“no doubt—lest they should foul the anchors” (Conyb. and H. II. 350, n. 2)—Tr.], but were now untied, in order that they might assist in propelling the ship in the desired direction. They, moreover, hoisted a sail τῇ πνεούσῇ, scil. αὕρᾳ, to the wind. The word ἀρτέμων does not occur in any other Greek writer; it is found only in Latin, in the form artemo [artemon], and has been very differently explained. [The various sails to which different writers have supposed this name to be applicable, are specified by Meyer, and, especially, de Wette, ad. loc.—Tr.]. According to J. Smith, the foresail is meant, that is, the one nearest to the forepart of the ship. After all these arrangements had been made, the sailors steered the ship towards the flat beach (κατεῖχον εἰς τ. αἰγ.).
Act_27:41. And falling into a place, etc.—The place where two seas met, τόπος διθάλασσος, was a spot, on both sides of which the sea was found to flow. J. Smith supposes that the place was in the vicinity of the island of Salmonetta, which is separated from Malta by a narrow channel, not more than 100 yards in breadth, so that there was here a current between the sea in the interior of St. Paul’s Bay, and the sea outside. [The channel would thus appear to be “a place between two seas,” like the Bosphorus, to which Strabo applies the very word διθάλασσος. The island of Salmonetta is so situated, that the sailors, looking from the deck when the vessel was at anchor, could not possibly be aware that it was not a continuous part of the main land; whereas, while they were running her aground, they could not help observing the channel. (Conyb. and Howson, etc. II. 352 and n. 2).—Tr.]. Here the vessel suddenly struck, so that the forepart cut deeply into a bank of sand or clay, while the hinder part was broken by the surging of the sea. [J. Smith says: “The rocks of Malta disintegrate into extremely minute particles of sand and clay, which form a deposit of tenacious clay—and mud. … A ship, therefore, impelled by the force of the gale into a creek with a bottom such as has been described, would strike a bottom of mud into which the fore part would fix itself and be held fast, whilst the stern was exposed to the force of the waves.”—Tr.]
Act_27:42-44. And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners.—This design was formed in consequence of existing laws which imposed the most severe penalties on guards, who suffered prisoners for whom they were answerable, to escape; comp. Act_12:19 [and Exeg. note on Act_16:25-28.]. The centurion, however, frustrated the cruel design; he commanded, on the contrary, that, first of all, those persons on board who were able to swim, should at once seek the shore, in order to render any aid which might be necessary in the case of the others. [Ἀποῤῥίπτειν is used intransitively, in the sense of se projicere; Winer: Gr. 38. 1. (Meyer).—Tr.]. The latter availed themselves, partly, of σανίδες, i.e., planks and boards, which were in the ship, and, partly, of timbers which had entered into the construction of it, but had now been loosened or could be torn away. To these they attached themselves, and were thus carried ashore by the waves. [This is at least the fourth shipwreck which Paul experienced; the second Epistle to the Corinthians, in which three are mentioned (Act_11:25), had been previously written. (Meyer).—Tr.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Paul exhibits such true dignity in every respect, during this voyage, that we can see revealed in him the glory of Christ, by whose grace he was what he was [1Co_15:10]. The divine-human Person of the Redeemer manifests itself in the apostle. Even as the eternal Son of God appropriated to himself, through his incarnation, all that is human, with the single exception of sin, insomuch that he nihil humani a se alienum putaret, and descended into the lowest depths of human sorrow, so, too, his apostle here faithfully follows in his footsteps. He not only shares in all the hardships, privations, and dangers of the voyage, which were, indeed, unavoidable, but he does so with all his soul. He is as much concerned for the welfare of his fellow-travellers, for the safety of the ship, and even for that of the freight, as if no higher object occupied his mind. He so carefully observes all that occurs, (like his friend Luke, who was thus enabled to furnish us with this precise and faithful account), and revolves all in his mind with so much soberness and intelligence, that he is competent to give the soundest and most appropriate advice (Act_27:10; Act_27:21); and, shortly before the catastrophe occurred, his prudent warnings (Act_27:31) and seasonable exhortations, combined with his own example, materially contributed to the rescue of all on board. And thus his sympathy, his presence of mind, his calm reflection, and resolute spirit, not only claim our regard on their own account, but precisely in the case of a child of God, constitute the evidence of genuine human virtue and excellence.—But Paul is, on the other hand, in this peculiar situation, obviously far more than a mere model of human prudence and ability—he is, besides, one of the servants and the redeemed of the God-Man. Indeed, he unreservedly confesses that he belongs to God, when the angelic appearance (Act_27:23) enables him to foretell the escape of all, precisely at the time when their circumstances seemed to be most desperate. And this promise which, in truth, was fulfilled, he repeats on every appropriate occasion. The most striking fact, however, in the whole narrative, is found in the statement that God promises to save the lives of all on board for the apostle’s sake (κεχάρισταί σοι, Act_27:24), and then fulfils His promise. They all owed their lives to Paul, or, rather, to the grace of God in Christ, which he enjoyed in so large a measure.
2. The concluding remark of the narrator (‘And it came to pass … safe to land’, Act_27:44), although expressed in simple and unpretending terms, possesses a deep significance. It not only constitutes a graphic conclusion of the narrative of the voyage from Cesarea to Malta, viewed as a whole, but it also directs attention to Act_27:21 ff. particularly Act_27:22; Act_27:24-25. Luke connects the happy issue with the assured hope previously expressed by Paul, on the authority of a divine revelation, at the very time when the lives of all were in the most imminent danger. Hence this concluding remark is, as it were, that link in the chain, which connects the fulfilment with the promise itself, demonstrating that this promise had been actually and completely fulfilled. This simple concluding remark thus enables us to recognize the invisible in the visible—the eternal counsel of God in the ultimate result—the secret in that which is revealed—grace, in nature.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act_27:1. And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, etc.—The path in which believers walk, often seems indeed to be determined by accident, or by the caprice or will of men; nevertheless, it will always be found to be, in reality, in strict accordance with the promises of God. (Rieger).—Why has God caused this detailed account of the external circumstances connected with the voyage, to be introduced into the volume of his revelations? I. To teach us that even the strangest and most painful paths of believers are ordered and closely watched by God, and to show that times, places, associates, the weather and the elements, are controlled by the Lord, and work together for good to them that believe. II. To warn us, showing that even when the circumstances in which we are placed, are at first painful and embarrassing, we should not rashly conclude that they are not ordered by God; when we are tempted to yield to a natural feeling of anxiety, we should not despond, but overcome our difficulties by faith. III. The Holy Ghost depicts in this section the character of a servant of Christ, who, even when he is involved in the greatest dangers, or is among the wildest and rudest people, or is placed in the most trying circumstances, nevertheless remains faithful to himself and to his Lord, “as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” 2Co_6:9-10. (Ap. Past.).—The land and the sea are full of the Spirit of the Lord; why should He not, therefore, have moved upon the face of these waters, too, and upon this shipwreck? The miracles wrought in nature, and those displayed in the kingdom of grace, constitute one system. The compass continually points in this voyage to the work of God. (Starke).
Act_27:2. Aristarchus … being with us.—God can always alleviate our trials, as in the case of Paul’s captivity, when another true friend and companion was associated with the faithful Luke. (Starke).—Aristarchus voluntarily offered himself as a companion of the suffering apostle. This fraternal act of taking up the cross, was so precious in the sight of the Spirit of God, that he caused it to be recorded for our benefit as an example. (Ap. Past.).
Act_27:3. Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends.—God, who comforts the lowly, not only provides his servant with a companion who is a believer (Aristarchus), but also inclines the heart of a man of the world (Julius) to treat him kindly. (Rieger).
Act_27:4. We sailed under Cyprus.—How deeply Paul must now, at the close of his missionary course, have been affected by the sight of this island, on which he had gathered the first-fruits of his harvest! Act_13:4. (Williger).
Act_27:5. Sailed over the sea, etc.—Even when the route is circuitous, and the winds are unfavorable, God conducts his servants to the desired port.
Act_27:7. And when we had sailed slowly many days.—As a vessel does not always meet with a favorable wind, and continue its voyage with celerity, so the Christian, in his journey through life, is often required to wait.
Act_27:8. Nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea—Unimportant towns that are mentioned in this narrative, and that would otherwise have been forgotten, acquire an interest in our eyes, because Paul, the elect of the Lord, was in the ship. He passed by many spots, some of which were known, others unknown, to him; he may have, in spirit, visited every one of them, however insignificant any might be, and have saluted and blessed it “in the name of the Lord.” (Williger).
Act_27:9-10.Now when much time was spent … Paul admonished them, and said, etc.—God often imparts enlightened eyes and prudent counsels to his people, even in temporal matters, and it is well with them when they adopt the appointed course. (Starke).—Let it not be said that the servants of God can render no services in temporal affairs. Such is not, it is true, their principal aim, and yet “godliness is profitable unto all things.” [1Ti_4:8]. The devout Joseph was employed by God as his instrument in preserving all Egypt and Canaan, during the famine, by his wise counsel. But when the advice of a servant of the Lord is rejected, he does not obstinately insist on it, but submits the result to God. (Ap. Past.).—Paul, who entertained such holy sentiments, was at first watchful, and then anxious to guard against bodily danger and temporal losses; and he teaches us, precisely by such a course, that the Christian will not rashly venture his life, and does not subject temporal goods to waste, but remembers that his body and soul, with all that he possesses in this life, are gifts of God. (Rieger).
Act_27:11. Nevertheless, the centurion believed the master, etc.—It is very possible that the sailors may have, after their manner, indulged in boasting language, and have ridiculed the fears of the “gloomy” Paul. (Williger).—In the matter of giving or receiving advice, the first point which claims consideration is, not the character or position of the counsellor, but the soundness or unsoundness of the advice which he gives. Persons of very ordinary intelligence have sometimes, in such cases, been wiser than the most learned and prudent. 2Ki_5:3. (Starke).
Act_27:12. And because the haven was not commodious, etc.—It is a bad rule, that votes must be counted and not weighed. For sometimes the worst men are those who constitute the majority. 1Ki_22:12-13. (Starke).—It often occurs that when men are not satisfied with their condition, and attempt to improve it, they expose themselves by their course to still greater evils and misfortunes. (id.).
Act_27:13. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose.—The sailors no doubt triumphantly exclaimed: ‘Seest thou how well it goes with us? What knowledge of navigation do these teachers of religion possess? They ought not to interfere in such matters.’ (Starke).
Act_27:14. But not long after there arose a tempestuous wind.—“Boast not thyself of to-morrow;” think not that, because the wind is now favorable, it will continue to prevail; “for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth;” the gentle south wind may be followed by a tempest. Pro_27:1. (Starke).
Act_27:15. And when the ship was caught [carried along], and could not bear up into [against] the wind.—Alas! How often the believing soul, like this ship, is unable to bear up against the winds and storms of temptation. It would sink, if Jesus were not a covert from the tempest. Isa_32:2. (Starke).—During this memorable voyage, Paul became a seaman to the seamen [1Co_9:20], in accordance with that love which, at all times, and in all things, accommodates itself to the circumstances. The centurion Julius was now able to report to Festus that Paul’s “much learning” [ch. Act_26:24] had not made him mad. (Besser).
Act_27:18-19. We … lightened the ship … cast out … the tackling of the ship.—When our lives are in danger, we are often compelled to sacrifice objects which we highly value, and would gladly retain. But who would listen to us, if we should propose such a course for the sake of securing everlasting life? (Rieger).
Act_27:20. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared.—As here in the natural world, so in men’s spiritual affairs, temptations sometimes prevent them for many days from seeing the light of grace; then they experience all that Luther describes in one of his hymns: “When reason seeks our faith to shake, etc.” (Starke).—And yet one star continued to shine for Paul, the light of which no storm could obscure—it was the promise of the Lord: “Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” Act_23:11. (Besser).
Act_27:21. Sirs, ye should have hearkened, etc.—When the advice of wise and devout men has been rejected, and evil results have thence followed, they do not lose time by exhibiting undue sensitiveness and by uttering reproaches, but proceed to give advice, if advice does not come too late, and offer their assistance, if it is still of avail.
Act_27:22. And now I exhort you … ship.—The servants of God do not enjoy the privilege of being exempted from the evils with which the world is, in the providence of God, often visited; they are compelled to suffer in company with others. But they do enjoy the privilege of being effectually protected amid all the evils of the world, and they are never put to shame. Even when the waves are madly raging, and when they threaten to ingulf lofty mountains—when all others begin to despair, and believe that they are lost, the servants of God are able to lift up their heads with joy: for they know that there is an almighty and faithful Lord on high, who will never forsake them. (Ap. Past.).—Although Paul was an apostle, and was endowed with miraculous powers, we do not find that he availed himself of the gift of prophecy, until he had received a direct command of God to do so. He had perceived the dangers which threatened the vessel, and had, in company with the seamen, resorted to all the ordinary means of safety; he was, at the same time, unobtrusive, and may, like others, have entertained serious fears, Act_27:24. He made no unusual pretensions, but waited for the help of the Lord. But after the Lord had appeared to him and promised that he and all who were on board, should escape with their lives, he spoke prophetically, on the authority of God, and the result confirmed the truth of his words. The servant of Jesus will follow this example, and refrain from uttering any predictions which proceed from his own will or an excited imagination. Our guide is the Gospel, and our duty requires us to exhort and beseech in Christ’s stead. If God should at any time direct us to make a communication to others, he will know how to accredit us. (Ap. Past.).
Act_27:23. The angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve.—Happy is he who can, with sincerity and joy of heart, repeat Paul’s confession of faith: “God, whose I am, and whom I serve,” and who, amid all the scenes which may be presented on the troubled ocean of this world, can continue to pray: “O God, I am thine; I serve thee; be thou my Preserver.” (Rieger).
Act_27:24. Fear not,—thou must be brought before Cesar.—It hence appears that Paul entertained anxiety not for his life itself, but for the great object of his life. It is indeed the chief concern of faithful servants of God, that His holy purposes should not be frustrated in their case.—God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.—Thus it appears that Paul had prayed that the lives of all who were on board, might be spared. For the sake of righteous men, benefits are conferred even on the ungodly. For Lot’s sake, Sodom was spared as long as he remained in it. Understand this great truth, ye ungodly and arrogant children of the world! Ye owe it to such obscure lights—to simple Christians whom ye behold with scorn—to the despised prisoner Paul—that ye can supply your tables with food, breathe the air, and see the light of the sun. (Starke).—We are, as it were, also in a ship on the stormy and dangerous ocean of this world, in company with the souls intrusted to our care. Let us, then, earnestly strive, with continued prayer and personal efforts, to carry them with us, as a precious gift of God, so that neither we nor they may make shipwreck concerning faith [1Ti_1:19], and finally perish; then, even if the ship of life is broken in pieces, we can, with them, enter the secure haven of eternal life. (Ap. Past.)
Act_27:26. Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.—Lord, reveal thou to us those islands of safety in the troubled ocean of this world, where we may temporarily repose, until we complete our last voyage, and, while we gaze at eternity, which is rapidly approaching, are able to exclaim: Land! Land! “Wherever we lie at thy feet, we are in a safe haven; the route by which we reach it, we submit to thy wisdom; if we can at last enter thy eternal kingdom, we have no other care.” (Williger).
Act_27:27. But when the fourteenth night was come.—O how many nights of anxiety like this, have been passed, not only by those who are at sea, but also by others who cry unto the Lord from the depths of affliction, and wait for his help, from one morning watch to another! (Rieger).—As we were driven up and down in Adria.—It was on the same stormy Adriatic Sea that the great Cæsar cried to the trembling pilot: “Steer boldly; thou carriest Cæsar and his fortune.” [“Mr. Humphry compares and contrasts the speech of Cæesar to the pilot under similar circumstances: τόλμα καί δέδιθι μηθὲν, ἀλλὰ ἐπιδίδου τῇ τύχῃ τὰ ἱστία καὶ δέχον τὸ πνεῦμα, τῷ πνέοντι πιστεύων, ὄτι Καίσαρα φέρεις καὶ τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην . Plut. de Fortun. Rom., p. 518.” (Alford).—Tr.]. Paul could have, in loftier terms, said to the pilot: “Fear not; thou carriest Christ and his salvation!”
Act_27:29. They cast four anchors out … and wished for the day.—The spiritual anchor of Christians—faith, combined with a living hope—is sent upwards, not downwards, Heb_6:19. (Starke).—At night we wish for the day, whereas we may have already undervalued many of our past days; Ecc_11:7. (id.).
Act_27:30. And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship.—Behold the fidelity of the world in the time of need! Those preachers, moreover, may be compared to the timid and fugitive shipmen before us, who fall away in the time of need, and desert the ship of the Church that had been committed to them, Joh_9:13. (Starke).
Act_27:31. Paul said—Except these abide, etc.—Paul had a heart that was full of faith and of love to man, and by these main-springs all his actions were regulated. He had imbibed the power of the divine promises; he was, consequently, undaunted and full of courage, and could comfort and sustain his companions. God had given him all them that were sailing with him; hence his zeal was watchful, so that not one should perish; he impressively warned them not to leave the ship; afterwards, he encouraged them to partake of food, and then urged them to save themselves by swimming. In short, he provided in every respect for the preservation of their lives. Thence we learn in what manner a teacher may, by his faith, experience and genuine love, become a blessing to others, particularly in seasons of distress and danger. (Ap. Past.)
Act_27:32. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes, etc.—It was a strong faith which performed that act; for thus the last bridge was broken down that connected the land with the ship, which none now hoped to save. When the centurion directed that the boat should be cut loose and abandoned to the waves, he entered in the life-boat of Paul’s word, which was firmly held by the faithfulness of the almighty God. Let it be also thy work to cut off the ropes of every boat in which thou puttest thy trust besides God; then will-thy dark night pass away before the morning light, and thou shalt behold the glorious help of God. (Besser).
Act_27:34. There shall not a hair fall from the head, etc.—Such are the wonders which God performs! A prisoner in chains may be a prophet, and a saviour of those who had bound him, Gen_41:12-14. (Starke).—When we are exposed to great danger, let us remember the omnipresence and gracious Providence of God, and consider that all the hairs of our head are numbered, Luk_12:7; Luk_21:18. (id.).
Act_27:35. He took bread, and gave thanks to God.—When Paul thus prayed before the meal, he was the salt of good savour [Mat_5:13] for the whole company. (Rieger).—This early meal in the tempest-tost ship, after Paul had given thanks, is the true counterpart to the peaceful slumber of the Lord Jesus on a pillow in the hinder part of the ship into which the waves were beating, Mar_4:37-38. (Besser).—The whole of Psalms 66 may be applied to the present case; it was truly a meal of which heroes partook. (Lindhammer).
Act_27:36. Then were they all of good cheer.—The word of God inspires men with true courage, and “a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures [Germ. vers. Schalen, i. e., dishes] of silver.” Pro_25:11. Therefore, “let your light so shine, etc.” Mat_5:16. (Starke).
Act_27:38. Cast out the wheat into the sea.—Behold, o Christian, how these men cast away this food for the body, in order to preserve the remnant of their bodily life. Wilt thou not sacrifice temporal things, in order to obtain eternal life?—‘What shall it profit a man, etc.?’ Mar_8:36. (Starke).
Act_27:39. And when it was day.—After the darkness, light re-appears; the night passes away, and the sun rises; our troubles will at length come to an end. God is nearest to us in our greatest distress. (Starke).They knew not the land.—A striking counterpart to the present situation may be found in the church hymn for mariners, written by Chytræus [one of Melanchthon’s students, and subsequently an eminent divine; died in 1600.—Tr.]:—“The land is near, Well known to all, Towards which we steer the ship, etc.” (Besser).
Act_27:42. And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners.—The soldiers were accountable, in case any prisoner should escape, and hence their apprehensions suggested this cruel thought. Thus men may be led by an undue zeal to entertain false views of their official duty, and may entirely forget that they are, besides, bound by duties which they owe to others. (Rieger).
Act_27:43. But the centurion, willing to save Paul.—At this late period, when Paul had escaped so many dangers, he would have lost his life, if God had not touched the heart of this pagan centurion, and inclined him to show kindness and gratitude to the man whom he had learned to revere and love. (Besser).
ON THE WHOLE .—The good counsel of a man of God should not be despised, even in temporal affairs: I. Paul’s counsel, Act_27:10; II. The objections to it, Act_27:11; III. The consequences of rejecting it, Act_27:13 ff. (From Lisco.).
The dangerous voyage of Paul to Rome, an image of many a voyage of the bark of Christ: I. The conflict of the vessel with the winds and the waves, Act_27:14-15; II. The exertions of the shipmen; they undergird the ship and lighten it, Act_27:16-19; III. Their apparently hopeless condition, Act_27:20; IV. The wonderful rescue—the exhortation of Paul, and the help of God, Act_27:33 ff. (From Lisco.).
Paul’s example of Christian self possession in the midst of danger: I. He frustrates the dangerous projects of the timid, Act_27:27-32; II. He encourages those who despond, Act_27:33-38. (Lisco.).
The voyage of life. (id.).
Paul in the storm, a noble example: I. Of manly calmness; his wise counsel, Act_27:10; his presence of mind, Act_27:31. II. Of Christian peace of mind; his kind admonition, Act_27:21; his unshaken trust in God, Act_27:25; III. Of the apostolic unction of the Spirit; his prophetic statement, Act_27:24; his priestly love-feast, Act_27:35.
Paul in Adria (Act_27:27), and Christ on the lake of Gennesaret (Mar_4:36 ff.), or, The eminent servant of the Lord of all: I. The suspicious calm which preceded the storm; Christ asleep; Paul a prisoner; II. The majesty revealed during the storm; Christ reproves the disciples, who had little faith; Paul cheers the desponding people on board; III. The wonderful escape from the danger of death; Christ rebukes the winds and the waves; Paul brings his shipwrecked companions safely to land.
Paul, the apostle, on the stormy sea, or, A greater than Jonas is here [Mat_12:41]: I. Jonas flees from the Lord—Paul journeys, in the service of his Master, to the great city of the pagans; II. Jonas brings the wrath of God upon his fellow-voyagers—Paul comforts and saves his travelling companions: III. Jonas is rescued from the jaws of death—Paul brings 276 persons safely to land; IV. Jonas proceeds to Nineveh, and preaches repentance—Paul proceeds to Rome, and proclaims the Gospel with the sacrifice of his life.
Paul on his journey to Rome, a glorious illustration of the truth that the strength of the Lord is made perfect in the weakness of his servants [2Co_12:9]: I. He departs as a prisoner, and, nevertheless, is a free man in Christ, free from fear, and alive in the Spirit, while those who sail with him, paralyzed by fear, look forward with terror to the danger which is at hand; II. As one ignorant of the sea, among experienced seamen, and yet he gives them the wisest counsel in external matters; III. As a man worthy of no regard, he is over-looked by the worldly-minded, but in the hour of trial he cheers and sustains all who surround him; IV. As a shipwrecked man, he is cast ashore; nevertheless he carries with him the Gospel, to which Rome and the whole world were to be made subject.
Paul in the storm, or, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” [Rom_8:31]: I. Not the winds and the waves, with all their violence, for they are controlled by the Almighty; II. Not men, with all their plans and devices, for the Lord says: ‘Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought’ [Isa_8:10]; III. Not our own heart, with all its doubts and fears, for the comforting words are heard from above: “Fear not”, Act_27:24.
The Christian’s comfort and means of safety during the stormy voyage of life: I. Prudence and foresight, as all temporal things are uncertain, Act_27:9-10; II. Fraternal union and fidelity in the hour of danger, Act_27:21; Act_27:24; Act_27:30; III. Firmness and resolution in sacrificing temporal things, Act_27:18-19; Act_27:38; IV. Confidence and trust in God, amid the storms of temptation, Act_27:22-25; V. Grateful use of the means of grace, Act_27:34-36; VI. Hopeful contemplation of the heavenly land of rest, Act_27:44.
The ship of the Church of Christ, on the stormy ocean of the world: I. Its dangers; (a) contrary winds, Act_27:4; Act_27:14; (b) unwise pilots, Act_27:11-12; (c) superfluous goods, Act_27:18-19; (d) contending parties, Act_27:30; Act_27:42; (e) hidden rocks, Act_27:29; Act_27:41. II. Its means of safety; (a) the testimony of devout teachers, Act_27:9; Act_27:21; (b) the instructions of the divine word, Act_27:23 ff.; (c) the consolations of the holy Sacraments, Act_27:35; (d) the blessing of believing prayers, Act_27:35 : (e) the saving hand of the almighty God, Act_27:24; Act_27:34; Act_27:44.
“Though the floods compass us about [Jon_2:3; Psa_42:7], thou, O Lord, abidest with thy people”, Act_27:39-44 : I. Amid the billows of outward life; II. In the storms of inward temptations; III. In the conflicts of the Christian Church.
The consoling words addressed by the Lord to his servant, when his life is in danger, Act_27:23-25 : I. He attests the faithful obedience of his servants: “there stood by me, etc.” Act_27:23; II. He renews the promise of divine guidance: “Fear not, Paul: thou must stand, etc.” Act_27:24; III. He bestows on Paul all those on whom that apostle looks with love: “God hath given thee, etc.” Act_27:24.
The thoughts and intents of the heart, disclosed amid storms, or when death is near: then may be perceived, I. The utter helplessness of the man of the world
his want of counsel, courage, love, Act_27:22; Act_27:30; Act_27:33; Act_27:42. II. The true greatness of the Christian—his trust in God, his presence of mind, his love, Act_27:21-25; Act_27:31-35. III. The glory of the Lord—his awful majesty, his righteous judgments, his compassionate grace, Act_27:20; Act_27:24-25; Act_27:35; Act_27:44.
The sea, always an exalted scene of the holy acts of God: I. Of his creative power, since the days of creation; “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” [Gen_1:2.]; II. Of his impartial justice, since the days of the deluge; III. Of his saving grace, since the time of Noah’s deliverance, and of Israel’s passage through the Red Sea.
[The shipwreck of St. Paul, described Acts, Acts 27. I. The facts connected with it; (a) the purposes of the voyage; (b) the unfavorable circumstances under which the ship sailed; (c) the catastrophe. II. The conduct of Paul, after the commencement of the voyage; (a) his prudence; (b) love; (c) faith. (See the foregoing sketches). III. The lessons which it teaches; (a) as to the mysterious ways of Divine Providence; (b) as to the trials of the servants of God; (c) as to the sovereignty of God.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1]Act_27:2. The dative singular μέλλοντι, which is found in the Alex. [A.] and Vat. [B.] manuscripts, [and also in Cod. Sin.], as well as in twenty minuscules and several versions, should be preferred to the nominative plural μέλλοντες [of text. rec.], which is found in the two latest uncial manuscripts [G. H.]; the latter was introduced [by copyists] to suit ἐπιβάντες. [This is also Meyer’s opinion. The Vulgate, as usually printed, has incipientes, but some manuscripts read incipientem, agreeing with navem, thus sustaining μέλλοντι.—Knapp, Lach., Tisch., Born., and Alf. (Winer: Gr. N. T., § 32.1 ult.) adopt the sing. De Wette prefers the nom. plur., as it is apparently the more difficult reading.—Tr.]
[2]Act_27:3. [πορευθέντα, of text. rec. with G. H., and retained by Alf., is changed into πορευθέντι by Lach. and Tisch., in accordance with A. B, and also Cod. Sin.—De Wette here, too, regards the dative as a later correction; Meyer, who agrees with him, thinks that it was made to suit ἐπέτρεψε.—Tr.]
[3]Act_27:5. [The text. rec. exhibits the form Μύρα (acc. pl.), with G. and Cod. Sin., most minuscules, and some church fathers.—A. reads Αύστρα; B. Μύῤῥαν, which Lach. and Tisch. adopt; H. Μοιρων; Vulg. Lystram. Alford, who retains the form Μύρα, remarks: “The various readings merely show that the copyists were unacquainted with the place.” See the Exeg. note below.—Tr.]
[4]Act_27:7. [The margin of the Engl. Bible offers the form Candy, i. e., Candia, the modern name. (Wicl., Rheims: Crete; Tynd, Cranm. and Geneva: Candy).—Tr.]
[5]Act_27:8. [The form in text. rec. is Λασαία, found in G. H., which Alf. retains; A. reads ̓́Αλασσα, which Lach. adopts; B. Λασἐα, which Tisch. prefers: Cod. Sin. read originally: εγγυς πολις ην Λασσεια, which C altered to Λαισσα; Vulg. Thalassa. There are other variations,—Tr.]
[6]Act_27:10. a. [For “hurt” (Tynd., Cranm., Geneva, Rheims), the margin of the Engl. Bible proposes the word “injury.”—“̓́Υβρις—2. Meton. injury, harm, danger, in person or property as arising from the insolence or violence of any one, and trop. from the violence of the sea, tempests, Act_27:10; Act_27:21.” Robinson: Lex., p. 736; for authorities, see Wahl and Rob.—Tr.]
[7]Act_27:10. b. [The text. rec. reads φόρτου with some minuscules; (φόρτου, found in A. B. G. H. and Cod. Sin. is adopted by editors generally. The two forms convey the same sense, although the second is a diminutive.—Tr.]
[8]Act_27:12. It is true that κᾀκεῖθεν [of text. rec. and retained by Alf.] is attested by only one uncial manuscript [H.], whereas three [A. B. G. with Syr. Vulg., and, as it now appears, also Cod. Sin.] exhibit ἐκεῖθεν; it is probable, however, that καί of the compound was dropped [by copyists], as its purpose was not understood [i.e., “thence also, as from their former stopping places” (Alford, who adopts Meyer’s view). But Lach., Tisch. and Scholz read simply ἐκεῖθεν.—Tr.]
[9]Act_27:13. [In the text. rec., ̓́Ασσον appears as a proper name, and so too in the Vulgate (Asson), as in Act_20:13. But the English translators render the word as an adverb, ἄσσον, “close.” See the Exeg. note, below. Recent editors, (with Robinson, Wahl, de Wette, etc.) generally, adopt the latter view.—Tr.]
[10]Act_27:14. a. [For “arose” (Cranmer, Geneva), the margin offers “beat.” See the Exeg. note.—Tr.]
[11]Act_27:14. b. [The text. rec. reads Εὐροκλύδων, with G. H.; Alf. retains this form. A. B (original) and Cod. Sin. exhibit Εὐρακὺλων, which Lach. and Tisch. adopt. B (corrected): Εὐρυκλύδων. Vulgate: Euroaquilo. There are other variations. See the Exeg. note.—Tr.]
[12]Act_27:16. [The text. rec. exhibits the form Κλαύδην, with G. H., which Alf. retains. B. exhibits Καῦδα, which Lach. and Tisch. adopt. Cod. Sin. exhibits in the text: Κλαυδα; Tischendorf remarks here: “λ erasum” so that, after the correction, it conforms to B.—Vulg. Cauda, “which form most commonly occurred.” (Alf.)—Tr.]
[13]Act_27:19. The text. rec. reads ἐῤῤίψαμεν, on the authority of two manuscripts [G. H.], and Tischendorf has very properly adopted this reading rather than the one preferred by Lach. [Born. and Alf.], namely ἕῤῥιψαν, which is found in three uncial manuscripts [A. B (corrected); B (original) ἐρείψαν. C. is the third; the Vulg. concurs: projecerunt]; the former, the first person plural, is sustained by αὐτόχειρες. [Cod. Sin. reads: ἐρίψαν, that is, the third person. Meyer concludes that, as the verb could have been made by copyists to suit either αὐτόχειρες (first person), or ἐποιοῦντο, Act_27:18 (third person), the authorities alone can determine the point, namely, the manuscripts, versions, etc., and that these decidedly attest the reading ἔῤῥιψαν. He was not acquainted with the fact that Cod. Sin. confirms his view.—Tr.]
[14]Act_27:27. [For ἐγένετο of text. rec. with B (e sil) C. G. H. and Cod. Sin. and retained by Alf., ἐπεγένετο is substituted by Lach. and Tisch., in accordance with A. Vulg. (supervenit), “and very correctly, as the compound verb is very unusual, being found besides only in Act_28:13.” (Meyer).—Tr.]
[15]Act_27:29. [The text. rec. reads ἐκπέσωσιν with some minuscules; ἐκπέσωμεν is adopted generally by recent editors, in accordance with A. B. C. G. H. most minuscules, Vulg. (incideremus), etc.—Cod. Sin., which reads ἐμπέσωμεν, sustains the first person plural,—Tr.].
[16]Act_27:34. a. μεταλαβεῖν [found in A. B. C. Cod. Sin., and adopted by Lach., Tisch. and Alf.], is better attested than προςλαβεῖν [of text. rec. with G. H.; “the latter (πρ.) was taken from Act_27:33.” (Meyer).—Tr.]
[17]Act_27:34. b. ὁ. ὑμετέρας [of text. rec.] is better sustained by external authorities [by B (e sil). C. H. Cod. Sin., Vulg. (vestra)] than ἡμετέρας [found in A. G.]; the latter was substituted by those [copyists] who supposed that, as the preservation of all was meant, Paul must have expressed himself communicative. [Lach. Tisch. and Alf. adopt the second person.—Tr.]
[18]Act_27:34. c. ἀπολεῖται is sustained by the three oldest manuscripts [A. B. C., and also by Cod. Sin.], whereas πεσεῖται [of text. rec.] occurs only in the two latest [G. H. Most editors adopt the former. De Wette says: “Transcribers were more familiar with the latter, 1Sa_14:45; 2Sa_14:11; 1Ki_1:52. Sept.”—Meyer, on the other hand, while he admits that ἀπολ. is attested by important authorities, says that this word is liable to suspicion, as it may have been taken from Luk_21:18.—Tr.]
[19]Act_27:35. [The text. rec. exhibits εἰπὼν, with G. H., while A. B. C. and Cod. Sin. read εἵπας, which Lach., Tisch. and Alf. adopt—Tr.]
[20]Act_27:37. [The text. rec. reads ἦμεν, with C. G. H., while the less usual form ἦμεθα occurs in A. B. and also in Cod. Sin.; the latter is adopted by Lach., Tisch. and Alf. On this form see Winer: Gram. N. T., § 14. 2.—Tr.]
[21]Act_27:39. [The text. rec. exhibits ἐβουλεύσαντο, which is found in G. H., and is retained by Alf.—Lach., Tisch. and Born. read ἐβουλεύοντο, with B. C. and also Cod. Sin.—A. exhibits ἐβούλοντο.—Tr.]
[22]Act_27:40. a [For “taken up the anchors” (Wicl., Tynd., Cranm., Geneva, Rheims), the English version proposes in the margin: “cut the anchors, they left them in the sea.” See the Exeg. note, below.—Tr.]
[23]Act_27:40. b. [The text. rec. exhibits the form ἀρτέμονα, with G., but A. B. C. H., and also Cod. Sin. read ἀρτέμωνα, which Lach., Tisch. and Alf. adopt.—Winer: Gr., § 9.1, d.—See the Exeg. note, below.—Tr.]
[24]Act_27:41. The words τῶν κυμάτων are wanting in the Alex. [A.] and Vat. [B.] manuscripts, and seem to have been added [by a later hand] as an explanation of τῆς βίας. [“They seem to be a gloss.” (de Wette).—Cod. Sin. originally omitted them, but C inserted them. They are dropped by Lach and Tisch. The Vulg. exhibits: a vi maris. Alf. retains them, in accordance with C. G. H., minuscules, etc., and, with Meyer, says: “The transcriber’s eye passed from τῶν (before κυμάτων) to τῶν (before δὲ στρατ. Act_27:42). The sentence could hardly have been written without some genitive after τῆς βίας.”—Tr.]
[25]Act_27:42. [Instead of διαφύγοι, of text. rec., recent editors generally read διαφύγῃ, with A. B. C. G. Cod. Sin.—H. exhibits διαφυγει. De Wette remarks: “The subjunctive is probably a correction, as the optative with μή, which was commonly employed by the Greeks after a preterite, is unusual in the New Testament.” See Winer: Gr. N. T., on the passage, § 56. 2.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 a ship of--belonging to.
a ship of--belonging to.
Adramyttium--a port on the northeast coast of the Ægean Sea. Doubtless the centurion expected to find another ship, bound for Italy, at some of the ports of Asia Minor, without having to go with this ship all the way to Adramyttium; and in this he was not disappointed. See on Act 27:6.
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meaning to sail by the coasts--"places."
of Asia--a coasting vessel, which was to touch at the ports of proconsular Asia.
one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us--rather, "Aristarchus the Macedonian," &c. The word "one" should not have been introduced here by our translators, as if this name had not occurred before; for we find him seized by the Ephesian mob as a "man of Macedonia and Paul's companion in travel" (Act 19:29) and as a "Thessalonian" accompanying the apostle from Ephesus on his voyage back to Palestine (Act 20:4). Here both these places are mentioned in connection with his name. After this we find him at Rome with the apostle (Col 4:10; Plm 1:24).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 VII. PAUL IN ROUTE FOR ROME—AT ROME, Act_27:1; Act_28:31.
VII. PAUL IN ROUTE FOR ROME—AT ROME, Act_27:1; Act_28:31.
1. In the Adramyttine ship to Myra, Act_27:1-5.
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1. And—No packet ships or steamers in this, the palmy time of imperial Rome, crossed the sea at regular intervals, but the waters had been cleared of pirates, and from various directions a plentiful current of commerce tended to the Roman capital. Even consuls and emperors were obliged in crossing the sea to avail themselves of the merchant vessels, which were of a size hardly inferior to the same class of ships at the present day.
Other prisoners—From all the provinces appellants and accused parties were constantly going to the imperial bar; some were of honourable character; but from the political and domestic troubles of Palestine, Paul, with his faithful Luke and Aristarchus, probably found himself in an unsympathizing crowd of insurgents, robbers, and sicarii.
Julius… Augustus’ band—It has been plausibly conjectured that this band was a detachment from the pretorian guards, attached to the person of the governor at Cesarea, and thence Julius is identified with the Julius Priscus who, according to Tacitus, rose from his present rank of centurion to be pretorian prefect at Rome. When Paul pleaded before Agrippa no one of the military officers lower than chiliarch seems to have been present; but the centurion could hardly have been unaware of that occasion, or unknowing that Paul was no ordinary prisoner. He may even have formed the acquaintance of Paul during the two years of his imprisonment. Hence, from the first he receives marked deference from Julius, and finally becomes virtually commander of the entire body.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–44 Act_27:1-44. Paul’s voyage and shipwreck
Act_27:1-44. Paul’s voyage and shipwreck
1. they delivered Paul] i.e. the soldiers who had the care of him did so, by order of Festus.
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a centurion] This was generally the rank of the officers appointed to such a charge. Cp. Act_21:32, Act_24:23, &c.
of Augustus’ band] Rev. Ver. “Of the Augustan band.” The word rendered “band” might be translated “cohort” as in the margin of R. V., and it is said that in the time of Octavianus Augustus there were some legions to which the title “Augustan” (Gk. Sebastos) was given, as being specially the Imperial troops, and that perhaps among the soldiers in Cæsarea there was a detachment of these legions. But as Cæsarea was itself called “Sebaste” it seems more likely that the soldiers were Samaritan troop belonging to Cæsarea itself! And Josephus (Wars ii. 12. 5) makes mention of troops which had their name, Sebasteni, from this city Cæsarea Sebaste.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 (1) Paul and certain other prisoners.—The Greek for “other”…
XXVII.
(1) Paul and certain other prisoners.—The Greek for “other” implies that they were prisoners of a different class. It is probable, however, that they also had appealed to the emperor, as there would otherwise be no object in sending them to Rome.
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A centurion of Augustus’ band.—Literally, of the Sebaste. On the band or cohort as a subdivision of the Roman legion, see Note on Act_10:1. Three different explanations have been given of the term translated “Augustus.” (1) The cohort may have consisted of soldiers levied in Sebaste (= Augusta) or Samaria. Josephus mentions a squadron of Sebastene cavalry (Ant. xx. 6, § 1; xix. 9, § 2), and there may have been a corresponding band of foot-soldiers. (2) Nero about this time had formed a kind of body-guard, consisting of some 3, 000 young men of the equestrian order, who accompanied him to games and spectacles, and whose chief business it was to applaud him in his speeches and recitations. To these he gave the name of Augustani (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 15; Sueton. Nero, c. 25), a term of which Sebastene would be the natural Greek equivalent. (3) A certain Julius Priscus appears in Tacit. Hist. ii. 92 as appointed by Vitellius to be one of the prefects of the Prætorian cohorts, which, as specially under the emperor’s personal command, might naturally be called by his name; and he has been conjecturally identified with the centurion here named. Of these, (2) seems the most probable, but it is not absolutely incompatible with (3). On this assumption, as it is not said that the cohort itself was at Cæsarea, it is possible that he may have accompanied Festus as an escort to his province, and was now returning to Rome.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–44 For, for into, A.V.; to a centurion named Julius…
For, for into, A.V.; to a centurion named Julius of the Augustan band for unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus" band, A.V.. That we should sail. Observe the "we," denoting that Luke was of the party. Connecting it with the "we" of Act_21:17, the inference is obvious that Luke was with Paul through the whole of these two eventful years, and that it is to this presence that we owe the detailed circumstantial narrative of Acts 21-28., as well as, perhaps, the composition of St. Luke"s Gospel, for which the two years at Caesarea afforded an admirable opportunity. The Augustan band; or, cohort (speira); as Act_10:1 (where see note). This speira Sebasth, cohors Augusta, was probably one of the five cohorts stationed at Caesarea, consisting of auxiliary troops (though Alford does not think so). Its name "Augustan" was given, after the analogy of the Augustan legion, just as there was an "Italian band" as well as two or three "Italian legions." It has been conjectured (Kuinoel, in loc.), indeed, that the name may rather be taken flora Sebaste, Samaria, as consisting of Samaritans, seeing that Josephus ("Bell. Jud:," 2:12:5) actually mentions a troop of cavalry (kaloumenhn Sebasthnwn) called the troop of Sebaste. But the Greek name is Sebasthnwn, not Sebasth, which latter designation is not supported by any similar example (Meyer).
Vers. 1-17. The voyage.
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voyage of life" is an expression drawn from the common feeling of men that there is a close analogy between the course of a man"s life through the world, from his birth to his grave, and the progress of a ship from port to port. The Christian metaphor of the ark of Christ"s Church, tossed upon the waves of this troublesome world, yet finally reaching the land of everlasting life, is no lass familiar to us. It may not be without instruction to note some of the points of resemblance in a Christian"s life to the apostle"s voyage as described in the narrative before us. First, there is in both a definite purpose. The ship is making for a particular pert; the Christian is definitely seeking to attain the kingdom of heaven. But many a life would be far more useful, and far more consistent, if this purpose were more condensed. We are often too much distracted by the episodes in our life. The passing circumstances, the shifting situations, the immediate surroundings of the day, bound our horizon, and the intermediate seems to us as the final, or at least shuts the final out from view. The lesson is, keep steadily in view, in sunshine and in storm, under every variety of outward circumstance, the great end of the Christian life, to dwell with Christ in glory for ever, and bend your unrelaxing efforts to compass this end. Then, again, let us mark in the Christian life, as in the ship"s voyage, the conditions of the enterprise. There is the fixed will and purpose, and the wisdom and skill and resolution of the man, on the one hand; but there are also the inevitable hindrances and obstacles, on the other. Changes and chances, vicissitudes and disappointments, obstacles and disturbances, arise unbidden, and often when we least expect them. The pleasant start, the cheering incidents which seemed full of promise for a prosperous future, are succeeded by dull delays and by tedious, disheartening, and disconcerting experiences. We have to deal with events of which we had not taken count. The sanguine hope of a rapid progress is succeeded by the tediousness of delay, and our own counsels are continually thwarted by the folly or incompetence of others of whom we cannot set ourselves free. By-and-by, when we think we see signs of improvement close at hand, things suddenly take a turn for the worse. All the elements of difficulty are multiplied a hundredfold; and our bark, whether freighted with earthly schemes or heavenly hopes, is in imminent danger of shipwreck. Happy is he who at such times lays fast hold of the promises of God, cleaves to the Lord Jesus with a steadfast faith, and perseveres to the end. In spite of delays, and in spite of dangers, he shall not be ashamed of his hope. Only let each alternation work its proper work, teaching patience and long-suffering, encouraging a life of simple faith, stimulating all the energies of the soul, stirring up to active exertion, engendering a calm and dauntless courage, and bringing out every resource of the mind according to the immediate need, and the storms and agitation of the voyage will in due time be exchanged for the peace and safety of the everlasting haven of glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Dear reader, be prepared for all; let nothing shake your faith or dim your hope, and then the most troubled voyage shall have a blessed end; and in the last review of the roughest passage your testimony will be, "He hath done all things well.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON. Vers. 1-44. The voyage of life.
The journey which is described in this twenty-seventh chapter may suggest to us some of the main features of the long voyage of our life.
I THE VARIETY IS OUR COMPANIONSHIPS. As each passenger on board found himself inseparably associated with a strange admixture of fellow-travelers, so we find ourselves compelled to mingle, more or less closely, with various companions as we and they journey together over the waters of life. There are
(1) those who have a right to command us (the captain);
(2) those in whose power we stand (the soldiers, ver. 42);
(3) those who are bound to care for our safety (the sailors), many of whom will selfishly neglect their duty (ver. 30);
(4) those who can enlighten, heal, refresh us in spirit or in body (Paul, Luke, Aristarchus);
(5) fellow-sufferers (the prisoners).
II THE NEED FOR LABOR AND FOR PATIENCE. Not only did the sailors strive strenuously to discharge their nautical duties (vers. 7, 8, 17), but all the passengers worked with all their strength in co-operation with them (vers. 16, 19). And with what long patience had they to wait, not merely at Fair Haven, "where much time was spent," but also and chiefly when the vessel was drifting before the wind, "when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared" (ver. 20), and when riding at anchor, and fearing greatly that they would be forced on the neighboring rocks, they "wished for the day." Labor and patience are the two oars which will bring the boat to shore in the everyday passage of our life.
III THE CERTAINTY OF HARDSHIP AND PERIL, MORE OR LESS SEVERE. The winds are sure to be contrary, as in the earlier part of this celebrated voyage (vers. 4, 7, 8), and they may be tempestuous, as they were at the latter part (vers. 14, 18, 27). We must reckon upon some adversity, some checks and disappointments, as certain to befall us; we ought to be prepared for calamity and disaster. No human voyager across the sea of life can tell that there is not a very cyclone of misfortune through which he is about to pass.
IV THE EXCELLENCY OF A REFUGE IS GOD. What an admirable figure does Paul present in this interesting picture! What calmness he shows (vers. 21-25)! What comfort he conveys! What strength he affords (vers. 33-36)! What ascendency he acquires (ver. 43)! It is the prisoner, Paul, who is the central figure there, not the centurion, nor even the captain. If in the emergencies that will arise, in the crises that must occur, on those occasions when the higher virtues and heavenlier graces are demanded, we would show ourselves brave, noble, helpful, truly admirable, let us see to it that we have then because we seek now a Friend, a Refuge, a Stay in Almighty God.
V THE OCCASIONAL DEMAND FOR SACRIFICE. To save life they "lightened the ship" (ver. 18); they cast out the tackling" (ver. 19); they cast out the wheat into the sea" (ver. 38). To save moral or spiritual integrity it is well worth while, and sometimes positively necessary, to abandon that which is precious to us as citizens of this present life. (Mat_18:8, Mat_18:9)
VI THE POSSIBILITY OF REACHING THE SHORE. (Ver. 44.) In one way or another they all came safe to land." We may arrive at the end like the captain who steers into port, his vessel whole, every sail spread to the wind, rich and glad with a prosperous voyage; or we may reach the strand like Paul and his fellow-passengers, on planks and broken pieces of the ship. We may die honored, strong, influential, triumphant; or we may reach our end poor, unregarded, shattered. It is of small account, so that we do reach that blessed shore so that we are found in him," the Divine Savior, and pass to his presence and his glory. C.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-44. The voyage to Italy: an allegory of the Christian"s course.
Bunyan wrote an immortal allegory of the Christian course as a journey by land. It may be rewritten as a sea-voyage.
I THE CHRISTIAN SETS OUT IN STRANGE COMPANY", AND WITH OFTEN UNCONGENIAL SURROUNDINGS. Romans, Macedonians, prisoners, Alexandrians, are Paul"s fellow-voyagers (vers. 1, 2, 4-8). No seclusion, no picked society nor refined retirement, can be or ought to be the usual lot of the Christian. We cannot go out of the world.
In society, among all the diversities of human character, our education and trial must go on, our experience be gained. The greater the variety of men, the more eliciting of our capabilities, the larger scope for doing good.
II THE CHRISTIAN IS SURE TO MEET WITH FRIENDS. A friend and hospitality is to be found at most ports (ver. 3). And love begets love. Captain Julius, another of those fine Roman soldiers who cross the stage of the Christian story, is glad of an excuse to show the kindness of his heart to his prisoner. Oh, let us believe in the human heart; if we speak to it in the tones of love, it will give hack its sweet echo everywhere. Unexpected acts of friendship are revelations of God to us in lonely places and sad hours.
I fancied he was fled, And after many a year, Glowed unexhausted kindliness Like daily sunrise there.
III CLOUDY SKIES. (Vers. 9-15.) Forebodings of danger are felt as the Christian goes on. Sunny life-seasons, the joys of calm friendship, must give place to dark skies and danger. The changing drama of nature mirrors the story of the human soul. The Christian, taught by experience, becomes prophetic, like Paul. The centurion and the master of the ship may typify that blind obstinacy which will persevere with its designs in the teeth of nature"s laws. Nothing fatal occurs without previous warnings. In the natural and in the moral world we constantly come upon effects without visible causes, But the causes exist and are in action. Hence the constant duty of sobriety and watchfulness. The deep lesson of the gospel here illustrated is that we ought not to be taken at unawares.
IV UNBELIEVING FEAR AND BELIEVING CONFIDENCE. The former in vers. 16-20. To save dear life men will cast their treasures as worthless dross into the sea. And when, in spite of all, death seems near and inevitable, nothing is left but despair. But if earthly life itself is well lost for the sake of the immortal soul, hope need not set, but rather rise, like the morning star, above these troubled waves. This contrast is brought out by the behavior of the apostle (vers. 21-26). Through the many sunless and starless days and nights, hope shines unquenched within his breast. There are reflections of such times within the horizon of the soul. (Isa_11:10; Isa_63:17) Reason contends with faith; and in struggle with itself the spirit becomes conscious of its power and victory through God. Paul supports himself on a Divine intimation, confirming the promise of the past. (Act_23:11) The great thing is to be intent upon our work and witness; then comes the sense of security, the faith that no harm can come nigh us until our work be done.
Too busied with the crowded hour To fear to live or die.
It will be felt deeply true that
On two days it steads not to run from thy grave The appointed and the unappointed day; On the first neither balm nor physician can save, Nor thee on the second the universe slay.
V SHIPWRECK AND LANDING. (Vers. 39-44.) The day breaks. The face of God appears after the night of weeping and watching. When need is sorest, he is nearest. Yet his light leads to strange and unfamiliar scenes: "They knew not the land." The scenery that unfolds before the soul in the great crises of life or in the hour of death is that of a foreign shore. Death is a great break-up of all our familiar and trusted associations, and great experiences of change in the soul may resemble it in this. Their use is to teach self-reliance that true self-reliance which identifies God with the truest impulses of the soul. At the moment when all seems lost, all is gained. The foreign and seeming unfriendly shore proves a haven and a home; the restless sea tosses them from its bosom to terra firma, and to a rest. So to the faithful soul do the fears and fancies of the terrified imagination give way to fixed prospects, and we are wrecked in transitory conditions that we may find a footing in the eternal. J.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 7, 14, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 38, 44 And when it was determined that we should sail…
Act_27:1-20
And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy!
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St.
Pauls voyage
The power of religion is best seen when it is exhibited in living reality. It is so as to its sanctifying energy. It is so, too, as to its efficacy in sustaining amid danger, and comforting in difficulty and sadness. It has always, therefore, been the plan of Providence to place good men, and sometimes the Church collectively, in such circumstances as to test, and thus to make manifest, the sustaining energy of religious principle in times of agitation and danger.
I. A storm in the Mediterranean. How powerless, or at least how feeble, man appears, and is, when contending with the mighty agencies of nature! The stoutest heart then quails. The most reckless are then often seen on their knees. Men almost instinctively call at such times on Him who holds the winds in His fist and the waves in the hollow of His hand. It is difficult to realise such a scene of terror in calmer days. But there is a great emblematic lesson in this. The fact that such changes do arise in nature--that the blue sky may become beclouded, that the bright sun may be hidden, that the sea, now so glassy and so clear, may be lashed into tempest, and that the mariner who now seems to be lord of the deep, subduing winds and waves into subserviency to his ends, may another day be contending with that same element roused into fierceness and storm, and made to feel how weak he is in that terrible conflict--is emblematic of other changes, which may, and must, one day arise. Life is not ever the calm, even flow of days and months and years. The brightest scene may be overcast, and to some extent is almost sure to be. Lifes autumn and lifes winter must be thought of as well as its summer days. All may know times of stormy wind and tempest, and all will one day be in the grasp of death, and have to face the near prospect of those things which abide when the shadows shall have passed away!
II. St. Paul amidst the storm.
1. We see the apostles repose of soul in this hour of peril, and the grounds of it. It was in his relation with God that he found restfulness. Our times are in His hand. St. Paul knew, too, that he was now here in Gods service.
2. We have here a striking example of Christian life and influence. Paul had resources of strength and comfort that those around him had not, and he becomes their comforter and adviser.
III. The beneficent working of Divine providence for the preservation of Paul and all who were with him. The promise of God was fulfilled, the perils of the deep having only made Divine protection the more evident and the more deeply felt. (E. T. Prust.)
The voyage and shipwreck
I. The narrative. Thrice I suffered shipwreck: a night and a day I have been in the deep. Thus St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians more than two years before. Of those earlier shipwrecks we have no record. But here we have a detailed account of a fourth shipwreck.
1. St. Pauls long detention is now ended. One of those merchant vessels, on which even generals and princes had to depend for transit, was now in the harbour of Caesarea, bound for Adramyttium, where it was expected that an opportunity would be found of exchanging for a vessel directly bound for Italy. One day brought them to Sidon, and the courtesy of the centurion, interested thus early in his prisoner, allowed Paul the opportunity of visiting the place and the Church. What these glimpses of Christian friends were to him we might guess from his character, and we know from his letters.
2. Contrary winds began early to retard progress. It was necessary to change the usual direction, sailing along the east and north of Cyprus, and coasting along the shores of Cilicia and Pamphylia, until they reached the Myra. There they lighted upon an Alexandrian corn ship--driven, perhaps, by the same stress of weather out of its straighter course to Italy--and to this the passengers were transferred.
3. It was increasingly a tedious passage. The wind, west or northwest, compelled them, after leaving Cnidus, to take the less desirable eastern side of Crete and then along its southern shore as far as an anchorage which is still called Fair Havens. For the moment they were in safety; and now that season had set in which sailors knew to involve, in those seas, especial danger. The fast was now already past, i.e., the Day of Atonement, occurring (like our Michaelmas) at the end of September, and used, like it, as a common date of time. To advance further was an act of imprudence against which Paul ventured earnestly to remonstrate. The warning was unheeded. The harbour was not so commodious to winter in, and there was a better within forty miles, sheltered from those dreaded winds.
4. The decision to proceed was taken, and for the moment all seemed to favour it. Instead of the troublesome westerly and northwesterly winds, there blew from the south a gentle breeze, which enabled them to start with every advantage for the desired haven of Phoenix. Triumphant, no doubt, over the cowardly prudence of the apostle, they advanced a few miles, in good hope and high spirits, along the sheltering shore of Crete. But a sudden change came. A tempestuous wind (Euroclydon) from the northeast came down upon the ship, and there was nothing for it but to let her drive. It was with difficulty that they took up the boat which might become necessary for the safety of the crew. Then they passed cordage round, and other precautions were taken to avoid their being carried upon the quicksands of Syrtis. The next day they lightened the ship of a portion of its cargo; the day following of all its spare tackling.
5. And now it is impossible to imagine a more dreary and dispiriting scene than that which Luke presents. No one, writes Dr. Howson, who has never been in a leaking ship in a long-continued gale can know what is suffered under such circumstances. The strain both of mind and body, the incessant demand for the labour of all the crew, the terror of the passengers, the hopeless working at the pumps, the labouring of the ships frame and cordage, the driving of the storm, the benumbing effect of the cold and wet, make up a scene of no ordinary confusion, anxiety, and fatigue. But in the present case these evils were much aggravated by the continued over clouding of the sky, which prevented the navigators from taking the necessary observations of the heavenly bodies. To the gloom and despair was added the exhaustion of long abstinence. There was among them but one person now capable of command--the Christian prisoner, unheeded till danger pressed, but now the one leading and animating spirit. He reminds them of their disregard of his warning. The remembrance might make them listen now. And then be gives the solemn assurance, in the name of his God, that there shall be no loss of life.
6. For the time there was no respite. The fourteenth night of that tossing was now come, when some sounds, indicative of approaching land, struck upon the practised ear of the sailors. The first notice was soon confirmed; and now an imminent danger arose of being wrecked upon the rocks of some unknown shore. Nothing could be done save to throw a number of anchors from the stern of the vessel and then to wish for the day. Oh, how many a weary watcher through a long night of sickness of body or anguish of soul has had to do that, and could do nothing more--just to wish for the day!
7. Before dawn a new peril had shown itself. The selfish sailors had formed the project of seizing the boat and leaving the passengers to their fate. It was again the Christian apostle whose ready discernment and calm promptitude averted the danger (verse 31). As if he had said, There is work before us which will need a mariners skill as well as a soldiers courage. The hint was enough. The soldiers cut the ropes of the boat before the sailors could enter it. Yet once more is St. Pauls voice heard; and it is in the same calm and constant tone which has made him the commander of all who sail with him. He foresees that the last struggle will be trying, and that exhausted frames can ill meet it. He therefore prays them to take some food, in the assurance that, however imminent the peril, life is secure. By precept first, and then by example, he summons them to this humble duty. After this, in the prospect of a speedy end of their suffering, they threw overboard the remaining wheat, that the vessel might be lightened for its last grounding. Morning dawned upon an unknown shore, upon which the vessel was so driven that, while the forepart stuck fast and remained immovable, the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.
8. At this last moment a formidable danger threatened the life of St. Paul. It was the counsel of the soldiers to kill the prisoners, lest in the confusion any of them should escape from custody; and the suggestion was only frustrated by the care of Julius for that one Christian prisoner who from the first appears to have awakened his interest, and who by his conduct during these trying scenes must have gained a firm hold upon his confidence and esteem. As it was, a more humane order prevailed.
II. The lessons. We have seen St. Paul in many positions, and noticed his activity, boldness, wisdom, faith, charity, devotion, skill, patience. But the point before us is a combination of them all.
1. Danger is always a test of character. One man is daunted, another bewildered, another irritated, another rendered selfish by it. Read the history of a sudden alarm of fire in a crowded building. The impulse of self-preservation is so strong as to defeat itself; and a heap of crushed or burnt corpses will attest both the predominance and the infatuation of a spirit of selfishness in the heart of man in a time of great and sudden jeopardy. There are three influences which may under given circumstances counteract it.
(1) A sense of honour. The captain of a burning or sinking ship will count it his duty to be the last to quit her. A regiment of soldiers will keep guard on deck over order and life, and count death itself but the just forfeit of a profession which is the soul of honour.
(2) And humanity alone has sufficed to make martyrs. A man worthy of the name will fling himself into deep water, in cold winter, to rescue a drowning woman.
(3) How much more will love counteract the force of selfishness, and make timidity for the moment brave!
2. But how different are these things, at their highest point, from the sustained calmness and commanding wisdom of Paul! None but a Christian could have thus done and thus spoken! Notice--
(1) The tranquillity. This man belongs to God: Whose I am, and whom I serve. Nothing can come amiss to him. He is the property of one to whom to belong is to be immortal.
(2) The elevation. This man is in communication with God: This night the angel of God stood by me. A man like this is just the converse of Jonah. To have him in the ship is a safeguard. See how a child in a thunderstorm will feel himself safe with a pious parent! Nay, more than children have known the comfort of having a righteous man under their roof in days of popular excitement or raging pestilence.
(3) The faith. This man believes God that it shall be even as it was told him. What? As thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome, and the one faithful shall guarantee the faithless (verse 24).
(4) The judgment. This despised Christian is at once pilot, shipmaster, and centurion. Yes, there are times when men who have scoffed at the Christian as a visionary come to recognise his value. It is something in this selfish world to be convinced of a mans disinterestedness. And at least in the hour of death--then, if never before--we send for him, assured that he will speak to us the words of God and guide us into the haven where we would be.
(5) The authority. Who is this man? He is a prisoner, of a despised race, of an outlawed sect. What is he that he should speak with authority? Yet no sooner does danger threaten than he is a man of authority. And strange to say, they listen. There is now no high priest to say to them that stand by, Smite him on the mouth. Euroclydon and Boreas have stopped that. He stands forth now, before sailors and soldiers, face to face with Nature and with Natures God. The day of Gods judgment is the day also (even in this life) of the manifestation and the recognition of the sons of God.
(6) The love. This man, if he were a natural man only, would have been simply depressed and self-contained. Yet Paul makes common cause in everything with the heathen soldiers. He cares for their cheerfulness as well as for their safety. He prescribes for their health, and he counsels for their hopefulness. Surely the love of Christ constrains him! (Dean Vaughan.)
Pauls shipwreck
It is impossible for a thoughtful and serious mind to contemplate the mighty ocean without being deeply impressed with its grandeur and sublimity. But if we are ourselves exposed to the fury of the conflicting elements, we become doubly sensible to their terror and our own insignificance. We feel an awe that cannot be described.
1. We may have to compassionate those who do business in great waters. Theirs is a life of great dangers, and familiarity with danger generally produces hardihood and presumption.
2. It is an unspeakable happiness, in times of peril, to possess a refuge and a hope when all human power fails and all hope of mortal succour is gone.
3. How precious are the promises of God in all storms, whether of the ocean or of the mind!
4. Let us adore that gracious Providence which sustained and guided this eminent apostle through so many scenes of peril and times of trial, which kept his heart steadfast in the faith of Christ and fervent in the love of souls, undismayed alike by the fury of the ocean and the ragings of the people.
5. We see what sacrifices men will make to save their natural lives. They cast into the sea the goods and tackling; but yet sinners will not give up their sins nor renounce the world.
6. The whole narrative announces to us the consolation which the gospel of Christ brings to all true believers. He is the Christians pilot; He guides us through every storm, and can protect amidst all dangers and distresses. (The Evangelist.)
Pauls voyage
I. Setting out.
1. The promises of God never fail. Having been told that he shall bear witness at Rome, Paul is in good time--in Gods time--transported thither.
2. The faithful spirit shown by Aristarchus is rewarded by a special designation of him by name.
II. Stormy without. The storm--
1. Frequently comes when it is least expected. This voyage of Pauls began with a soft breeze and ended with a tempest.
2. Usually finds the worlds people unready and Gods people prepared. The sailors are surprised by the tempest; Paul knows and has spoken of this very tempest before.
3. Tests the comparative value of our possessions. Shall we cling to our gold and our other treasures and be lost, or throw them overboard and be saved?
4. May wreck us unless we are ready with our own hands to throw overboard the unnecessary burdens. Even God cannot save the soul that will not voluntarily part with its sins. We must cast away or be cast away.
5. May drive us before it for a time. God does not promise us uninterruptedly smooth sailing. He does not promise a voyage continually in the direction we should choose. All He does promise is that if we do our best we shall reach the right haven at last.
6. Causes discomfort to the believing Paul as well as to the unbelieving among the ships crew. Spiritual safety does not secure us from present bodily pain, but it makes us despise it for its practical harmlessness.
7. May blot out the light of material sun and stars, but there is one star which is never dimmed. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
III. Calm within.
1. If the world would listen to the words of Gods children warning of the nearness of danger, many an injury and loss even worse than this would be avoided.
2. If there is any loss, it will only be a financial and temporal and comparatively insignificant one to those who commit themselves fully to Gods keeping.
3. If we as Christians lose anything in the storms of this world, it can at worst be nothing more than the loss of the ship in which we sail, the body in which we dwell. Our souls will be saved into Gods presence.
4. If we are ever so much adrift, God can still find us. Says Matthew Henry: Paul knows not where he is himself, yet Gods angel knows where to find him out.
5. If God has promised that we shall in the body stand before Caesar, we need not fear the blows of the tempest. We are immortal until that promise of God is fulfilled.
6. If there is a praying Paul on board, the fact may be worth more to the ships crew than all their labour at the pumps. Jonah, running away from duty, endangers the ship and its crew; Paul, pursuing the course of duty, is a saving companion to the ships crew.
7. If we believe God, we shall have little to dread even in such storms as this which shipwrecked Paul. We shall believe that God will bring us through just as He has promised. Is not God upon the ocean, just the same as on the land? (S. S. Times.)
Pauls voyage
Note--
I. The exposure of good and bad alike to storms and perils.
1. In this ships company there were, besides Paul and Luke and Aristarchus, criminals and the centurion, with his morally mixed band of soldiers. Paul was not permitted to choose his companions, nor are we. The wheat and the tares grow together.
2. In this instance the first days sailing was unhindered. But then the winds began to be contrary, and their course grew dangerous. Then came a little season of soft south wind. But close upon this they were struck by a hurricane which rendered the ship uncontrollable.
3. Here was rough experience. But it was not peculiar. Lands, too, have their cyclones. Ships are wrecked and towns are laid waste notwithstanding the wisdom of the wise; and these are but examples of ills in numerous forms--ills which oftentimes are nearest when we fancy we are safest (verses 13, 14). How stealthy the tread of the pestilence! How swift the stroke of the lightning!
4. Nor yet are outward assaults the worst to which we are exposed. There are foes and perils which assail the soul.
5. Is God, then, careless of our well-being? This we cannot believe. Certain it is that all these dark things have their side of light; and doubtless in due time this will appear.
II. The efforts and sacrifices men willingly make to escape outward ills.
1. Struck by the tempestuous wind, the first thing the seamen did was to secure the boat, by means of which some might be saved if worse came to worst. Then they used helps, ungirding the ship; next they lightened the ship; and, last of all, they cast out such gear and furniture as could be moved. All their wealth and means of comfort they willingly counted but loss. So much will men do to save the bodily life. Nor are they unwise; for what material good is there for which one could afford to exchange his life?
2. But these same men have an eternal life exposed to ruin. Sin, unresisted, works its destruction. What shall we say, then, of the unwillingness of so many to make efforts by which it may be saved?
III. The Christians advantage in times of peril and ill.
1. The seeker after spiritual salvation surely finds. Not so always with lower good. This is given or withholden as seems best. Despite their efforts the seamen had not ensured their safety. Hope was taken away.
2. And yet in this company of famishing wretches in a fast-sinking ship there was at least one who appeared calm and trustful. Not that Paul was without natural timidity. The assuring words, Fear not! indicate the contrary. The bravest soldier has his first moments of tremor. The Christian is still human. And yet how calmly the apostle now stands forth! What was the secret of this courage? Wherein, at such times, is the Christians advantage? In that he is in friendly relations with God, knows how to find Him, and can trustfully commit his whole case and being to Him.
3. There are two sentences to be noted--Whose I am, and whom I serve, and I believe God. Paul belonged to God by a personal consecration; and he had come to put implicit confidence in Gods word. He was not his own, and he trusted Him whom he served. If you try to be a Christian, and still to own yourself, or believe only what your reason can find out for itself, God will seem to be afar off. But try the other way, and then you shall say, What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee!
4. Moreover, God often bestows on such the very things they ask (verse 24; cf. Rom_1:15).
IV. The good which, at such times, may come from association with Christians.
1. The message the angel bore to Paul related not only to himself, but to his companions, for whom doubtless he had prayed. And so every man was to be saved just because of Pauls presence. This is no solitary instance. Ten righteous men saved Sodom. Moses and Samuel often came between Israel and judgment. It was out of regard for a faithful remnant that God bore with His people. So now, the good of a land are its best defence. Two or three godly families will make a community better to live in. Cheerfully, then, support Christian institutions. And yet association with Christians will never spiritually save; for this one must have pardon, and this Jesus only can give. Make Him, then, your companion. That will not secure exemption from storms, but it will secure a safe arrival in port. (H. M. Grant, D. D.)
Pauls voyage
I. Paul a prisoner, yet the chief figure. The ship is a prison. Paul and certain other prisoners. When was Paul ever hidden in the crowd? He is still the chief figure. Here is sovereignty strangely shaded by humiliation. He was one of the herd; he was head of the mob; he was the accent of the anonymous. A singular thing is this admixture of the great and the small. We belong to one another, and are advanced by one another, and are kept back by one another; and a most singular and educative process of restraint and modification is continually proceeding amongst us.
II. Paul courteously entreated (verse 3). How is it that Paul always stood well with men of the world? There is a kind of natural kinship amongst gentlemen. How do we pick out one man from another and say, as if ringing him on the worlds counter, That is good gold, or That is counterfeit silver? Why run down what are called men of the world? They are so often the kings of men. Do not attempt to shake them off as an inferior race. What would they be if they were in the spirit of Christ! They would make the Church warm; they would turn it into a hospitable home; they would breathe a southwest wind through our ill-ventilated souls. Oh! pray for them!
III. Paul still inspiring confidence. His look and tone were his letter of recommendation. There are some men who might have a whole library of testimonials, and you would not believe a word they said; there are other men who need no endorsement. Paul inspiring confidence is Paul preaching in silence.
IV. Paul among his friends, still an object of affectionate interest (verse 3). Literally they rigged him out again, clothed him. Paul had been having a rough time of it, and now his friends saw, as only friends can, that Paul would be none the worse for a new coat. There are many persons who live so very high above the cloud line that they can take no notice of matters of such petty detail. But without saying a word to him they got all things ready, and the clothes were laid there as if they had been laid there by Paul himself and he had forgotten to put them on before. There is a way of doing things--a delicacy infinite as love.
V. Paul profited by delay. Thank God for delays. We should think much of the providence of postponement. Why not let God keep the time bill? This was exactly what Paul needed, and Paul was permitted to enjoy it by the providence of God--a good tossing on the water, a new kind of exercise, an abundance of fresh air. God giveth His beloved sleep; God giveth His beloved rest by keeping the ship at sea a long, long time. We do not like delay; that is because we are little and weak and unwise. You cannot get some men to sit down; they do not know how they are exciting and annoying other people. They call it energy, activity. It is the Lords delight to teach us that the universe can get along without the aid of the very biggest man that is in it.
VI. Paul proving his value in secular affairs (verse 10). What right had Paul to speak? The eternal right. Under ordinary circumstances the landsman has no right to speak on board ship. That is momentary etiquette or discipline; but there are eternal rights, and there come times when all human discipline is suspended and man must speak as man. There are occasions upon which a landsman speaking on board ship would be snubbed by the sailors; there are other times when the sailors would be thankful for any landsman to speak if he could utter one word of rational hope. These are the times the Christian is waiting for. For the Christian to speak when the ship is going merrily over the blue waves, would be impertinence; but the Christian waits. The ship comes into difficulty, the sailors begin to look despairingly at the whole situation. Now if any of you can say a word of comfort, do say it. Be wise, and do not speak before the time, or your words will be like good seed sown upon the fickle and noisy wind. The clock will strike for you; be ready when the hour beats. The word will keep, and when it is spoken after long delay it will come with the more penetrating emphasis. But Paul was disbelieved. Certainly; because the circumstances were not quite mature. But the religious man turned out to be right, as he must always turn out to be. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. All inspired history shows that the first communications were made to the piety of the day, to the prayer of the time. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Pauls voyage
I. The good as well as the evil cannot pass through this world without enduring much tribulation. We see on board a world in miniature. Stern law is represented by Julius the centurion, navigation by the captain, commerce by the merchants, labour by the sailors, the army by the stern-faced soldiers, science by Luke, literature by Paul, and law breaking by the prisoners. On board were all sorts and conditions of men. But there arose against them all the wave-stirring east wind, now called the Levanter.
1. Mark the impartiality of that tempest. They were all caught in it. Fire will burn the saint as well as the sinner; water will drown the missionary as well as the pirate; poison will kill an apostle as well as an apostate. The elements know no partisanship, unless these be a Divine interposition. We have found out long ere this that affliction is no respecter of persons. Even the best of men lose the stars for many days; and in their tribulation they strike the sail, cast out the wheat, and send for the doctor to undergird the ship. Sorrow will enter every home at some time or other; and this is a wise provision, for there is nothing like it to keep the heart tender and sympathetic. Mercies that are pain born are frequently the most precious.
2. Paul in an Euroclydon!--all this is mysterious; but we have full confidence that it is wisely ordained, for to the godly storms are soul strengtheners.
3. The storm may last many days; but the saint will always meet with an angel when the waves are highest. He may lose sight of the natural sun and stars for many days; but he never loses sight of the Divine Sun, and, through the blackest night, the Star of Bethlehem.
4. The good and evil in the same storm; but what a difference between them! Paul had the angel of good cheer at his side, but the godless voyagers had no helper.
5. Paul publicly gave thanks to God for the bread. How keen was his spiritual insight! He felt that the bread and the storm came from the same hand. Let us learn this profound lesson. The bread and the storm, the joy and the sorrow, the day and the night, come from the same Divine source. Think not so much of the storm as to forget the bread.
II. The foolish world is always prone to reject the sage advice of the man of God.
1. Paul advised them to steer the ship into the Fair Havens and winter there; but the centurion believed the master and owner, and the majority went with them. Paul saw the perils ahead, perhaps by prophetic foresight or by the prognosticating instinct. Anyhow, Pauls words proved true to the letter. Yes, the majority were against the man of God in that first century. What does a dry landsman like him know about the navigation of the Adriatic? Let him stick to that new gospel of his, and abstain from all things nautical!
2. Is it not in the nineteenth century as it was in the first? The courageous truth speaker is still the despised and rejected of men. Souls steeped in carnality will not abide in the Fair Havens of piety and purity and love; they will make for some Phenice of their own choosing. We who stand in these pulpits are continually thundering out the warnings, The wages of sin is death, The way of transgressors is hard, Be wise, and winter in the Fair Haven of the gospel of Christ! But thousands despise the warnings. There are some who say, Preachers should strictly confine themselves to theology. Parsons, who know nothing of the ins-and-outs of London business life, should not dictate to business men what they must do and how they must do it. Yet Paul, the landsman, may give advice that even practised seamen would do well to follow.
III. The mocking world always discovers to its cost that it is dangerous to ignore the warnings of God-fearing men. Their ship left the Fair Havens, and it is quite probable that they said, How this south wind gives the lie to Pauls prognostications! But in due time the Euroclydon rushed forth to prove that Paul was right. Better be in the humblest minority with the right than in the most aristocratic majority with the wrong. Do not allow the south wind to lead you to rash conclusions. Tell the young man that there is danger in dallying with his first temptations, and he will point you to the gentle south wind; but he may yet live to find that Paul is right, and to gladly place the helm in his hand. On a death bed you may send for the minister whose sermons you have laughed at.
IV. God honours His faithful servants by communicating with the world through their instrumentality.
1. If Caesar had a message to the crew, he would have spoken through the centurion; if the Board of Trade of that day, through the captain; if the Chamber of Commerce of that time, through the merchants; but when the Royal Court of Heaven had a message to the trembling souls on board, it spoke through Paul. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. Them that honour Me I will honour. If you wish to be Gods ambassador you must be Gods child, for His rule is not to employ aliens. Whose I am, and whom I serve. What noble self-obliviousness in these words! He was not his own; and if we felt this Divine ownership more, there would be infinitely greater sacrifice infused into our service.
2. Paul became, in a secondary sense, the saviour of the two hundred and seventy-five souls on board. Who can estimate the national and civic value of a good man? He is the salt that preserves society from total corruption. Turn all the good men out of the world, and Dantes Inferno will not be a thing of fancy, but of fact. Take all the saints out of London, and it will become a Sodom, fit only for the flames. The religious element in English society is its best safeguard. A God-fearing democracy no power on earth can overthrow.
V. The sublime calmness of the good man in the face of danger. There is no revealer of character like a tempest. The storm revealed the cowardice and hypocrisy and selfishness of these seamen; but the same storm revealed the moral grandeur of Paul. A landsman calm in a sea-storm, and all the crew trembling like the aspen! His robust faith was the secret of his courage (verse 25). His calm assurance pacified the panic-stricken crew (verse 36). The good man is not the slave but the master of circumstances.
VI. No storms can prevent the successful issue of the purposes of Heaven. Gods must is mightier than all the storms of the centuries, even if gathered into one. In a very short time his magic words penetrated the royal palace, and several members of Caesars household were converted. The universal dissemination of the, gospel is somewhat unlikely, and yet we believe in its possibility, for Gods must will vanquish the Euroclydons. Rome must be reached! Our voyage to heaven has its innumerable perils. The reefs are deceptive, the currents are dangerous, and the haven is easily missed; but be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any mans life. (J. Ossian Davies.)
Practical lessons from Pauls voyage
I. Man proposes, but God disposes. The determination that Paul should sail to Italy was, on the human side, the result of Pauls purpose to disappoint the murderous treachery of the Jews, but above this was Gods purpose--that the gospel should be more fully preached, not only in Rome, but in all the empire.
II. The fair weather and the softly blowing south wind allured the navigators from their safe but not sufficiently commodious harbour in the hope of finding a better one; and so men, dissatisfied with their moderate competence, strike out for wealth or honours, so risking and often losing the sufficiency already possessed. In times of prosperity they assure themselves that tomorrow will be as this day, and more abundant, presumptuously boasting of what they know not. In the heyday of hopefulness youth is deaf to the voice of wisdom, madly trusting that for them the skies will always be bright and the winds continue to blow gently. But mans experience of the uncertainty of the most hopeful prospects has made the gentle winds and the smiling sea proverbs of treachery.
III. Very reluctantly, and only after three days of buffeting, the men consented to lighten the ship. Thus, in times of severe trials, our treasures often become our burdens; and he only is wise who, to save his soul, consents to give up all else. But how carefully is this done, lest the sacrifice should be greater than is necessary! At first the less valuable parts of the cargo are cast out; but another days perils made them willing even to dismantle the ship and cast out the furniture. So will men do in order to save their lives; but who will make such sacrifices for the saving of their souls? A striking illustration is given in the flight of Cortez from Mexico, when the Aztecs compelled the invaders to flee. Each man was allowed to take what he would, but their commander warned them, saying, He travels safest in the dark night who travels lightest. The experience of the conflict that ensued demonstrated the wisdom of the advice and the folly of those who failed to heed it, for all such became an easy prey to the lances of the Aztecs. Because men will trust in outward things so long as they have them, it is often a great mercy when God takes them away.
IV. Because the lessons of providence are not learned at once, the times of darkness and dismay are continued. Neither sun nor stars in many days appeared. And in such extremities men learn the folly of their self-confidence, and are the more ready to listen to instruction. Before I was afflicted I went astray, says the Psalmist, but now [since I have been afflicted] have I kept Thy word.
V. Until that dark night of the utter failure of hope except from God the apostle spoke only as a man--a wise and judicious counsellor; but now he spoke to them as from the mouth of God, and they could not gainsay his words. And so God is accustomed to reveal Himself with greatest clearness and in the richest consolations among the darkest and severest temptations. And even then the assurance of deliverance often reveals also the taking away of all earthly dependences. Though Paul was assured that he and his fellow voyagers would be saved alive, yet he was also shown that they must suffer shipwreck.
VI. Paul and the mariners and soldiers were exposed to the same perils; and by virtue of this forced association deliverance came to the latter. And as in their domestic and social relations unbelievers are sometimes closely associated with Gods people, so they are often delivered in times of calamity. And as we are all fellow voyagers through life, and God has made every man his brothers keeper, so has He made it the duty of each by prayer and exhortation, and by all other available means, to seek the salvation of all men. The saved and rescued ships company were given to Paul. (D. Curry, D. D.)
The stormy voyage of life
The Christians means of comfort and safety are--
1. Prudent foresight in the uncertainty of earthly things (verses 9, 10).
2. Brotherly union in the time of need (verses 21, 24, 30).
3. Prompt renunciation of the possessions of this world (verses 18, 19, 38).
4. Courageous trust in God in the storms of temptation (verses 22-25).
5. Grateful use of the Divine means of grace (verses 34-36).
6. Hopeful regard toward the heavenly land of rest (verses 44). (K. Gerok.)
The voyage of life
The analogies between a ship sailing the high seas and a human being sailing the ocean of life are well-nigh endless.
I. In the navies of the world there are yachts for pleasure and merchantmen for business. So there are mere pleasure seekers and those who have serious work on hand. But while sailing to and fro for mere pleasure may be well enough for a yacht, it is a miserable thing for a man. Many a busy man is in reality a pleasure seeker; for he works only because he must, and as soon as the bow of forced labour is unbent he seeks pleasure. Even a coal scow is of more real utility in life than a yacht.
II. Every ship has a cargo. Pauls ship had, and part of it they had to throw overboard to save the ship. So every man carries a cargo. A cargo of what? Many a young man has a full lading of sceptical opinions. These may seem harmless while all goes serenely in life. But as soon as the stress of weather comes, he may find that his beliefs are sinking him. He had better heave them overboard, then, as fast as he can. No ship would like to carry a cargo of nitroglycerine. But infidel faiths are just as dangerous.
III. Every ship has a captain. Some captains are good and some bad. The drunken captain who ran that steamer ashore and lost five hundred souls was a bad one. No one likes to sail with a captain who has wrecked two or three ships. Jesus is the Captain of salvation, Satan of damnation. Either Jesus or Satan is master of every human soul sailing the ocean of life. The one always saves, the other always wrecks. Who is yours?
IV. Sooner or later every ship must encounter storms. A ship built only for fine weather is not seaworthy. The Christian as well as the unbeliever must be ready for bad weather. There are December as well as June voyages to be made. Forewarned is forearmed; and he who calculates on and prepares for storms will not be overthrown. For a ship to sail into the teeth of a storm without captain or compass or ballast is folly. So for the human voyager it is no less folly to go forward to meet temptation and ridicule and affliction without due preparation.
V. Every ship goes into the doors once in a while to repair damages. So, too, it is good for the soul to go into the dock of private examination and prayer. Prayer and meditation and the study of Gods Word repair many damages which the storms of life inflict. From such hours the soul goes forth refreshed, and rejoices like a strong man to run a race.
VI. A ship in the water is good, but water in the ship is bad. To journey through this world is the Christians duty. But to have ones heart filled with the world is to founder in mid-ocean. There are thousands of water-logged Christians. They make no headway, for the worldliness they carry weighs them down too heavily.
VII. Some ships sail more slowly than others. Often the cause is that their bottoms are covered with barnacles. These are out of sight, but they impede the ships progress. So some Christians grow in grace more slowly than others. The reason may always be found in the fact that spiritual barnacles are retarding them--lack of private prayer, neglect of the Bible, non-attendance at church, profane language, foul stories. When a ships bottom is thus fouled, the only remedy is to scrape off the unwelcome intruders. So, if a Christian is to make progress, he must cut off the evil thing, and, laying aside every weight, push forward.
VIII. Every ship needs a compass. So every human voyager needs the Word of God, given on purpose to direct his pathway across the trackless ocean of life. Guesswork is bad work on the ocean, and worse work on the ocean of life.
IX. Every ship makes a last voyage. It may be the last voyage ends in shipwreck; it may be it ends in a safe port, from which the good ship sails forth no more. So every human soul makes his last trip. What will yours end in? (A. F. Shauffler.)
The voyage of life
I. We have a great variety in our contemporaries. On board this vessel were souls of a very mixed character. Almost all the social forces of an age are in that vessel. There is labour represented in the sailors, war in the soldiers, commerce in the merchants, law in the men who hold the prisoners in custody, literature and science in Luke, religion in Paul and his companions. In the voyage of life we are thrown like Paul amongst numerous contemporaries, but there are only a few Lukes or Aristarchuses with whom we can have much intercourse. This suggests--
1. A characteristic of human nature distinguished from all other terrestrial life. Natural history shows that there is a perfect correspondence in taste, impulse, and habit, among all the members of any species of non-rational life. Not so with man. Each individual has the power of striking out an orbit for himself different from that in which anyone had ever moved before or will ever move again. All modes of life are possible to man. He can transmigrate into the grub, the seraph, or the fiend, into a beast like Nebuchadnezzar, a devil like Herod, or an apostle like Paul.
2. That mankind are not now in their original condition. To use the power to form different modes and spheres inconsistently with the royal law of benevolence is the essence of sin and the source of ruin. It can never be that God intended our moral energy to create such a variety of tastes, tendencies, and aims as to render social intercourse and harmony impossible. All souls should have a common centre, and in all their social radiations, should harmoniously combine.
3. The probability of a future social classification. Will such men as Paul, Luke, Aristarchus, be doomed forever to live with mercenary merchants, besotted seamen, and bloody soldiers? Are the Herods to continue kings, and the Johns prisoners? Are the Jeffreys to be on the bench and the Baxters at the bar forever? Mans deepest intuitions, the prayers of the good, and the Bible say it shall not be. The tares and the wheat will one day be separated. We are only mixed while on board this earth ship: as soon as we touch the shore we separate on the principles of moral character and spiritual affinities.
II. The severest trials are common to all. The one trial common to all on board that barque was the danger of losing life (verse 20). They tried every expedient, but all failed; the lamp of hope for a time went out. Danger of life is universally felt to be the severest of trials. And to this all are exposed in a thousand different ways, and all must one day, like Paul and his companions, feel all hope of being saved from death taken away. For a short time, in healthy youth and vigorous manhood, you may flow on propitiously like this vessel in the first stage of its voyage, when the south wind blew softly; but farther on the sea will marshal its billows against thee; the sun will set, the moon go down, and every star disappear, and thou shall feel thyself only as a bubble on the breakers. The scene suggests that common trims--
1. Develop different dispositions. How different were the feelings of Paul from the others. Even the brave sailors were at their wits end; they sought to flee out of the ship. The soldiers, too, displayed their base and heartless selfishness, for they proposed to kill the prisoners. But none of these things moved Paul. His every word shows an unfaltering faith in Him to whom he had committed himself. His bearing, too, was calm and hope inspiring. His great nature was taken up with the sufferings of his companions (verses 33, 34). Trials test our principles as fire tries the minerals.
2. Show the indifference of nature to social distinctions. The centurion, his subordinates, Christians and heathens, were all treated alike. Old ocean cares no more for the boats with which Xerxes bridged the Hellespont than for any worthless log of timber. It heeds no more the voice of Canute than the cries of a babe. Napoleon, says a modern author, was once made to feel his littleness in a storm at sea off Boulogne. His mighty fleet lay before him. Wishing to review it, he desired Admiral Bruyes to change the position of the ships. Foreseeing that a storm was gathering the admiral respectfully declined. But Napoleon, in a rage, peremptorily demanded obedience. Vice-Admiral Magon obeyed the order. The threatened storm burst. Several sloops were wrecked, and above two hundred poor soldiers and sailors were plunged in the raging waves. The Emperor instantly ordered the boats out to the rescue. He was told, No boat could live in such a sea. He then ordered a company of his grenadiers to man the boats, and as he sprang in, exclaimed, Follow me, my brave fellows! They had scarcely entered the boat, before a huge wave dashed over the emperor. Onward! onward! he cried; but the daring effort was vain; progress in such a sea was impossible. Push on! push on! cried Napoleon; do you not hear those cries? Oh, this sea! this sea! it rebels against our power, but it may be conquered! At this moment a mighty billow struck the boat with tremendous force, and drove it back, quivering, to the shore. It seemed as though this were the oceans answer; or rather the answer of the God of the ocean, to the proud monarchs boast! Napoleon was cast ashore by the spurning billows of the stormy sea, like a drifting fragment of dripping seaweed. Natures indifference, however, to mere secular distinction is not so strange as her want of respect to the moral. Nature treats apostles and apostates alike. Our character and moral position are not to be estimated by natures aspect towards us. The tower of Siloam may fall on the good as well as on the bad; children may be born blind of righteous parents as well as of wicked. The ground of wicked men may bring forth plenteously, while the soil of the good man be struck with barrenness. All things come alike to all, etc. She has her own system of laws; he who attends to them most loyally shall enjoy most of her bounties. In this respect she is an emblem of the moral system. Both are impartial. Both treat their subjects according to their conduct towards them, not according to their conduct towards anything else.
III. Special communications from God are mercifully vouchsafed (verses 24, 25). God knew the dire perils to which Paul was exposed, and interposed. He knows our difficulties and dangers on our voyage to eternity, and makes the necessary communications for our relief. Note some points of resemblance. The Divine communication to the men on board this vessel.
1. Came through the best of the men. Not through one of the merchants, or the centurion, but through Paul, the prisoner. But notwithstanding his secular abjectness, he was a good man. God has ever spoken to the world through the best man. It matters not how poor they are if good. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. The Bible consists of communications from God through holy men, who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
2. Were the final and effective means of meeting the emergency. Maritime genius and energy were all in vain, and just when in a hopeless state the communication came (verse 20). And so it was after human reason had tried every effort to guide the soul into the haven of peace that Christ came.
3. Their efficacy depended upon a practical attention to the directions (verses 22-31). The lesson is that every promise should be regarded as conditional, unless a most unequivocal assurance is given to the contrary. But what reason had Paul to regard this promise as conditional? There was no if in it. His instincts, experience, observation, and all analogy, satisfied him that Divine ends are always reached by means. Gods promises afford no pretext for carelessness. Has God promised knowledge? It implies study. Has He promised salvation? It implies faith in Christ.
IV. One morally great man however poor, is of immense service to his contemporaries. Note--
1. The characteristics of a truly great man as illustrated in Pauls history on board the vessel.
(1) Forecast. At the very outset he had a presentiment of the danger which awaited them (verse 10). Intense sympathy with a mans principles and aims will enable me to foresee much of his future conduct. Godliness, the soul of all moral greatness, is this sympathy. This sympathy with God is the prophetic eye. Give me this, and, like Isaiah, in some humble measure, I shall foretell the ages. This sympathy is a new eye to the soul. Because of this Paul saw what the captain could not. His heart was in such a contact with that Spirit which controls the winds and the waves that he felt that something terrible was about to transpire. Never let us disregard the warnings of a great and godly man.
(2) Magnanimous calmness (verse 36). Trust in God was the philosophy of his--
(3) Self-obliviousness. Whilst all others were struggling for themselves, he seemed only concerned for them.
(4) Religiousness. This explains his greatness. He saw God in the tempest and in the bread. He bowed in resignation to the one--he thanked Him for the other.
2. The service which he rendered--
(1) Was both direct and indirect. The spirit of confidence which he breathed, the efforts he put forth, the directions he gave, were all direct. Then the indirect service was great. For the sake of Paul the prisoners were not killed (verse 43). At the great day it will be found that many an obscure saint has conferred far greater service than those generals, statesmen, poets, and sages who have won the acclamations of posterity. The world has yet to learn who are its true benefactors.
(2) Was appreciated as trials increased. In the first stage of the voyage, when the south winds blew softly, Paul was nothing. When he uttered his warning he was treated with indifference, but he became the moral commander during the tempest. How often do the worlds great men on, death beds, seek the attendance, sympathies, counsel, and prayers of those godly ones whom they despised in health! (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The voyage of life
I. The setting out.
1. The various changes of surrounding objects (verses 1, 2, 4-8).
2. The friendships (verse 3).
3. The first clouds (verses 9-15).
II. Fear and hope.
1. The fear of unbelief (verses 16-20).
2. The confidence of faith (verses 21-26).
III. The contest with adversities.
1. Trouble discloses hearts (verses 27-32).
2. Trouble leads to God (verses 33-38).
IV. The haven of rest.
1. The shipwreck and billows of death (verses 39-43).
2. The rescue and landing in an unknown country. (Lisco.)
Christs bark on the stormy ocean of this world
I. Its dangers.
1. Contrary winds (verses 4, 14).
2. Foolish guides (verses 11, 12).
3. Superfluous possessions (verses 18, 19).
4. Disunited associates (verses 30, 42).
5. Concealed rocks (verses 39, 41).
II. Its means of help.
1. The testimony of pious teachers (verses 9, 21).
2. The prophecies of the Divine Word (verses 23, 24).
3. The comforts of the holy sacraments (verse 35).
4. The blessing of believing prayer (verse 35).
5. The rescuing hand of Almighty God (verses 24, 34, 44). (K. Gerok.)
Mans counsellors
The narrative suggests that men in passing through life--
I. Have true and false counsellors. Paul here stands for the true (verse 10). The master and the owner of the ship stand for the false (verse 11). Thus there are ever counsellors; some pointing to the right path, and some to the wrong; some the apostles of God, and some the emissaries of hell. This fact urges on each--
1. The necessity of an independent inquiry into the question of duty. Let each use his own judgment. Try the spirits, etc.
2. The necessity of Divine guidance in the question of duty. Guide me by Thy counsel, etc.
II. Are ever disposed to follow the false rather than the true. The greater portion on board rejected the counsels of Paul, and followed those of the master and the owner. It may be that some of them considered it a piece of impertinence on Paul, a landsman, to give nautical advice. Men follow the false because it is--
1. More congenial.
2. Popular.
3. Attractive.
III. Find that the false often appears at first to be the better course. When the vessel, contrary to the advice of Paul moved off from the Fair Havens, things looked propitious. Perhaps under the bright sky, and before favourable winds, many on board laughed at Paul on the first day. So it is; a false course frequently appears at first desirable. There are periods in our sinful life when the south winds blow softly.
1. Youth.
2. Health.
3. Prosperity.
IV. Discover that the false ultimately conducts to the most terrible disasters. The soft south wind gives way to the Euroclydon, which hurls the bark into the utmost distress. And then comes the period when all hope that they should be saved was taken away. Two circumstances greatly aggravated the ships distress.
1. The darkness. No sun or stars for many days appeared, not an unusual circumstance during a Levanter.
2. Hunger. The want of food led to the pain of exhaustion and the bitter gnawing of hunger. This is what following the false leads to. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
They delivered Paul, and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus band.
Julius
Nothing is more remarkable to the student of the New Testament than the favourable impression which Roman officers make upon the mind. It may be that the military career is favourable to some attractive virtues, or that Scripture would remind us that they may be formed in spite of adverse circumstances in the military life.
1. In the centurion at Capernaum we have the exhibition of a very high type of character (Mar_8:10; Luk_7:9).
2. The centurion at the Cross by his memorable confession is sharply divided from the company around (Mar_15:39; Luk_23:47).
3. Cornelius again (Act_10:1; Act_11:18), is a pattern both before and after his conversion to Christians.
4. Paul was brought in contact with five centurions.
(1) The officer who, on learning that he was a Roman citizen, countermanded the scourging (Act_21:32).
(2) The centurion whom Paul requested to take his nephew to the commanding officer (Act_23:17).
(3) The two whom Lysias sent in command of the escort (Act_23:23), about whom we know nothing except that they discharged their duty promptly and methodically.
(4) Julius, who now deserves careful attention. The specifying of the corps to which he belongs singles him out at once as an officer of rank. He held a commission in the molt distinguished part of the army; that which was most closely connected with the emperor and his court. There are several places where he is mentioned, and most teach us something concerning his character.
I. (Verse 3). He courteously entreated Paul, etc. The fact that he was a heathen enhances the favourable impression produced by his courtesy and kindness. Whether this arose from natural disposition, or from some influence which Paul had gained over him from what he may have observed and heard, we cannot tell. Notice that it was not mere permission that he gave, which would have been something, considering that he had no guarantee that Paul would return, and implies a large and rapid growth of good feeling. But there was a remarkable display of consideration in the manner in which it was done. Then let all that is implied in two expressions be considered. Paul must have needed refreshment for his health and spirits. He was of delicate constitution, and had undergone great trials. And of all refreshment the most acceptable Would be the society of Christian friends.
II. At Myra (verse 5) Julius and his prisoners changed ships and set out again in a gale which drove them to the Fair Havens of Crete (verse 8), where they stayed for a time, and were recommended by Paul to stay longer. But the centurion preferred the counsel of the master and the owner of the ship, and naturally. The one had experience of the sea, the other the best possible reasons for consulting the ships safety, and besides were in the majority. Prom a worldly point of view, therefore, Julius deserves credit for his good sense. But Paul was right, and Julius wrong, as events proved, and this was one of the circumstances which gradually raised Paul to a position of commanding influence. And it is worthy of note that Julius took no offence at Pauls honest opposition.
III. The centurion is next mentioned when the ship was at anchor, but in danger of going on to the rocks (verse 29). The sailors, consulting their own safety, were for lowering the boat. Paul saw the peril, but acted with consummate judgment. He said nothing to the sailors, but spoke at once to the centurion, who had now implicit confidence in the apostle, and dealt with the matter promptly. Thus the sailors were kept on board to do what they only could do, and thus the lives of nearly three hundred were saved through the good understanding established between the heathen and the Christian.
IV. When daylight came this friendly feeling led in a still more remarkable way to similar results. Lest the prisoners should escape in the break up of the vessel the soldiers suggested their execution inasmuch as they were answerable with their lives for the prisoners. They forgot, however, they owed their own lives to Paul. And now, in this imminent danger, comes out the peculiar feeling of Julius towards him (verses 42, 43). Had Paul not been of the party, and had Julius been of a different disposition, the prisoners would have been killed. That they were all saved was due to the friendship between the two.
V. The last mention of the centurion is in Rome (Act_28:16). His duty was done, and he proceeds to obey whatever new orders were laid upon him. Conclusion:
1. It is probable that Paul, Felix, and Julius were for some time in Rome together, but not very likely that they ever met again. A large city is like a large forest, where different paths may be pursued again and again without any chance of meeting. Each man in such a city, however, has his own history and carries with him the results of his past experience and opportunities. Felix was what he became after his procrastination; and Julius what he became after close companionship with Paul. Whether this ripened into Christianity or not we do not know.
2. We have followed the biographical thread with little mention of religion. There is no mention of Christ in all this long chapter. The duty of an expositor, however, is to deal fairly with the sacred volume, feeling assured that there is some Christian lesson even where Christ is not named. And it is instructive to find such variety of teaching as we go through Scripture. In these later chapters we have two of the early points of contact between Christianity and heathenism. In the one case there is reference to the salvation of the soul, in the other the incidents of friendly intercourse as regards affairs of the world. In the one we have advice to the unconverted, in the other advice to the converted about the duty and advantages of courtesy, and the force of the example is increased by the fact that Julius was a heathen. Parallel cases are when our Lord singles out Samaritans as examples of benevolence and gratitude. For the importance that the New Testament attaches to courtesy (see Mat_5:5; Mat_5:7; Mat_5:9; Mat_5:41; Rom_12:10; Php_2:3-5; Eph_4:31-32; 1Pe_2:17; 1Pe_3:8). Let it not be said that in the midst of our boasted civilisation the lesson is obsolete. Rudeness is common to and often encouraged in boyhood, and no rank is exempt from it. How it prevails in political and ecclesiastical partisanship! (Dean Howson.)
And Julius courteously entreated Paul.--
Effect of courteous treatment
In a certain town a new minister had been called and settled. In that town was a God-forsaken old reprobate, whom nobody respected or spoke to who could avoid it. He had never been known to go inside a place of worship. He only worked when driven by necessity to do so, and leafed about the town a common nuisance. A few days after the minister came to the town he met the old man on the street, and bowing spoke a pleasant good morning, and passed on. The old man turned and looked after him, and made inquiry of someone as to who he might be. The same thing happened a day or two afterward, and again during the space of a week or two. Some one told the minister that he had made a friend of the old man, and laughingly told him that he was wasting politeness on the reprobate. Never mind, said the minister, it does not cost much to be polite, and no more to an old reprobate than to the squire of the town. It was not long till old Blank was noticed creeping into the corner of the church farthest from the pulpit and nearest to the door. He had come in late and was the first to leave the church. He came again and again, and was finally brought to Christ, and during the rest of his life lived a consistent and earnest Christian life. He said the ministers bow was what did it.
The winds were contrary.--
The voices of Gods providence
Among the voices of Gods providence are the howling storm and the roaring sea. A pious chaplain, detained by contrary wind at the Isle of Wight over the Sunday, preached that day in one of the churches of the island. In the congregation there was a thoughtless girl who had come to show her fine clothes. The Word of God arrested her, and she was converted. The story of her conversion is the narrative of the Dairymans Daughter, which has gone all round the world, and the fruit of the sermon is a hundredfold.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Chapter 18
Chapter 18
IN PERILS ON THE SEA.
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Act_27:1-3; Act_28:16
THIS chapter terminates our survey of the Acts of the Apostles, and leads us at the same time to contemplate the Apostle of the Gentiles in a new light as a traveller and as a prisoner, in both which aspects he has much to teach us. When St. Paul was despatched to the judgment-seat of Caesar from the port of Caesarea, he had arrived at the middle of his long captivity. Broadly speaking, he was five years a prisoner from the day of his arrest at Jerusalem till his release by the decision of Nero. He was a prisoner for more than two years when Festus sent him to Rome, and then at Rome he spent two more years in captivity, while his voyage occupied fully six months. Let us now first of all look at that captivity, and strive to discover those purposes of good therein which God hides amidst all his dispensations and chastisements.
We do not always realise what a length of time was consumed in the imprisonments of St. Paul. He must have spent from the middle of 58 to the beginning of 63 as a prisoner, cut off from many of those various activities in which he had previously laboured so profitably for Gods cause. That must have seemed to himself and to many others a terrible loss to the gospel; and yet now, as we look back from our vantage-point, we can see many reasons why the guidance of his heavenly Father may have led directly to this imprisonment, which proved exceedingly useful for himself and his own souls health, for the past guidance and for the perpetual edification of the Church of Christ. There is a text in Eph_4:1 which throws some light on this incident. In that Epistle, written whenSt. Paul was a captive at Rome, he describes himself thus, "I therefore the prisoner in the Lord," or "the prisoner of the Lord," as the Authorised Version puts it. These words occur as the beginning of the Epistle for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. Now there is often a marvellous amount of spiritual wisdom and instruction to be gained from a comparison between the, epistles and gospels and the collects for each Sunday. All my readers may not agree in the whole theological system which underlies the Prayer Book, but every one will acknowledge that its services and their construction are the result of rich and varied spiritual experiences extending over a period of more than a thousand years. The mere contrast of an epistle and of a collect will often suggest thoughts deep and searching. So it is with this text, "I therefore the prisoner in the Lord." It is preceded by the brief pithy prayer, "Lord, we pray Thee that Thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works, through Jesus Christ our Lord." The words of St. Paul to the Ephesians speaking of himself as the prisoner of God and in God suggested immediately the idea of Gods grace surrounding, shaping, constraining to His service every external circumstance; and thus led to the formation of the collect which in fact prays that we may realise ourselves as so completely Gods as, like the Apostle, continually to be given to all good works. St. Paul realised himself as so prevented, using that word in its ancient sense, preceded and followed by Gods grace, guarded before and behind by it, that he looked beyond the things seen, and discarding all secondary agents and all lower instruments, he viewed his imprisonment as Gods own immediate work.
I. Let us then see in what way we may regard St. Pauls imprisonment as an arrangement and outcome of Divine love. Take, for instance, St. Paul in his own personal life. This period of imprisonment, of enforced rest and retirement, may have been absolutely necessary for him. St. Paul had spent many a long and busy year building up the spiritual life of others, founding churches, teaching converts, preaching, debating, struggling, suffering. His life had been one of intense spiritual, intellectual, bodily activity on behalf of others. But no one can be engaged in intense activity without wasting some of the spiritual life and force necessary for himself. Religious work, the most direct spiritual activity, visiting the sick, or preaching the gospel, or celebrating the sacraments, make a tremendous call upon our devotional powers and directly tend to lower our spiritual vitality, unless we seek abundant and frequent renewal thereof at the source of all spiritual vitality and life. Now God by this long imprisonment took St. Paul aside once again, as He had taken him aside twenty years before, amid the rocks of Sinai. God laid hold of him in his career of external business, as He laid hold of Moses in the court of Pharaoh, leading him into the wilderness of Midian for forty long years. God made St. Paul His prisoner that, having laboured for others, and having tended diligently their spiritual vineyard, he might now watch over and tend his own for a time. And the wondrous manner in which he profited by his imprisonment is manifest from this very Epistle to the Ephesians, in which he describes himself as Gods prisoner - not, be it observed, the prisoner of the Jews, or of the Romans, or ofCaesar, but as the prisoner of God-dealing in the profoundest manner, as that Epistle does, with the greatest mysteries of the Christian faith. St.
Paul had an opportunity during those four or five years, such as he never had before, of realising, digesting, and assimilating in all their fulness the doctrines he had so long proclaimed to others, and was thus enabled out of the depth of his own personal experience to preach what he felt and knew to be true, the only kind of teaching which will ever be worth anything.
Again, St. Paul designates himself the prisoner of the Lord because of the benefits his imprisonment conferred upon the Church of Christ in various ways. Take his imprisonment at Caesarea alone. We are not expressly told anything about his labours during that time. But knowing St. Pauls intense energy we may be sure that the whole local Christian community established in that important centre whence the gospel could diffuse itself as far as the extremest west on the one side and the extremest east on the other, was permeated by his teaching and vitalised by his example. He was allowed great freedom, as the Acts declares. Felix "gave orders to the centurion that he should be kept in charge, and should have indulgence; and not to forbid any of his friends to minister unto him." If we take the various centurions to whom he was intrusted, we may be sure that St. Paul must have omitted no opportunity of leading them to Christ. St. Paul seems to have known how to make his way to the hearts of the Roman soldiers, as his subsequent treatment by Julius the centurion shows, and that permission of the governor would be liberally interpreted when deputies from distant churches sought his presence. Messengers from the various missions he had founded must have had recourse to Caesarea during those two years spent there, and thence too was doubtless despatched many a missive of advice and exhortation. At Caesarea, too, may then have been written the Gospel of St. Luke. Lewin (vol. 1. p. 221), indeed, places its composition at Philippi, where St. Luke laboured for several years prior to St. Pauls visit in 57 A.D. after leaving Ephesus; and he gives as his reason for this conclusion that St. Paul called St. Luke in 2Co_8:18, written about that time, "the brother whose praise is in the Gospel," referring to his Gospel then lately published. I think the suggestion much more likely that St. Luke took advantage of this pause in St. Pauls activity to write his Gospel at Caesarea when he had not merely the assistance of the Apostle himself, but of Philip the deacon, and was within easy reach of St. James and the Jerusalem Church. St. Lukes Gospel bears evident traces of St. Pauls ideas and doctrine, was declared by Irenaeus ("Haer.," 3:1) to have been composed under his direction, and may with much probability be regarded as one of the blessed results flowing forth from St. Pauls detention as Christs prisoner given by Him in charge to the Roman governor.
The Apostles Roman imprisonment again was most profitable to the Church of the imperial capital. The Church of Rome had been founded by the efforts of individuals. Private Christians did the work, not apostles or eminent evangelists. St. Paul came to it first of all as a prisoner, and found it a flourishing church. And yet he benefited and blessed it greatly. He could not, indeed, preach to crowded audiences in synagogues or porticos as he had done elsewhere. But he blessed the Church of Rome most chiefly by his individual efforts. This man came to him into his own hired house, and that man followed him attracted by the magnetic influence he seemed to bear about. The soldiers appointed as his keepers were told the story of the Cross and the glad tidings of the resurrection life, and these individual efforts were fruitful in vast results, so that even into the household and palace of the Caesars did this patient, quiet, evangelistic work extend its influence. Nowhere else, in fact, not even in Corinth, where St. Paul spent two whole years openly teaching without any serious interruption; not even in Ephesus, where he laboured so long that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word; nowhere else was the Apostles ministry so effective as here in Rome, where the prisoner of the Lord was confined to individual effort and completely laid aside from more public and enlarged activity. It was with St. Paul as it is with Gods messengers still. It is not eloquent or excited public efforts, or platform addresses, or public debates, or clever books that are most fruitful in spiritual results. Nay, it is often the quiet individual efforts of private Christians, the testimony of a patient Sufferer perhaps, the witness all-powerful with men, of a life transformed through and through by Christian principle, and lived in the perpetual sunshine of Gods reconciled countenance. These are the testimonies that speak most effectually for God, most directly to souls.
Lastly, St. Pauls imprisonment blessed the Church of every age, and through it blessed mankind at large far more than his liberty and his external activity could have done in one other direction. Is it not a contradiction in terms to say that the imprisonment of this courageous leader, this eloquent preacher, this keen, subtle debater, should have been more profitable to the Church than the exercise of his external freedom and liberty, when all these dormant powers would have found ample scope for their complete manifestation? And yet if Christ had not laid His arresting hand upon the active, external labour in which St. Paul had been absorbed, if Christ had not cast the busy Apostle into the Roman prison-house, the Church of all future time would have been deprived of those masterly expositions of Christian truth which she now enjoys in the various Epistles of the Captivity, and specially in those addresses to the churches of Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae. We have now noted some of the blessings resulting from St. Pauls five years captivity, and indicated a line of thought which may be applied to the whole narrative contained in the two chapters with which we are dealing. St. Paul was a captive, and that captivity gave him access at Caesarea to various classes of society, to the soldiers, and to all that immense crowd of officials connected with the seat of government, quaestors, tribunes, assessors, apparitors, scribes, advocates. His captivity then led him on board ship, and brought him into contact with the sailors and with a number of passengers drawn from diverse lands. A storm came on, and then the Apostles self-possession, his calm Christian courage, when every one else was panic-stricken, gave him influence over the motley crowd. The waves flung the ship of Alexandria in which he was travelling upon Malta, and his stay there during the tempestuous winter months became the basis of the conversion of its inhabitants. Everywhere in St. Pauls life and course at this season we can trace the outcome of Divine love, the power of Divine providence shaping Gods servant for His own purposes, restraining mans wrath when it waxed too fierce, and causing the remainder of that wrath to praise Him by its blessed results.
II. Let us now gather up into a brief narrative the story contained in these two chapters, so that we may gain a birds-eye view over the whole. Festus entered upon his provincial rule about June, A.D. 60. According to Roman law the outgoing governor, of whatever kind he was, had to await his successors arrival and hand over the reins of government-a very natural and proper rule which all civilised governments observe. We have no idea how vast the apparatus of provincial, or, as we should say. colonial government among the Romans was, and how minute their regulations were, till we take up one of those helps which German scholars have furnished towards the knowledge of antiquity, as, for instance, Mommsens "Roman Provinces," which can be read in English, or Marquardts "Romische Staatsverwaltung," vol. 1, which can be studied either in German or French. The very city where first the new governor was to appear and the method of fulfilling his duties as the Judge of Assize were minutely laid down and duly followed a well-established routine. We find these things indicated in the case of Festus. He arrived at Caesarea. He waited three days till his predecessor had left for Rome, and then he ascended to Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of that very troublesome and very influential city. Festus then returned to Caesarea after ten days spent in gaining an intimate knowledge of the various points of a city which often before had been the centre of rebellion, and where he might at any moment he called upon to act with sternness and decision. He at once heard St. Pauls cause as the Jews had demanded, brought him a second time before Agrippa, and then in virtue of his appeal to Caesar despatched him to Rome in care of a centurion and a small band of soldiers, a large guard not being necessary, as the prisoners were not ordinary criminals, but for the most part men of some position, Roman citizens, doubtless, who had, like the Apostle, appealed unto the judgment of Caesar. St. Paul embarked, accompanied by Luke and Aristarchus, as the ship, being an ordinary trading vessel, contained not only prisoners, but also passengers as well. We do not intend to enter upon the details of St. Pauls voyage, because that lies beyond our range, and also because it has been thoroughly done in the various "Lives" of the Apostle, and above all in the exhaustive work of Mr. James Smith of Jordanhills. He has devoted a volume to this one topic, has explored every source of knowledge, has entered to discussions touching the build and rigging of ancient ships and the direction of Mediterranean winds, has minutely investigated the scenery and history of such places as Malta where the Apostle was wrecked, and has illustrated the whole with beautiful plates and carefully drawn maps. That work has gone through four editions at least, and deserves a place in every mans library who wishes to understand the life and labours of St. Paul or study the Acts of the Apostles. We may, however, without trenching on Mr. Smiths field, indicate the outline of the route followed by the holy travellers. They embarked at Caesarea under the care of a centurion of the Augustan cohort, or regiment, as we should say, whose name was Julius. They took their passage at first in a ship of Adramyttium, which was probably sailing from Caesarea to lie up for the winter. Adramyttium was a seaport situated up in the northwest of Asia Minor near Tress, and the Sea of Marmora, or, to put it in modern language, near Constantinople. The ship was in fact, about to travel over exactly the same ground as St. Paul himself had traversed more than two years before when he proceeded from Troas to Jerusalem. Surely, some one may say, this was not the direct route to Rome. But then we must throw our, selves back into the circumstances of the period. There was then no regular transport service. People, even the most exalted, had to avail themselves of whatever means of communication chance offered. Cicero, when chief governor of Asia, had, as we have already noted, to travel part of the way from Rome in undecked vessels, while ten years later than St. Pauls voyage the Emperor Vespasian himself, the greatest potentate in the world; had no trireme or warship waiting upon him, but when he wished to proceed from Palestine to Rome, at the time of the great siege of Jerusalem, was obliged to take a passage in an ordinary merchant vessel or cornship. It is no wonder, then that the prisoners were put on board a coasting vessel of Asia, the centurion knowing right well that in sailing along by the various ports which studded the shore of that province they would find some other vessel into which they could be transferred. And this expectation was realised. The centurion and his prisoners sailed first of all to Sidon, where St. Paul found a Christian Church. This circumstance illustrates again the quiet and steady growth of the gospel kingdom, and also gave Julius an opportunity of exhibiting his kindly feelings towards the Apostle by permitting him to go and visit the brethren. In fact. we would conclude from this circumstance that St. Paul had already begun to establish an influence over the mind of Julius which must have culminated in his conversion. Here, at Sidon, he permits him to visit his Christian friends; a short time after his regard for Paul leads him to restrain his troops from executing the merciless purposes their Roman discipline had taught them and slaying all the prisoners lest they should escape; and yet once again, when the prisoners land on Italian soil and stand beside the charming scenery of the Bay of Naples, he permits the Apostle to spend a week with the Christians of Puteoli. After this brief visit to the Sidonian Church, the vessel bearing the Apostle pursues its way by Cyprus to the port of Myra at the southwestern corner of Asia Minor, a neighbourhood which St. Paul knew right well and had often visited. It was there at Patara, close at hand, that he had embarked on board the vessel which carried him two years before to Palestine, and it was there too at Perga of Pamphylia that he had first landed on the shores of the Asiatic province, seeking to gather its teeming millions into the fold of Jesus Christ. Here at Myra the centurion realised his expectations, and finding an Alexandrian transport sailing to Italy he put the prisoners on board. From Myra they seem to have sailed at once, and from the day they left it their misfortunes began. The wind was contrary, blowing from the west, and to make any way they had to sail to the island Cnidus, which lay northwest of Myra. After a time, when the wind became favourable, they sailed southwest till they reached the island of Crete, which lay half-way between Greece and Asia Minor. They then proceeded along the southern coast of this island till they were struck by a sudden wind coming from the northeast, which drove them first to the neighbouring island of Clauda, and then, after a fortnights drifting through a tempestuous sea, hurled the ship upon the shores of Malta. The wreck took place towards the close of October or early in November, and the whole party were obliged to remain in Malta till the spring season permitted the opening of navigation. During his stay in Malta St. Paul performed several miracles. With his intensely practical and helpful nature the Apostle flung himself into the work of common life, as soon as the shipwrecked party had got safe to land. He always did so. He never despised, like some religious fanatics, the duties of this world. On board the ship he had been the most useful adviser to the whole party. He had exhorted the captain of the ship not to leave a good haven; he had stirred up the soldiers to prevent the sailors escape; he had urged them all alike, crew and passengers and soldiers, to take food, foreseeing the terrible struggle they would have to make when the ship broke up. He was the most practical adviser his companions could possibly have had, and he was their wisest and most religious adviser too. His Words on board ship teem with lessons for ourselves, as well as for his fellow-passengers. He trusted in God, and received special revelations from heaven, but he did not therefore neglect every necessary human precaution. The will of God was revealed to him that he had been given all the souls that sailed with him, and the angel of God cheered and comforted him in that storm-driven vessel in Adria, as often before when howling mobs thirsted like evening wolves for his blood. But the knowledge of Gods purposes did not cause his exertions to relax. He knew that Gods promises are conditional upon mans exertions, and therefore he urged his companions to be fellow-workers with God in the matter of their own salvation from impending death. And as it was on board the ship, so was it on the shore. The rain was descending in torrents, and the drenched passengers were shivering in the cold. St. Paul shows the example, so contagious in a crowd, of a man who had his wits about him, knew what to do and would do it. He gathered therefore a bundle of sticks, and helped to raise a larger fire in the house which had received him. A man is marvellously helpful among a cowering and panic-stricken crowd which has just escaped death who will rouse them to some practical efforts for themselves, and will lead the way as the Apostle did on this occasion. And his action brought its own reward. He had gained influence over the passengers, soldiers, and crew by his practical helpfulness. He was now to gain influence over the barbarian islanders in exactly the same way. A viper issued from the fire and fastened on his hand. The natives expected to see him fall down dead; but after looking awhile and perceiving no change, they concluded him to be a god who had come to visit them. This report soon spread. The chief man therefore of the island sought out St. Paul and entertained him. His father was sick of dysentery and the Apostle healed him, using prayer and the imposition of hands as the outward symbols and means of the cure, which spread his fame still farther and led to other miraculous cures. Three months thus passed away. No distinct missionary work is indeed recorded by St. Luke, but this is his usual custom in writing his narrative. He supposes that Theophilus, his friend and correspondent, will understand that the Apostle ever kept the great end of his life in view, never omitting to teach Christ and Him crucified to the perishing multitudes where his lot was cast. But St. Luke was not one of those who are always attempting to chronicle spiritual successes or to tabulate the number of souls led to Christ. He left that to another day and to a better and more infallible judge. In three months time, when Februarys days grew longer and milder winds began to blow, the rescued travellers joined a corn-ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the island, and all set forward towards Rome. They touched at Syracuse in Sicily, sailed thence to Rhegium, passing through the Straits of Messina, whence, a favourable south wind springing up, and the vessel running before it at the rate of seven knots an hour, the usual speed for ancient vessels under the circumstances, they arrived at Puteoli, one hundred and eighty-two miles distant from Rhegium, in the course of some thirty hours. At Puteoli the sea voyage ended. It may at first seem strange to us with our modern notions that St. Paul was allowed to tarry at Puteoli with the local Christian Church for seven days. But then we must remember that St. Paul and the centurion did not live in the days of telegraphs and railway trains. There was. doubtless a guard-room, barrack, or prison in which the prisoners could be accommodated. The centurion and guard were weary after a. long and dangerous journey, and they would be glad of a brief period of repose before they set out again towards the capital. This hypothesis alone would be quite sufficient to account for the indulgence granted to St. Paul, even supposing that his Christian teaching had made no impression on the centurion. The Church existing then at Puteoli is another instance of that quiet diffusion of the gospel which was going on all over the world without any noise or boasting. We have frequently called attention to this, as at Tyre, Ptolemais, Sidon, and here again we find a little company of saintly men and women gathered out of the world and living the ideal life of purity and faith beside the waters. of the Bay of Naples. And yet it is quite natural that we should find them at Puteoli, because it was one of the great ports which received the corn-ships of Alexandria and the merchantmen of Caesarea and Antioch into her harbour, and in these ships many a Christian came bringing the seed of eternal life, which he diligently sowed as he travelled along the journey of life. In fact, seeing that the Church of Rome had sprung up and flourished so abundantly, taking its origin not from any Apostles teaching, but simply from such sporadic effects, we cannot wonder that Puteoli, which lay right on the road from the East to Rome, should also have gained a blessing. A circumstance, however, has come to light within the last thirty years which does surprise us concerning this same neighbourhood, showing how extensively the gospel had permeated and honeycombed the country parts of Italy within the lifetime of the first apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ. Puteoli was a trading town, and Jews congregated in such places, and trade lends an element of seriousness to life which prepares a ground fitted for the good seed of the kingdom. But pleasure pure and unmitigated and a life devoted to its pursuit do not prepare such a soil. Puteoli was a trading city, but Pompeii was a pleasure-loving city thinking of nothing else, and where sin and iniquity consequently abounded. Yet Christianity had made its way into Pompeii in the lifetime of the apostles. How then do we know this? This is one of the results of modern archaeological investigations and of epigraphical research, two great sources of new light upon early Christian history which have been only of late years duly appreciated. Pompeii, as every person of moderate education knows, was totally overthrown by the first great eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 A.D. It is a curious circumstance that contemporaneous authors make but the very slightest and most dubious references to that destruction, though one would have thought that the literature of the time would have rung with it; proving conclusively, if proof be needed, how little the argument from silence is worth, when the great writers who tell minutely about the intrigues and vices of emperors and statesmen of Rome do not bestow a single chapter upon the catastrophe which overtook two whole cities of Italy. These cities remained for seventeen hundred years concealed from human sight or knowledge till revealed in the year 1755 by excavations systematically pursued. All the inscriptions found therein were undoubtedly and necessarily the work of persons who lived before A.D. 79 and then perished. Now at the time that Pompeii was destroyed there was a municipal election going on, and there were found on the walls numerous inscriptions formed with charcoal which were the substitutes then used for the literature and placards with which every election decorates our walls. Among these inscriptions of mere passing and transitory interest, there was one found which illustrates the point at which we have been labouring, for there, amid the election notices of 79 A.D., there appeared, scribbled by some idle hand, the brief words, "Igni gaude, Christiane" ("O Christian, rejoice in the fire"), proving clearly that Christians existed in Pompeii at that time, that they were known as Christians and not Under any other appellation, that persecution and death had reached them, and that they possessed and displayed the same undaunted spirit as their great leader and teacher St. Paul, being enabled like him to rejoice even amid the seven-fold-heated fires, and in view of the resurrection life to lift the victorious paean, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
After the weeks rest at Puteoli the centurion marched towards Rome. The Roman congregation had received notice of St. Pauls arrival by this time, and so the brethren despatched a deputation to meet an apostle with whom they were already well acquainted through the epistle he had sent them, as well as through the reports of various private Christians like Phoebe, the deaconess of Cenchreae. Two deputations from the Roman Church met him, one at Appii Forum, about thirty miles, another at the Three Taverns, about twenty miles from the city. How wonderfully the heart of the Apostle must have been cheered by these kindly Christian attentions! We have before noticed in the cases of his Athenian sojourn and elsewhere how keenly alive he was to the offices of Christian friendship, how cheered and strengthened he was by Christian companionship. It was now the same once again as it was then. Support and sympathy were now more needed than ever before, for St. Paul was going up to Rome not knowing what should happen to him there or what should be his sentence at the hands of that emperor whose cruel character was now famous. And as it was at Athens and at Corinth and elsewhere, so was it here on the Appian Way and amid the depressing surroundings and unhealthy atmosphere of those Pomptine Marshes through which he was passing; "when Paul saw the brethren, he thanked God, and took courage." And now the whole company of primitive Christians proceeded together to Rome, allowed doubtless by the courtesy and thoughtfulness of Julius ample opportunities of private conversation. Having arrived at the imperial city, the centurion hastened to present himself and his charge to the captain of the praetorian guard, whose duty it was to receive prisoners consigned to the judgment of the Emperor. Upon the favourable report of Julius, St. Paul was not detained in custody, but suffered to dwell in his own hired lodgings, where he established a mission station whence he laboured most effectively both amongst Jews and Gentiles during two whole years. St. Paul began his work at Rome exactly as he did everywhere else. He called together the chief of the Jews, and through them strove to gain a lodgment in the synagogue. He began work at once. After three days, as soon as he had recovered from the fatigue of the rapid march along the Appian Way, he sent for the chiefs of the Roman synagogues, which were very numerous. How, it may be thought, could an unknown Jew entering Rome venture to summon the heads of the Jewish community, many of them men of wealth and position? But, then, we must remember that St. Paul was no ordinary Jew from the point of view taken by Roman society. He had arrived in Rome a state prisoner, and he was a Roman citizen of Jewish birth, and this at once gave him position entitling him to a certain amount of consideration. St. Paul told his story to these chief men of the Jews, the local Sanhedrin perhaps, recounted the bad treatment he had received at the hands of the Jews of Jerusalem, and indicated the character of his teaching which he wished to expound to them. "For this cause therefore did I entreat you to see and speak with me: for because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain," emphasising the Hope of Israel, or their Messianic expectation, as the cause of his imprisonment, exactly as he had done some months before when pleading before King Agrippa. {Act_26:6-7; Act_26:22-23} Having thus briefly indicated his desires, the Jewish council intimated that no communication had been made to them from Jerusalem about St. Paul. It may have been that his lengthened imprisonment at Caesarea had caused the Sanhedrin to relax their vigilance, though we see that their hostility still continued as bitter as ever when Festus arrived in Jerusalem and afterwards led to St. Pauls appeal; or perhaps they had not had time to forward a communication from the Jerusalem Sanhedrin to the Jewish authorities at Rome; or perhaps, which is the most likely of all, they thought it useless to prosecute their suit before Nero, who would scoff at the real charges which dealt merely with questions of Jewish customs, and which imperial lawyers therefore would regard as utterly unworthy the imprisonment or death of a Roman citizen. At any rate the Jewish council gave him a hearing, when St. Paul followed exactly the same lines as in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia and in his speech before Agrippa. He pointed out the gradual development of Gods purposes in the law and the prophets, showing how they had been all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It was with the Jews at Rome as with the Jews elsewhere. Some believed and some believed not, as Paul preached unto them. The meeting was much more one for discussion than for addresses. From morning till evening the disputation continued, till at last the Apostle dismissed them with the stern words of the prophet Isaiah, taken from the sixth chapter of his prophecy, where he depicts the hopeless state of those who obstinately close their ears to the voice of conviction. But the Jews of Rome do not seem to have been like those of Thessalonica, Ephesus, Corinth, and Jerusalem in one respect. They did not actively oppose St. Paul or attempt to silence him by violent means, for the last glimpse we get of the Apostle in St. Lukes narrative is this: "He abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling, and received all that went in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, none forbidding him."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14, 21, 27, 33, 39 1. When it was determined. When all was settled…
1. When it was determined. When all was settled that Paul should go to Italy, and the time appointed had come. Delivered Paul and certain other prisoners. No information is given concerning these companions in bonds. To a centurion named Julius. All we learn of this Roman officer is favorable. It is remarkable how uniformly Paul commanded the respect of the Roman officials with whom he came in contact. Sergius Paulus, Gallio, Felix, Festus and Julius are examples of this. Of the Augustan band. Rather, “cohort.” Josephus says that this period one of the cohorts stationed at Cæsarea took the name of Augustus (Wars, 2:12, 7 and 2:12, 5).
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 9, 15, 27, 37 Act_27:1. Determined.—By Festus. Not as to purpose (Act_25:12), but…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_27:1. Determined.—By Festus. Not as to purpose (Act_25:12), but as to time, which was late in autumn, A.D. 60, and manner, which was by sea. We.—Last used (Act_21:15-18). Here including, besides Paul, Luke and Aristarchus of Thessalonica (Act_27:2; Act_19:29; Act_20:4). Luke’s presence on shipboard accounts for the liveliness of the ensuing narration. Certain other—additional, not necessarily different in character (Meyer, Zöckler, Plumptre)—prisoners.—This shows (Lardner, Paley) that it was customary to forward accused persons to Rome to be tried; an inference confirmed by Josephus (Life, § 3). Julius.—Tacitus (Hist., ii. 92, iv. 11) mentions about this time a centurion of this name, Julius Priscus, one of the prætorians, who, seven years afterwards, was promoted by Cæsar Vitellius to be Praetorian Prefect, and who, when his royal patron died a miserable and dishonourable death, declined to survive, and committed suicide by falling on his own sword. Hausrath (Der Apostel Paulus, p. 466) conjectures he may have come to Palestine on some important mission, and been entrusted with command of the prisoners about to be despatched to Rome. Augustus’, or, the Augustan band to which he belonged has been supposed to be
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(1) a cohort of soldiers from Sebaste or Samaria (Kuinoel), in support of which is cited the mention by Josephus (Ant., XIX. ix. 2; XX. vi. 1) of a squadron of Sebastene cavalry; or
(2) a bodyguard organised by Nero, and called by him Augustani (Suet., Ner., xx. 25) or Augustiani (Tacit., Ann., xiv. 15), which would harmonise with the preceding statement from Tacitus (Wieseler); or
(3) an auxiliary cohort belonging to Agrippa’s army, and bearing the name Augustan in honour of the emperor, as many other cohorts did (Holtzmann, Ramsay); or
(4) an independent cohort which waited on the procurator, and was styled the Augustan because it corresponded to the emperor’s life guard at Rome (Hackett). That it was identical with the Italian cohort mentioned in Act_10:1 (Meyer, Ewald) is doubtful (Zöckler).
Act_27:2. Adramyttium.—Not Hadrumetum in North Africa, but a seaport of Mysia in Asia Minor, situated at the head of a bay of the same name, and on the River Kysos; called to-day Adramiti or Edramit. To this port the ship on which Paul embarked at Sebaste, the harbour of Cæsarea, belonged, and was a coaster homeward bound. It was obviously Julius’s intention either to trans-ship for Italy at the Asian harbour, or from that point to take the land route to Rome (see “Homiletical Analysis”). Meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia.—The best authorities for μέλλοντες read μελλοντι, which was about to sail, not along the coasts, but for the places on the coast of Asia.
Act_27:3. Sidon—Hebrew, Sîdôn (meaning, perhaps, fisher town); on Assyrian monuments Sidunu—was situated on the Mediterranean coast, not far from Lebanon, and only five miles north of Tyre. In ancient times the most important of the Phœnician towns, it named itself upon its coins “The Mother of Tyre.” The modern town of Saida stands upon the site of the old, from which numerous relics of antiquity have been recovered, the most remarkable being the marble coffin of the Sidonian king, Eschmunazar, B.C. 350–300. (See Riehm’s Handwörterbuch des Biblischen Altertums; art. Sidon.) Refresh himself.—Lit., to meet with, or receive attention from his friends. By obtaining from them that outfit for the voyage which, on account of the official precision of his custody at Cæsarea, he could not there be provided with (Alford, Holtzmann).
Act_27:4. Cyprus.—See on Act_4:36.
Act_27:5. Sea of (better, off, or along) Cilicia and Pamphylia.—On the reverse voyage (Act_21:3) Cyprus was passed upon the left hand—i.e., the ship sailed south of the island. The neighbourhood of Myra, two or three miles from the coast, is full of magnificent ruins. Its haven was the neighbouring Andraki. In later times it became celebrated as the seat of the supposed bishopric of Nicolans at the time of the council of Nice, A.D. 350.
Act_27:6. A ship of Alexandria, Probably belonging to the Alexandrian fleet in the Imperial service, (Ramsay).—See “Homiletical Analysis.” That part of her cargo was wheat is obvious (Act_27:38), though she may have carried other goods (Act_27:18), which were cast overboard before the cereals were thrown away.
Act_27:7. Scarce.—Better, with difficulty. The wind not suffering us may mean not suffering the ship to get to Onidus to find shelter in its harbour (Hackett, Hausrath, Holtzmann), or not suffering it to get any quicker over against Cnidus—explaining the preceding clause (Alford, Lechler), or not suffering it to proceed farther (Conybeare and Howson, Revised Version, Spence).
Act_27:8. Hardly passing it (Crete) should be with difficulty coasting along it. The participle is a nautical term. The harbour of Fair Havens, though mentioned by no ancient writer, was undoubtedly that still known by the same name (Kali) on the south of Crete, a few miles to the east of Cape Matala, beyond which the land suddenly springs towards the north. “The harbour consists of an open roadstead, or rather two roadsteads contiguous to each other, which may account for the plural designation.” The epithet “fair” may have been given to it in joke, on account of its unfavourable character, Act_27:12 (Zöckler). The town of Lasea, probably mentioned as better known, is still recognisable by “two white pillars, masses of masonry, and other ruins,” which “occur on the spot” (Hackett). Its discovery by “a Scotch yachting party may be classed among the really valuable geographical evidences of the truth of the Bible which have been accumulating of late years” (Spence).
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_27:1-8
Setting Sail; or, from Cœsarea to Fair Havens
I. The passengers.
1. The prisoners.
(1) Foremost among these was Paul, the venerable and weather-beaten missionary of the Cross, who had already, by sea and land, travelled farther, and suffered and laboured more than all the other apostles, singly or together (2Co_11:23). A veritable king of men, his moral majesty will, before this voyage ends, assert itself, and place him, though now a prisoner, high in rank above all on board ship beside him. The finest qualities of good men are evoked by situations of trial, as the stars shine clearest in the darkest nights.
(2) Along with him voyaged certain other prisoners who, for various offences laid to their charge, some probably as imaginary as those advanced against the apostle, were being despatched to Rome for trial before the emperor’s tribunal. That it was customary so to ship accused persons to the capital Josephus (Life, 3) has shown, by relating how he himself, when a young man, was wrecked in the Adriatic when proceeding to Rome for the purpose of defending “certain priests of his acquaintance, and very excellent persons they were, whom on a small and trifling occasion he (Felix) had put into bonds and sent to Rome to plead their cause before Cæsar.”
2. The centurion.
(1) As to his identity, he was probably the Julius Priscus mentioned by Tacitus as a Prætorian officer, who may have been despatched on some imperial errand to Palestine, and to whom the company of prisoners was entrusted.
(2) As to the Augustan cohort or “troop of the Emperor” (Ramsay) to which he belonged, the different views stated in the “Critical Remarks” are all worthy of consideration, though the likeliest makes him a commander either in Nero’s or the procurator’s body-guard. Never before had Julius been entrusted with so remarkable a prisoner as Paul—a prisoner of Jesus Christ rather than of Cæsar. Had he known that Paul was the servant of a more exalted king than Nero, an officer in a more distinguished army than that of the Augustan band, and journeyed to Rome on a more important mission than that which had brought him to Palestine, he would have hesitated before taking up such a charge as had been thrust upon him. Could he have understood the gospel of which Paul was the bearer, he would have learnt that not Paul, but he, was the real prisoner.
3. The fellow-voyagers. These were certainly two.
(1) Luke, the writer of the Acts, who, in resuming the first person at this point in his narrative, gives his readers to understand that in all that relates to the voyage Romeward he writes as “an eyewitness.” The detailed account which Luke furnishes of this voyage reveals the estimate which Luke had of its importance, in the providence of God, as a link in the chain of events which brought Paul to the capital of the world.
(2) Aristarchus of Thessalonica (Act_27:2), who had probably been with, or near Paul during his two years’ imprisonment at Cæsarea and may have been now returning home to Macedonia, though the subsequent alteration of plan on the part of Julius (Act_27:6) led to his being carried on to Rome. It would not be difficult for either Luke or Aristarchus to get a berth on board Paul’s ship. Christ can raise up friends for His people in the darkest hour. Note.—The opinion here expressed is not that of Professor Ramsay (St. Paul, etc., p. 316), who thinks that Luke and Aristarchus would not find it easy to obtain a passage in the corn-ship, and must have accompanied Paul “as slaves, not merely performing the duties of slaves, but actually passing as slaves,” and that in this way “not merely had Paul faithful friends always beside him,” but “his importance in the eyes of the centurion would be much enhanced.” The Professor, however, must surely have a different conception of Paul’s character from the present writer, if he believes that Paul would assent to so much deception on the part either of himself or others.
II. The ships.
1. A ship of Adramyttium. Adramyttium, on the coast of Mysia, and opposite Lesbos, was then a flourishing city; though no antiquities have been found on its site except a few coins. The selection of this vessel, apparently engaged in the coasting trade, was due to the two facts
(1) that direct communication between Cæsarea and Rome was at that time irregular, and
(2) that the ship of Adramyttium was on the eve of sailing (see “Critical Remarks”). At Adramyttium, should they reach it—which they never did—it would most likely be Julius’ purpose to tranship himself and prisoners into another craft going west, across the Ægean, or, to take the overland route described below. How frequently in life are man’s plans overturned! Man proposes, but God disposes.
2. A ship of Alexandria. On reaching Myra, in the south of Lycia—or rather, since Myra stood back two or three miles from the coast, on casting anchor in the port of Myra, Andriace, which has been identified as the bay of Andraki—the centurion, no doubt counting himself fortunate, fell in with a larger vessel, an Alexandrian corn-ship, in those days much esteemed for its size and sea-going qualities, on her way to Italy, to which he forthwith transferred himself and party. At this point Besser well remarks: “Had not another than the chief officer of the imperial troops lifted Paul and his companions into the ship, the whole ship’s company would have come to grief.” By this trans-shipment the number of souls on board, including crew and passengers, was brought up to two hundred and seventy-six—not an unlikely figure when it is remembered that the ship in which Josephus was wrecked contained six hundred persons (Life, § 3). The ship must thus have been about the size of the largest merchant vessels of modern times. (See “Critical Remarks.”) That she was carrying corn from Alexandria receives explanation from the well-known fact that at that time Egypt was the granary of the world. If she left Alexandria about the beginning of August, when grain cargoes from Upper Egypt were usually shipped at that port, she might easily have reached Myra towards the end of the month, or beginning of September, and been found lying in the harbour, detained by contrary winds, when Paul’s ship arrived. The west wind which enabled the Adramyttium vessel to tack along from Cæsarea to Myra might have forced the Alexandrian merchantman to hold due north till she found shelter in Myra (see Conybeare and Howson, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, ii. 337).
III. The voyage.
1. Its destination. Rome (see on Act_28:16). Both Jehovah and Julius concurred in this. Both were conducting the apostle thitherward, but for different ends. The way thither also God had arranged, not Julius. Julius’ plan was first to sail to Adramyttium, and then proceed to Rome—either by sailing from that port, or by “the overland route, the great Via Egnatia from Neapolis through Philippi, Thessalonica, and the Macedonian towns to Dyrrachium, the port for Brundusium” (Lewin). Jehovah, however, altered that at Myra, and put the centurion, with his company, on board the corn-ship of Alexandria. Then, Julius expected, it may well be assumed, to sail direct to the port of Rome. But again Jehovah interfered. Julius and his fellow-voyagers had to drift about the Mediterranean and be wrecked at Malta before the voyage ended. Again, “Man proposes but God disposes,” and none but God can count on working out the counsel of his own will (Dan_4:35; Eph_1:11).
2. Its stages.
(1) From Cæsarea, or Port Sebastus, which was left in August, A.D. 58, to Sidon. On Cæsarea see Act_12:19. The latter city, Sidon, upon the Assyrian inscriptions Sidunu, “had anciently one of the finest harbours in the East.” The rival of Tyre (Act_21:3), it was, in Paul’s day, celebrated for its wealth and commerce. The present-day Saida, built upon the site of the old town, is pleasantly situated at the foot of the snow-capped Lebanon, and is surrounded by a circle of orchards, whose fruit is far-famed (Riehm’s Handwörterbuch des Biblischen Altertums; art. Sidon). Its distance from Cæsarea, sixty-seven miles, with a favourable wind, might easily have been accomplished in a day. The ship having cast anchor in the harbour during the time in which the captain was transacting his business, either putting out or taking in cargo, an operation which occupied some hours, the centurion permitted Paul to go ashore, in company, of course, with a guard, and visit such friends as he had in the town. The narrative, it has been pointed out (Hackett), tacitly assumes that Paul had informed the centurion he had Christian brethren in Sidon, which Luke’s narrative, indeed, in its earlier parts (Act_11:19, Act_21:4), renders highly probable. Paul’s object in making their acquaintance may have been to offer them some word of exhortation, but was more likely, as Luke states, to refresh himself, or receive attention from them—i.e., obtain from them a supply of such things as he might need upon the journey (Holtzmann).
(2) From Sidon to Myra. The direct course would have run to the southward of Cyprus, but as the wind continued westerly, the ship steered in a northerly direction, passing Cyprus, not upon the right (Meyer), but upon the left (see “Critical Remarks”), sailing under the lee of the long island, from Salamis to the promontory of Dinaretium, rounding which it headed westward before a land breeze usually prevailing along the coast of Asia Minor, till it had crossed the Sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, and landed at Myra (see above).
(3) From Myra to the Fair Havens. How long the voyagers stayed in the Lycian harbour of Andriace is not reported. Probably not more than a day. Having embarked on board the Alexandrian corn-ship above described, Julius and his company proceeded on their voyage, but so slowly that it took them “many days” to reach Cnidus, distant not more than a hundred and thirty miles from Myra. This slow progress was, doubtless, owing to a contrary wind from the north-west which ordinarily prevails in the Archipelago during the summer months (Pliny says it blows for forty days from the beginning of August), and which, though it permitted the ship to work up to Cnidus with difficulty, nevertheless rendered it impossible for her to proceed farther in that direction. Having, therefore, stood away southward, or rather south-south-west to the easternmost point of Crete, she rounded that island and again commenced a struggle with wind and wave along its southern coast, till the harbour of Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea, was gained (see “Critical Remarks”).
Learn.—
1. How all things are made to wait upon the servants of God. When God’s time was come for Paul to be despatched to Rome, ships were ready to convey him, friends and companions to cheer him, winds and waves to bear him along. “More servants wait on man than he’ll take notice of” (Herbert).
2. How God transforms men’s plans to suit Himself. His own plans never change, but men’s are often changed against their will. Julius’ route was altered, that Paul’s character might be further revealed, that Paul might have Aristarchus’ company to Rome, that a great ship-load of immortal souls might have a better opportunity of hearing the gospel, and that God’s grace and glory might be seen in all.
3. How God conducts His people by devious paths and brings them into port by contrary winds. To few, one might almost say to none, is the voyage of life all smooth and pleasant sailing.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_27:1. Paul’s Voyage to Italy.
I. Determined by Festus.—As to time and manner—the procurator being probably guided in his judgment by the opinion of Agrippa and the presence of Julius, who was about to return to Rome.
II. Carried out by Julius.—The shipmasters were his servants and instruments whom he used for the execution of his plans, which he formed and altered at will.
III. Over-ruled by God.—Along the whole course of the voyage the hand of God can be seen interposing for higher purposes than those of either Festus or Julius. It was more God that was leading Paul to Rome than Festus that was sending him or Julius that was conducting him.
IV. Reported by Luke.—The liveliness of the narration indicates the pen of an eyewitness, which could be no other than that of the good physician who accompanied the apostle (see “Introduction”).
V. Endorsed by Paul.—The second epistle to Timothy, by attesting Paul’s presence in Rome, shows the likelihood at least that this voyage was performed.
Act_27:3. Paul’s Friends—the Sidonian believers.
I. The ground on which Paul claimed them as friends.—Their Christian discipleship, which meant their common relationship to Jesus Christ, and as a consequence their common membership in God’s house.
II. The service Paul expected to receive at their hands.—Refreshment, a supply of such things as might be needful for the voyage (see Jas_2:16, and compare 2Ti_4:13; 2Ti_4:21).
III. The probability that Paul’s expectations were fulfilled.—Not simply because they were disciples, to whom his name would be well known, but because in all likelihood he had personal acquaintances among them, having recently been at Tyre (Act_21:3) and at Ptolemais (Act_21:7). Besides, he may have passed through Sidon when travelling with Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem (Act_11:30; Act_15:3).
Act_27:4. Contrary Winds—
I. Frequently occur on the voyage of life.
II. Are seldom agreeable to the voyagers.
III. Always useful, furthering the designs of the chief shipmaster, God.
Act_27:8. The Fair Havens.
I. Many havens counted fair by man are incommodious to winter in.
II. One haven only is secure against life’s storms—that of heaven.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 1-44. Fortunately Paul is committed to the Roman centurion…
PAUL’S VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK
1-44. Fortunately Paul is committed to the Roman centurion Julius of the imperial cohort, who, in the finale also shows up a very beautiful character for gentility, so yielding to the Holy Spirit and to God’s Providence as to become the staunch friend and protector of his Apostolical prisoner.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Act 27:24-34
Act 27:24-34
I. God judged that St. Paul was concerned with the lives of the crew of the ship he sailed in, and gave these men their lives as a precious gift. Here we have what may be called the head and the feet of the same truth: the head—God’s estimate of the value of life; the feet—man’s estimate of the contempt deserved by any one who, being strong, uses his strength to benefit himself at the expense of his neighbour. The value of life on the one hand, and on the other the meanness of selfish gain, that even life itself must be quietly thrown away when compared with the meanness of saving it by selfishness.
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II. And round this great truth as a fence and encircling wall, determining where it is to be practised, runs the strong enclosure of the same place and the same common object, unity and communion, through living together, typified in the ship. And how true this is! Whether we like it or not, we share largely in the fortunes and reputation of the place we live in, even as we contribute largely to it by good and evil, however loose the tie of place may be. But when it takes the ship form, that close association, which comes from all on board at the time depending on one another, and on the well-doing of the place in which they are, then, indeed, from the highest to the lowest, however discordant the mixture of persons may be, the welfare of the place is their welfare, its reputation is their reputation, and it becomes more than ever true that the lives of all belong to each other, and it is unutterable meanness for the strong to take advantage of the weak, or for the weak to endeavour to overreach the strong or not give true service in their way. In many societies, the actual safety of all as much depends on each doing his duty as in a ship. The golden rule of life is, that weakness is at once a claim on every one who is stronger. The prisoner Paul, the weakest man there, saved the whole crew.
E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons, vol. ii., p. 140.
References: Act 27:25.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1335. Act 27:27-29.—A. G. Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 339. Act 27:27-37.—T. Gasquoine, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 35. Act 27:29.—J. Thain Davidson, Sure to Succeed, p. 177; Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 364. Act 27:30, Act 27:31.—J. M. Neale, Occasional Sermons, p. 44; Homilist, vol. iv., p. 263. Act 27:38-44.—T. Gasquoine, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 52.
Act 27:44
Safe to Land.
I. In reading the narrative of this voyage and shipwreck (1) the first impression on the mind is produced by the prisoner, the Apostle Paul. He is singularly unlike a prisoner. He is the true captain, the foremost man, evidently, on board the ship. (2) The narrative is a statement of the unconditioned freeness and the glorious fulness of Divine goodness. (3) See what an important thing in the scheme of means human responsibility is. "Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved." Even the boards and the broken pieces of the ship are all parts of the Divine purposes. (4) Here we have exemplified and illustrated the mystery of the salvation of sinners for the sake of the saints. This text most solemnly illustrates to us that God has somehow set together human earnestness and human conversion.
II. "Some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship." All means are good means which save—none are insignificant which give security. In the storm of darkness and unbelief, in the tempestuous night, it seems as if all is shipwrecked in thee, broken in pieces; and yet, see what scattered glimpses, what broken, imperfect appearances, what scattered discoveries of Jesus Christ float up and down and do at any time appear in thy spirit! Thou wilt see some if thou wilt look and watch for them. Cast thyself upon them: these are the broken planks, the most imperfect, darkest, narrowest glimpses of Christ. Many a sacred text has been the board, the broken piece of ship, on which souls have escaped safe to land.
III. God is a good Captain. If the ship is lost, He saves the crew. There is land, and all who sail in the ship are safe. Gather up all the promises which, like so many planks, have floated over and sustained on death’s waves, and you will build a ship to hold the Church.
E. Paxton Hood, Dark Sayings on a Harp, p. 313.
References: Act 27:44.—H. J. Wilmot Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons, p. 18; Talmage, Old Wells dug Out, p. 239. Act 28:1-6.—T. Gasquoine, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 57. Act 28:7-10.—Ibid., p. 93. Act 28:11-15.—Ibid., p. 108.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Subdivision 5. (Act 27:1-44; Act 28:1-31.)
Subdivision 5. (Act 27:1-44; Act 28:1-31.)
The way and the end: conditions and exercises.
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With the apostle’s voyage to Rome the book of the Acts ends. The strangeness of such an ending has been often commented upon, and naturally; especially for those who imagine a history of progress on to final triumph for the Church on earth. We expect some correspondence between the history at large and this its specimen page; and to end with a shipwreck and the apostle of the Gentiles in a Roman prison gives an impression of an unfinished fragment instead of the perfect workmanship of the divine hand. But this proceeds from a wrong conception of what the Church’s course was in fact to be, which all the sorrow and disaster of near nineteen centuries has for many been incompetent to remove. Allow the Scripture-statements their full weight, and the want of correspondence will be no longer felt: for the history is really that of a shipwreck and a prison; and instead of wondering any longer at the apparent contrast, we shall perhaps suspect that the similarity may be closer than it seems, and begin asking ourselves if the one is not indeed an allegory of the other.
The very name of Rome to us at the close of so many long years as have passed is predictive of disaster. Rome has through all its existence as a dominant world-power antagonized the gospel. Submit to it it never really did. It took the name of Christian, but as a symbol of material conquest and political dominion; and thereby dragged in the dust what professedly it exalted. As already said, it was judaized rather than Christianized, and with the Jewish spirit of legality drank in its bitter animosity to the gospel. The spirit of Rome was indeed always legal; but this legality now became ecclesiastical, sacerdotal, hierarchical, and necessarily persecuting. Begin Paul’s captivity it did not, for it never knew him but as a prisoner. But keep him prisoner it did, until the time of God’s release came. The picture does not go as far as this; probably for the reason that after all this never has been, -never will be -complete; while what has taken place in this way is the mere mercy of God, and for us the instruction is in the causes leading to the disaster: causes which are still at work, and in which we may have part, if we do not avert it by self-judgment.
1. There are two parts in this account, the first of which consists of the voyage and shipwreck, ending with the reaching land at Melita or Malta. Here also there are two parts: the first, that in the ship of Adramyttium to Myra; the second, that in the ship of Alexandria, wrecked at Malta. The conflict of man’s will with God’s rule appears all through, though most conspicuously in the second part. The detail given all through should surely show us the interest that it should have for us, and that there is more in it by far than appears upon the surface.
All through Paul is a prisoner; and yet with the clear vindication of the judge from any charge which should make him rightly this. Finally he is shown to be the one to whom God has given the lives of all that sail with him. If we see in him the representative of the truth for which he stands, there can be in this no perversion of fact; and the sorrowful fact is that the truth of the gospel for which he stood has been, almost from the beginning of the Church’s history until we reach the full development of the system which has Rome for its head, as it were shut up, without formal accusation perhaps, yet fettered, and scarce permitted speech; professing Christians being its courteous guard like Julius here, with a certain honor for Paul, but not freedom. Indeed Julius himself has not his choice in this: he is under authority, a centurion of the Augustan cohort, an instrument of the world power simply, and to whom in those interests with which he is identified, Paul is simply a stranger.
The meaning of his name may be variously given; that which would have significance of the kind that we are looking for, would be derived from "julus," a wheatsheaf, and might thus be "belonging to the wheatsheaf;" an enigma, no doubt, as we might expect: all here is necessarily enigmatical; but it is not impossible to penetrate the disguise.
Christ in resurrection is the significance of the one sheaf of wheat which stands out prominently in connection with the types. The sheaf of firstfruits, presented to God between Passover and Pentecost, occupies a remarkable place in that series of feasts which we easily see to be specially related to Christian truths. Christ in resurrection was also, as we know, the basis of the gospel; and in a pre-eminent way, of Paul’s gospel. It is Paul’s gospel that specially identifies all believers with that wheatsheaf presented to God, -that is, with. Christ gone up to Him. If Julius in such an allegorized history as we are taking this to be, represents in fact, as has already been suggested, those who, even while they might be true believers in Christ, yet were ignorant of those priceless truths with which the apostle of the Gentiles was identified, and who could thus hold the truth shut up, as it were in captivity, then the implications of the name he bore would be indeed significant. They who themselves had that Christian place of identification with the risen Christ which Paul’s doctrine made so conspicuous, were yet in ignorance of the place and what belonged to it; that is, of Paul in the truth he carried; and however courteous to himself they might be, were but the instruments (yea, the imperial band) of the enemies of the truth he lived and died for. Look at the imperial band of the church fathers: do they not treat the apostle after this manner? Are they not just so many courteous Juliuses in this way?
They are bound for Italy, all these; though it may well be, not by a straight road. The first ship we find here is not going to Italy, but to the coast of Asia, and is a ship of Adramyttium -a name of which there is doubt as to the meaning, but it seems as if it might mean that "one must not haste," while Asia speaks of a "miry" shore. Spiritually at least, these things go well together. A lack of earnest diligence in the way is apt enough to have a slough for its terminus. Corinth had got so mired with the world at a very early date, though they knew little of it: they were reigning as kings, following their wills, as such a course implies, and not the guidance of the Spirit. The "best Ruler," as Aristarchus means, was with them all the way through, but we hear of him no more: he is a passenger and only that. Yet, as the Macedonian may remind us, He is the Spirit of worship, which putting God in His place is seen as of Thessalonica too, the means of "victory over that which brings into commotion." But so the start is made.
The next day they are at Zidon, still in what is properly Israelitish territory, though in fact in other hands. It means "taking the prey," and in Joshua’s time we find it coming into Asher’s portion (Jos 19:28, see notes), and there with reference to victory over evil, which is indeed the portion of Asher, the "happy" saint. But in fact, as we know, in the common failure of Israel, Asher never did even conquer Zidon, which had many and great kings of its own, some of whom were in alliance with Israel afterwards. The "taking of prey," so connected, would come to have a different meaning, and imply such a career of conquest as that upon which, when become conscious of her power, the Church soon started. The victory over the world which faith in the Son of God gives became exchanged for victory by which the things of the world became the possession of the victors. Thus the parable of the mustard-seed began to be fulfilled, and the church to take rank among the powers of the world. Friends of Paul were still to be found, for whom victory over the world retained the old and contrasted principle of separation from it, crucifixion to it by the Cross. With these the apostle would still find communion, and hearts drawn to him.
But the ship of Adramyttium is bound for Asia; and starting again, the winds are contrary, and she is forced under the lee of Cyprus. Cyprus means blossom, especially of the olive and the vine, and became identified in the Grecian mind with what is fair and lovely in nature, with Venus and her worship, the soft influences which woo and win man’s heart. And here indeed is how the heart, realizing that after all the winds for the Christian voyager are contrary, would shelter itself under what in nature it can plead, and with truth also, God has made for man’s enjoyment. So He has; and yet how easy to make enticement of it, the ship using it as her shelter to reach the "miry" shores of Asia beyond! How all this fits together in the picture here! Was not this in fact the history of declension in the Church of God? a history so often repeated in individual experience that we cannot but know it all too well!
Not difficult is it to understand that beyond this there are dangers, which Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, all in different ways express. Cilicia is said to mean "which rolls, or overturns," and to play the Cilician is to be cruel and treacherous like these. Pamphylia would mean a union of various tribes; and their history seems to correspond with this. Lycia is from lycus, a wolf, which whether referring to beast or man has no encouraging significance. In two of these names the dangers following the thirst for pleasure may be fitly indicated; the relaxation which it implies exposing to such dangers as the apostle speaks of to the Ephesians as the entering in of grievous wolves, not sparing the flock; while the union of various tribes was truly what practically the church soon came to be as mingling with the world’s various interests affected and moulded it, making the diversity as apparent as the uniting tie. How soon did the Body of Christ cease to have visible expression; and the church united with the world become divided within itself!
Striking it is that here presently the end is reached of the first voyage at Myra, where the ship of Adramyttium is exchanged for another. If Pamphylia has the import which we see in it, the breaches of unity which it pictures would have need of the "ointment" of which Myra speaks. How many salves have been sought for this broken condition! And the change of ship for a ship of Alexandria is still more plainly significant. Alexandria speaks of help given to men, or better, of the warding of from them impending danger. The new ship of the church is a human means adapted to that end, while openly pointing now towards Italy.
Notice how well all of this agrees together: the perils have been shown us, following self-indulgence and love of pleasure. The new vessel from Egypt, which stands all through Scripture for that independence of God, alas, how natural, and from Alexandria, -a human device for warding off danger, -and now with her course directly Rome-ward, towards which in fact, indirectly, they have been going all the time, -all this surely speaks to us not uncertainly in what we have upon other grounds concluded to be an allegory of the Church. Most undeniably, for all who take their view from Scripture, the vessel of God’s testimony has changed much since it came from His hands at the first; and there has been human shaping, taking its justification from expediency largely, -the warding off of dangers, real or imaginary. The simple eldership of the apostles, days has grown into an episcopate, more and more monarchical; and this into archi-episcopates and patriarchates, and from ministry to priesthood, and all the ranks of a hierarchy conspicuously absent from the New Testament original. The "best Ruler" is little seen, and a mere passenger: there would be danger indeed in letting the blessed Spirit have that governing place which, at the beginning, was His. We have taken a fresh start clearly, and our vessel is Egyptian -Alexandrian; and we are manifestly on our way to Rome.
But still the wind is contrary; heaven does not vouchsafe its favors for some reason; and it is with difficulty, and after many days of sailing that the vessel is got abreast of Cnidus. Cnidus means "chafing, nettling," and may be a bad augury for the new regime; and here they leave the coast of Asia for Crete.
The wind, still contrary, forces them to take refuge under the lee of Crete abreast of Salmone, a name which, like that of Salamis in Cyprus, seems to be derived from the breaking of the waves upon it. That of Crete seems to be derived from the Cherethim of the Old Testament, who in the judgment of many were its inhabitants. The meaning in that case would not be doubtful. The cherethim were the "cutters down, or cutters off," sometimes given as "executioners." But the word was also very commonly applied to the making or "cutting" of a covenant, for which as a whole sometimes the one word stood. That the covenant of the Lord should connect itself with the cutting off of evil can be no mystery to us; and significant it is that it is in turning from the "miry" shores of Asia that Crete presents itself to us. Self-judgment would have been indeed the resource for the Church bemired with the world, and it is no wonder that it should present "Fair Havens" to the buffeted ship, or that the apostle’s advice should be to winter there. Final rest indeed it could not be, but yet quite helpful against winter storm; but the ship of Alexandria, under the guidance of those belonging to it, will not stay there; and Julius of the imperial band, while courteous enough to the apostle, yet approves their choice. Alexandria seems a name peculiarly significant here, and the history of the church shows here indeed how the notion of "Crete" that came from Alexandria would be in grave enough contrast with the apostle’s. "Cutting off" in the shape of asceticism, and even in a covenant form, had indeed its home there. Monasticism in its pseudo-Christian form arose there: a direct descent from heathen principles and practice. "Fair Havens," with its city of the Rock (as Lasaea seems to mean) near by, did not suit with the ideal of the Alexandrians as Phenice did. Phenice means "palm," the constant figure of the righteous. Righteousness is not after all found in cutting off, and the city of the Rock intimates the corrective truth, distasteful naturally to the true ascetic. Its ideal is in this way unattainable; and when, mocked by the softness of a favorable south wind, the vessel leaves the harbor that would have saved it, the storm-blast Euroclydon descends upon it, and it is blown out irrevocably from all land.
The wind that now assails the ship is called in most manuscripts Euroclydon, but in the oldest Euraquilo. The one term means "the eastern wave," referring to the effect upon the water. The latter, the "north-easter;" which has the sanction of most of the editors. The east, as we have seen elsewhere, is the quarter that speaks simply of adversity; the north is that which speaks of darkness, mystery, and spiritual evil. Taking Euraquilo as the best-attested reading, we find it also to be the most significant. It speaks not merely of adversity, but of Satanic influence: in the case of the Church, besides persecution, of evil doctrine; and such were in fact the influences which assailed the early Christians. In the epistle to Smyrna, which stands second in that apocalyptic series in which many have learned to trace the successive stages of the Church’s history, we have on the one hand the ten days of tribulation, the persecution under the Roman emperors, and on the other the blasphemy of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. Doubtless these work together, as the shout of the hunters, which drives the deer into the trap prepared. Judaism, as we know, favored that fusion with the world as well as those defensive methods which promised best for protection from outside attack; while it was itself the most complete attack upon the vitals of Christianity. And the same two influences are, no doubt, to be seen here in the storm that hunts the Alexandrian vessel to its wreck. We must distinguish, of course, carefully, between that worldly prosperity into which, through all the assaults upon it, the church was steadily rising, and the spiritual wreck to which in this very way it was going on; until under Constantine its pilgrim and heavenly character was exchanged for an opposite one; and the gospel of grace, except perhaps with a few hidden and hunted men, was well nigh gone from the earth. We have the creed of these orthodox Nicene days, and the faith of their most eminent men in various expression, and we know with exactness what they held and taught; their doctrine as to Christ, in general orthodox enough, -as to the gospel, what the extremest ritualism may permit of it: baptism to wash away past sins, and make children of God; penance and priestly absolution, to take away sins afterward; helped, and needing to be helped, by the virtues of the saints, and even their dead bones! That was for the people of ordinary lives; but the religious life, which alone made saints, was to be found in following out what Scripture calls "the doctrines of demons, . . . forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." (1Ti 4:1-3.) This life too was to be spent in deserts, or between monastery or convent walls; and then might attain merit which would help to save other people, -the merit of doing more than it is one’s duty to do.
If scripture in hand we place ourselves in the midst of that flourishing church of the Nicene period, which the hand of Constantine has just liberated from the dungeon to put it upon the throne, -and look at it with the eyes of him who said to the Corinthians, "Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us" (1Co 4:8), we shall no doubt see that, spite of all the seeming prosperity, there has been in fact a change and a loss, such as would imply no less than a shipwreck; while the "honey" of nature’s sweetness enjoyed might make a Melita for the released sufferers. Into the details of the 14 days of storm and drift it is harder to enter by way of exposition. The lack of food we can understand, while yet the wheat was in the ship; the fact of the safety of the voyagers depending upon that Paul whom yet they knew so little; his voice being heard once more as the storm worked on to imminent disaster: surely ears must have been opened to hear it! The shore was won, though the ship had gone to pieces; there was a pause in the progress towards Rome, and a new ship must be found to get there, though of the same Egyptian, Alexandrian build; and then by easier stages, and with fairer weather the end will soon be reached.*&**
{*The details of "the Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul" have been fully examined by Mr. Smith, of Jordanhill, in a well known volume, from which all commentaries since have necessarily borrowed. On this account, and because detail of this kind is outside the purpose and scope of the present work, I have omitted mention of it. He has fully shown the exactness of knowledge which the whole narrative displays, both of the topography of the voyage, and of the navigation of the Ancients. I pass it over with this reference.
**There are many details in the narrative which are doubtless as suggestive of spiritual meaning as those given in the notes. What was the boat, which there was so much difficulty in getting at? What was the small island which proved a temporary shelter? No doubt the helps with which the ship was undergirded suggest the similar means which have been so popular in all ages of holding together from the outside that which has not strength in itself to withstand the storms. Human methods may hold the ship together for a while, but they are but human expedients and tell the tale of weakness most unmistakably. The tackling of the ship points to what might be called the machinery of church life. How often in storms must this tackling prove itself but a menace to safety. No light from heaven shines upon the storm-tossed ship, for they had embarked upon a course of disobedience. -S.R.}
2. The incidents of Paul’s stay at Melita have all one character. They show us how the favor of the islanders was won by the display of divine power acting through him in the setting aside of what was in fact the power of the enemy, but in their minds divine, and in the relief of human suffering. The chief man receives and entertains all Paul’s company. The bearing of all this upon the allegorical meaning is as plain as need be. If we have indeed arrived at that period in the Church’s history when Christianity became the religion of the empire, and the emperor its official head, -when in the thoughts of men it had reached the land of milk and honey, which by the application to themselves of Jewish prophecies they could believe also to be their land of promise, then there is little difficulty in what is before us now. The very acceptance of this new head changed everything, however much the old forms might be maintained, and declared to all who had heart to understand the wreck of all true church principle. It was decisive enough that the first who took this place of ecclesiastical head was a man unconverted, and (what was still more decisive according to the doctrines of the day) unbaptized; baptized at last by a denier of the deity of Christ; the slayer also of his son and of his wife. They had afterwards to invent the fiction of the bath of Constantine to cover what was ecclesiastically the sorest disgrace. Yes, the ship was wrecked, but they had reached nevertheless the land of honey, their Melita. By and by a new ship also would be found to carry them to their destination.
Yet had not in fact the serpent’s power been overcome when the Pontifex Maximus, the head of heathen power, the head that had so recently and fiercely bit at Christianity, and not in vain, was now itself Christian, and putting down heathenism? According to many since, it was the fulfilment of the Apocalyptic story of the Dragon and the Woman, and the Dragon’s being cast out of heaven. Was it not indeed a good that in the seat of widest earthly power the malignant forces of evil should be dispossessed by the healing and life-giving influences of heaven’s sweetest grace? That is what captivates the people of Melita, who see the viper harmless and cast into the fire, and presently experience the mercy of God in the undeniable signs of divine working. Who can deny the blessings thus coming in through that wonderful change which we have been contemplating? So Paul is in the house of Publius, and the new ship is laden with things which are the thankful acknowledgment of benefits received. Yet is Paul after all a prisoner still, and the vessel’s head, at much less distance than before, is pointing towards Rome!
So again we have a ship of Alexandria, and the fresh start is but a continuation of the former voyage. The vessel went under the sign of the Dioscuri, the "sons of Jupiter," Castor and Pollux, the patron divinities of sailors. Perhaps we may interpret this as showing what is certainly true, that while Jupiter himself may have passed away, the ideas born of heathenism remain to preside over the course of the state-church. The very title of Pontifex Maximus to which reference has been made, was retained by the Christian emperors for some time, and when dropped by them was revived, and at the present time is borne by the pope! It carried with it the claim of chief authority in matters of religion, and it is intended to announce this claim today.
At Syracuse they land and tarry for three days. Syracuse means "dragging unwillingly," and speaks sufficiently of the exercise of arbitrary power; which Rhegium, a "forcing the way through," intensifies. It is singular at least, that here the Dioscuri, who presided over the vessel’s course, were again the patron-divinities. Puteoli ends the voyage, and takes its name from the thirty-three mineral "wells" that were there, or else from their ill-odor. Puteoli was the chief harbor of Rome, although some distance from the city. Here they found brethren, with whom at their solicitation Paul was able to stay seven days; "and so we came to Rome." The market place and the taverns complete the journey -morally, as in fact; though here also we have the meeting of the apostle with the Roman brethren.
In all this the tracing of historical fulfilment may be little detailed, but the general character of the period between the state-church and the church-state is sufficiently shown. Violence, breach of faith, pretentious assumption, characterize it; the malodorous wells (of error introduced) bring us nearly to Rome itself, though the traffic of the market and the dissipation of the tavern are needed touches to the picture. Even here Paul’s heart is cheered as he looks upon the brethren; and prisoner as he is, he thanks God and takes courage. This is always the style of God’s precious book: His "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," rings throughout it. The head hung down means only unbelief, and it is not in this way that Paul enters the miscalled "eternal city." All things that are seen are temporal; "things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, God hath revealed unto us by His Spirit."
3. There is yet a brief closing portion, which has a sorrowful yet tender interest for us. Once more we are made to see how, spite of all that he has experienced at their hands, the heart of Paul -in this not unlike his blessed Master surely -clings still to Israel. Three days only elapse after he has reached Rome when he sends for the chief of the Jews, to explain his position to them. They have forced him to appeal to Caesar; but he has no thought to appear before him as the accuser of his nation. Accuse them he cannot, while it is their hope of which he is partaker; and on account of that hope he is bound with that chain.
To which they reply that they have heard no evil of him; but that they have heard of the Christian sect as that which everywhere is spoken against. They would fain hear therefore from his lips an account of what he believes. Upon which a day is set, and they come to his lodging; and there from morning to evening he expounds, as only he among men perhaps could, the whole matter from their own scriptures, law and prophets. The result is the same as ever: "some assented to the things that were said, and some disbelieved." On the whole there is clearly rejection, and Paul has to leave them under the burden which the Spirit through Isaiah had long ago pronounced with regard to them. Alas, they would not be healed, but deliberately sealed up their eyes and ears against conviction. Yet they cannot prevent the outflow of a grace which will not be content to have no response from men to His long labor of love. Nay, if Israel values it not, there are others who need it. "Be it known to you therefore that this salvation of God is sent unto the nations; and they will hear it."
Yet his position at that moment was, as we have seen, a sad prognostication that as to the Gentiles also their reception of the divine message will allow no boast over the insensate Jew. Rome is the fatal word that epitomizes their history; and not Rome pagan, but Rome papal. We may refuse in our pride to accept such a sentence, -we with our three hundred years since for us Rome’s yoke was broken. Yes, and whither are we tending now? But the true answer is, not in any prophesying of our own, but in the statement of the conditions which we are under as those who have taken place and responsibilities of Israel’s broken off branches as the people of God today; and these conditions the apostle Paul himself has stated for us (Rom 11:18-22): "Boast not against the branches; but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee goodness, if thou continue in His goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." Now Rome with its claim to be the Catholic Church today, whatever abatement we may justly insist on as to this, is at least a positive proof that the Gentile body as such has not "continued" in the goodness of God. It is useless to talk of reformation and recovery: all that is but confession that the body has not continued. It is useless to plead that Rome is an apostate: apostasy is the plainest possible non-continuance. Thank God for all whom His mercy has saved from complicity with its wickedness! but the salvation of individuals, however much it may mean for them, is by no means the salvation of the Gentile body, which has had its trial, and is to be set aside. This is, I doubt not, why the Acts ends with Rome: it is the complete forecast of the issue in responsibility; although we have for this to look beyond the literal history which is but the foreshadow, to that which it has been overruled to express. It is thus like the epistles to the seven churches, which were, as we know, actually existent, and in the condition which the epistles depict at the time when these were written, yet were similarly overruled to give us the full-length history of the Church till Christ’s coming again.
We are left with a touching yet cheering picture of the apostle’s position in a hostile world in which nevertheless God acts still as He will, making the wrath of man to praise Him and restraining the remainder of it. The minister of Christ is fettered; the word of God not bound. And yet to common eyes this too might seem to be. Faith is needed everywhere, for God seeks and delights in faith; yet "of Him, and through Him, and for Him are all things; to whom be glory for ever" (Rom 11:36).
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv13, 23, 24, 30 Act 27:13 - Act 27:26.
Acts
TEMPEST AND TRUST
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Act 27:13 - Act 27:26.
Luke’s minute account of the shipwreck implies that he was not a Jew. His interest in the sea and familiarity with sailors’ terms are quite unlike a persistent Jewish characteristic which still continues. We have a Jew’s description of a storm at sea in the Book of Jonah, which is as evidently the work of a landsman as Luke’s is of one who, though not a sailor, was well up in maritime matters. His narrative lays hold of the essential points, and is as accurate as it is vivid. This section has two parts: the account of the storm, and the grand example of calm trust and cheery encouragement given in Paul’s words.
I. The consultation between the captain of the vessel and the centurion, at which Paul assisted, strikes us, with our modern notions of a captain’s despotic power on his own deck, and single responsibility, as unnatural.
But the centurion, as a military officer, was superior to the captain of an Alexandrian corn-ship, and Paul had already made his force of character so felt that it is not wonderful that he took part in the discussion. Naturally the centurion was guided by the professional rather than by the amateur member of the council, and the decision was come to to push on as far and fast as possible.
The ship was lying in a port which gave scanty protection against the winter weather, and it was clearly wise to reach a more secure harbour if possible. So when a gentle southerly breeze sprang up, which would enable them to make such a port, westward from their then position, they made the attempt. For a time it looked as if they would succeed, but they had a great headland jutting out in front which they must get round, and their ability to do this was doubtful. So they kept close in shore and weathered the point. But before they had made their harbour the wind suddenly chopped round, as is frequent of that coast, and the gentle southerly breeze turned into a fierce squall from the north-east or thereabouts, sweeping down from the Cretan mountains. That began their troubles. To make the port was impossible. The unwieldy vessel could not ‘face the wind,’ and so they had to run before it. It would carry them in a south-westerly direction, and towards a small island, under the lee of which they might hope for some shelter. Here they had a little breathing time, and could make things rather more ship-shape than they had been able to do when suddenly caught by the squall. Their boat had been towing behind them, and had to be hoisted on deck somehow.
A more important, and probably more difficult, task was to get strong hawsers under the keel and round the sides, so as to help to hold the timbers together. The third thing was the most important of all, and has been misunderstood by commentators who knew more about Greek lexicons than ships. The most likely explanation of ‘lowering the gear’ {Rev. Ver.} is that it means ‘leaving up just enough of sail to keep the ship’s head to the wind, and bringing down everything else that could be got down’ {Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 329}.
Note that Luke says ‘we’ about hauling in the boat, and ‘they’ about the other tasks. He and the other passengers could lend a hand in the former, but not in the latter, which required more skilled labour. The reason for bringing down all needless top-hamper, and leaving up a little sail, was to keep the vessel from driving on to the great quicksands off the African coast, to which they would certainly have been carried if the wind held.
As soon as they had drifted out from the lee of the friendly little island they were caught again in the storm. They were in danger of going down. As they drifted they had their ‘starboard’ broadside to the force of the wild sea, and it was a question how long the vessel’s sides would last before they were stove in by the hammering of the waves, or how long she would be buoyant enough to ship seas without foundering. The only chance was to lighten her, so first the crew ‘jettisoned’ the cargo, and next day, as that did not give relief enough,’they,’ or, according to some authorities, ‘we’-that is passengers and all-threw everything possible overboard.
That was the last attempt to save themselves, and after it there was nothing to do but to wait the apparently inevitable hour when they would all go down together. Idleness feeds despair, and despair nourishes idleness. Food was scarce, cooking it was impossible, appetite there was none. The doomed men spent the long idle days- which were scarcely day, so thick was the air with mist and foam and tempest-crouching anywhere for shelter, wet, tired, hungry, and hopeless. So they drifted ‘for many days,’ almost losing count of the length of time they had been thus. It was a gloomy company, but there was one man there in whom the lamp of hope burned when it had gone out in all others. Sun and stars were hidden, but Paul saw a better light, and his sky was clear and calm.
II. A common danger makes short work of distinctions of rank.
In such a time some hitherto unnoticed man of prompt decision, resource, and confidence, will take the command, whatever his position. Hope, as well as timidity and fear, is infectious, and one cheery voice will revive the drooping spirits of a multitude. Paul had already established his personal ascendency in that motley company of Roman soldiers, prisoners, sailors, and disciples. Now he stands forward with calm confidence, and infuses new hope into them all. What a miraculous change passes on externals when faith looks at them! The circumstances were the same as they had been for many days. The wind was howling and the waves pounding as before, the sky was black with tempest, and no sign of help was in sight, but Paul spoke, and all was changed, and a ray of sunshine fell on the wild waters that beat on the doomed vessel.
Three points are conspicuous in his strong tonic words. First, there is the confident assurance of safety. A less noble nature would have said more in vindication of the wisdom of his former advice. It is very pleasant to small minds to say, ‘Did I not tell you so? You see how right I was.’ But the Apostle did not care for petty triumphs of that sort. A smaller man might have sulked because his advice had not been taken, and have said to himself, ‘They would not listen to me before, I will hold my tongue now.’ But the Apostle only refers to his former counsel and its confirmation in order to induce acceptance of his present words.
It is easy to ‘bid’ men ‘be of good cheer,’ but futile unless some reason for good cheer is given. Paul gave good reason. No man’s life was to be lost though the ship was to go. He had previously predicted that life, as well as ship and lading, would be lost if they put to sea. That opinion was the result of his own calculation of probabilities, as he lets us understand by saying that he ‘perceived’ it {Act 27:10}. Now he speaks with authority, not from his perception, but from God’s assurance. The bold words might well seem folly to the despairing crew as they caught them amidst the roar of tempest and looked at their battered hulk. So Paul goes at once to tell the ground of his confidence-the assurance of the angel of God.
What a contrast between the furious gale, the almost foundering ship, the despair in the hearts of the sleeping company, and the bright vision that came to Paul! Peter in prison, Paul in Caesarea and now in the storm, see the angel form calm and radiant. God’s messengers are wont to come into the darkest of our hours and the wildest of our tempests.
Paul’s designation of the heavenly messenger as ‘an angel of the God whose I am, whom also I serve,’ recalls Jonah’s confession of faith, but far surpasses it, in the sense of belonging to God, and in the ardour of submission and of active obedience, expressed in it. What Paul said to the Corinthians {1Co 6:19} he realised for himself: ‘Ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price.’ To recognise that we are God’s, joyfully to yield ourselves to Him, and with all the forces of our natures to serve Him, is to bring His angel to our sides in every hour of tempest and peril, and to receive assurance that nothing shall by any means harm us. To yield ourselves to be God’s is to make God ours. It was because Paul owned that he belonged to God, and served Him, that the angel came to him, and he explains the vision to his hearers by his relation to God. Anything was possible rather than that his God should leave him unhelped at such an hour of need.
The angel’s message must have included particulars unnoticed in Luke’s summary; as, for instance, the wreck on ‘a certain island.’ But the two salient points in it are the certainty of Paul’s own preservation, that the divine purpose of his appearing before Caesar might be fulfilled, and the escape of all the ship’s company. As to the former, we may learn how Paul’s life, like every man’s, is shaped according to a divine plan, and how we are ‘immortal till our work is done,’ and till God has done His work in and on and by us. As to the latter point, we may gather from the word ‘has given’ the certainty that Paul had been praying for the lives of all that sailed with him, and may learn, not only that the prayers of God’s servants are a real element in determining God’s dealings with men, but that a true servant of God’s will ever reach out his desires and widen his prayers to embrace those with whom he is brought into contact, be they heathens, persecutors, rough and careless, or fellow-believers. If Christian people more faithfully discharged the duty of intercession, they would more frequently receive in answer the lives of ‘all them that sail with’ them over the stormy ocean of life.
The third point in the Apostle’s encouraging speech is the example of his own faith, which is likewise an exhortation to the hearers to exercise the same. If God speaks by His angel with such firm promises, man’s plain wisdom is to grasp the divine assurance with a firm hand. We must build rock upon rock. ‘I believe God,’ that surely is a credence demanded by common sense and warranted by the sanest reason. If we do so believe, and take His word as the infallible authority revealing present duty and future blessings, then, however lowering the sky, and wild the water, and battered the vessel, and empty of earthly succour the gloomy horizon, and heavy our hearts, we shall ‘be of good cheer,’ and in due time the event will warrant our faith in God and His promise, even though all around us seems to make our faith folly and our hope a mockery.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Voyage and Shipwreck
The Voyage and Shipwreck
Act_27:1 to Act_28:16. The Journey to Rome.
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This narrative is the most detailed account of an ancient voyage which we possess, and is our principal source of knowledge of the art of navigation as practised by the ancients. St. Luke describes the voyage at length, because it exhibits his hero in a very favourable light. The details of the voyage are clearly authentic (see Intro.).
1. Julius] a person otherwise unknown. The narrative reveals him as courteous and humane, open to religious impressions, and able to appreciate, a great character. Augustus' band] rather, 'the Augustan cohort.' This cohort has been generally regarded as one of the five cohorts which, Josephus tells us, were stationed at Cæsarea. Prof. Mommsen, however, thinks that it belonged to a body of troops called frumentarii (lit. 'victuallers'), whose headquarters were at Rome on the Coelian hill. They not only superintended the provisioning of the imperial armies, but were continually going to and fro on the Emperor's business.
2. A ship of Adramyttium] i.e. a ship owned at Adramyttium, which was about to undertake its homeward voyage. Adramyttium was an important seaport of Mysia. We launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia] RV 'which was about to sail unto the places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea.' Aristarchus] see Act_19:29; Act_20:4.
3. Sidon] an important seaport situated about 20 m. N. of its great commercial rival, Tyre. To refresh himself] rather, 'to receive attention.'
4. Under Cyprus] RV 'under the lee of Cyprus'; i.e. to the E. of the island, as was usual with ships westward bound, to avoid the prevalent W. winds.
5. Myra] see Act_21:1. This town was important as one of the great harbours in the corn trade between Egypt and Rome.
6. A ship of Alexandria] At this time Rome was almost entirely dependent upon foreign corn, obtained mainly from Egypt. This vessel was one of the great cornships (Act_27:38) employed to convey wheat from Alexandria to Puteoli or Ostia. The arrival of these cornships in Italy was a signal for great rejoicings.
7. Scarce] i.e. with difficulty. Cnidus] a seaport of Caria. Not suffering us] viz. to pursue a direct course to Italy S. of Cape Malea. Under Crete] i.e. under the lee of Crete (to the E. and S. of it). Salmone] the NE. promontory of Crete. Upon it stood a temple of Athena.
8. Fair havens] where St. Paul waited for a considerable time (Act_27:9), still preserves its ancient name. It is a small bay situated about 6 m. E. of Cape Litino. It is secure only against N. and NW. winds, whereas the harbour of Phoenix (Act_27:12) is secure against all winds. Lasea] has been identified by its ruins. It is mentioned by no other ancient writer.
9. The fast] i.e. the Day of Atonement, falling about the autumnal equinox. Ancient mariners reckoned the dangerous season of navigation from September 14th to November 11th. From November 11th till March 5th all navigation was suspended.
10. No revelation is to be assumed here.
12. Phenice] RV 'Phoenix,' i.e. either the modern Loutro, or the neighbouring town of Phineka. Toward the south west and north west] i.e. the bay or harbour formed a semicircle, of which one half looked SW. and the other half NW.
14. Translate, 'But after no long time there beat down from it' (i.e. from Crete) 'a tempestuous wind which is called Euraquilo.'
Euroclydon] The best reading is 'Euraquilo,' i.e. an E.N.E. wind.
16. RV 'and running under the lee of a small island, called Cauda, we were able, with difficulty, to secure the boat.' Clauda] or (RV) 'Cauda' (now Gavdo or Gozzo), is 23 m. S. of Phoenix. To come by the boat] RV 'to secure the boat.' This was a small rowingboat towed from the stern of the ship. The storm having come on suddenly, there had been no time to haul it aboard. This was now done, but with difficulty, for it was full of water.
17. Helps] i.e. means of protection against foundering. Undergirding] Broad girths were passed under the ship, and strained tight, to hold the timbers together. Modern seamen sometimes resort to the practice, which is called 'frapping.' Lest they should fall into the quicksands] RV 'lest they should be cast upon the Syrtis.' The 'Greater Syrtis,' 'the Goodwin Sands of the Mediterranean' (Farrar), lay to the SW. of Cauda. Strake sail] better, 'reduced sail.' They probably lowered the mainsail more than half-way, but left the small 'artemon' or stormsail extended.
18. Lightened the ship] by throwing part of the cargo overboard.
19. We.. our] RV 'they.. their.' The tackling] i.e. spars, ropes, etc. But a better translation is 'the ship's furniture,' i.e. beds, tables, benches, cooking utensils, chests, boxes, etc.
23. The angel] rather, 'an angel.' For other visions of Paul see Act_18:9; Act_22:18; Act_23:11.
26. St. Paul here speaks as a prophet, and accurately predicts the future.
27. The fourteenth night] viz. from their departure from Fair Havens. In Adria] RV 'in the sea of Adria,' which lay between Malta, Italy, Greece and Crete.
28. They sounded] 'J. Smith shows how exactly the geographical details in the traditional St. Paul's Bay (on the NE. coast of Malta) correspond with the description here' (Knowling).
34. For your health] RV 'for your safety.' Unless they were strengthened by food they might be drowned in the attempt to get ashore.
35. All pious Jews gave thanks to God before taking food.
37. The number of persons on board is large, but not unusually so. The vessel on which Josephus was wrecked carried about 600 persons.
39. To thrust in the ship] rather, 'to run the ship aground.'
40. RV 'and casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosing the bands of the rudders; and hoisting up the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.'
Rudder bands] RV 'the rudders.' Ancient vessels had two rudders (in the form of a huge oar or paddle), one on each quarter. While drifting, the sailors had raised the blades of the rudders out of the water, to prevent them from being broken. Now that steering had to be done, they unlashed the rudders, and let them down into the water.
41. A place where two seas met] This may either mean, (1) a strait (i.e., in this case, the narrow strait which separates Selmun Island from the mainland); or, (2) a tongue of land (or spit of sand) washed on both sides by the sea.
42. To kill the prisoners] cp. Act_12:19; Act_16:27.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv1–44 XXVII: 1, 2. Not long after the interview with…
XXVII: 1, 2. Not long after the interview with Agrippa, Paul saw an immediate prospect of departing upon his long-purposed voyage to Rome. The answer to his prayers was about to be realized, and the promise made him by night in the prison of Claudius Lysias that he should yet testify of Jesus in Rome as he had done in Jerusalem, was about to be fulfilled. This was being accomplished, not by any direct divine interference, but by a providential combination of circumstances. The machinations of the Jews, the corruption of Felix, the indecision of Festus, the prudence of Paul, and the Roman statute in behalf of citizens, had all most strangely, yet most naturally, combined to fulfill a promise of God made in answer to prayer. (1) “ And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort, named Julius. (2) And embarking on a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, intending to sail to places along the coast of Asia, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.” Here, again, we find the significant “ we” of Luke, showing that he was again in Paul's company. The last time we met with this term was upon the arrival of the apostolic company in Jerusalem. He had probably not been far from Paul during the two years of imprisonment in Cæsarea, and was now permitted to accompany him to Rome. Aristarchus was also a voluntary companion of the prisoner, as we infer from the manner in which his name is mentioned. There were, however, other prisoners on board.
As the ship belonged to Adramyttium, which is on the coast of Mysia, it was now homeward bound, and was not expected to take the prisoners further than its own destination. But as they were about to touch at several “places along the coast of Asia,” they could calculate upon falling in with some vessel bound for Rome.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 9, 17, 23, 28, 37, 40 Commander of 100 soldiers.
centurion
Commander of 100 soldiers.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. From Caesarea to Fair Havens (Act 27:1-8).
CHAPTER 27
1. From Caesarea to Fair Havens (Act 27:1-8).
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2. The Unheeded Warning. The Storm. Paul’s Vision and Assurance of Safety (Act 27:9-26).
3. The Shipwreck (Act 27:27-44).
Much has been written on this Chapter. The voyage of the Apostle Paul to Rome and the shipwreck is often explained as being typical of the stormy voyage of the professing church, her adversities and shipwreck.
However, such an application needs caution. it is easy to make fanciful and far-fetched allegorical applications. Besides church history other lessons have been drawn from this narrative. A recent commentator claims that the keynote to the interpretation is given in Act 27:34 in the word salvation. “This and cognate words occur seven times in the chapter: Hope to be saved; ye cannot be saved; to be completely saved. While the contrary fate is no less richly depicted--injury, loss, throwing away, perish, kill and to be cast away. The history, then, is a parable of the great salvation, by which man is brought through death to life.” We shall not attempt to seek for an outline of church history in the events of this chapter. The central figure, the prisoner of the Lord, must occupy us more than anything else. It is said that in all the classical literature there is nothing found which gives so much information of the working of an ancient ship as this chapter does. Even the critics have acknowledged that this chapter “bears the most indisputable marks of authenticity.” “Historical research and inscriptions have confirmed the facts given in this chapter, while the accuracy of Luke’s nautical observations is shown by the great help he has given to our understanding of ancient seamanship. None have impugned the correctness of his phrases; on the contrary, from his description contained in a few sentences, the scene of the wreck has been identified.”
The Apostle is courteously treated by the Centurion Julius. Paul may have been in a physically weakened condition. The Lord’s gracious and loving care for His faithful servant shines out in this. How clearly the whole narrative shows that all is in His hands: Officers, winds and waves, all circumstances, are under His control. So far all seemed to go well; but contrary winds now trouble the voyagers. The ship is tossed to and fro. If we look upon the ship as a type of the professing church and the little company, headed by Paul, as the true church, then there is no difficulty in seeing the issue. Winds which drive hither and thither trouble those who hold the truth and live in fellowship with the Lord, while the professing church is cast about. Then Myra was reached. Here they took a ship of Alexandria. Danger then threatened. Most likely a consultation of the commander of the ship and the owner, who was on board, and the centurion, was held, and Paul was present. He gives them a solemn warning and cautions them to beware. This shows his close fellowship with the Lord. In prayer, no doubt, he had laid the whole matter before the Lord and received the answer, which he communicates to the persons in authority. They looked upon it as a mere guess, and the centurion rather trusted in the judgment of the captain and the owner.
And here we can think of other warnings given through the great Apostle. Warnings concerning the spiritual dangers, the apostasy of the last days, the perilous times, warnings against the seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. The professing church has forgotten these divinely-given predictions. The world does not heed them. Like these mariners, who believed in their own wisdom and disregarded the warning given, Christendom has paid no attention to these warnings. For this reason the ship is drifting, cast about by every wind of doctrine and rapidly nearing the long predicted shipwreck. Then there came the terrific tempest. Sun and stars were hidden for many days.
When despair had reached its heights, Paul appears once more upon the scene. When all was hopeless the prisoner of the Lord spoke the words of hope and cheer. He reminds them first of their refusal and disobedience. What had come upon them was the result of having not heeded the warning. He then assures them that an angel of God had assured him once more that he would have to stand before Caesar; but God had given to him all that sail with him. Only the ship is to go down, the lives of all who sail with him will be preserved. “Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God, that it shall be even so as it hath been spoken unto me.” And now they were willing to listen to him. They had to acknowledge their disobedience and believe the message of cheer as it came from the divinely instructed messenger, assuring them of their ultimate salvation.
And so, at least in part, drifting Christendom can listen to the Apostle Paul, and if the mistake, the wrong course, is acknowledged, the heavenly-sent message is accepted, salvation is assured.
How calm the Apostle and his companions must have been after this assurance of their safety. The dreadful winds might continue and the ship drift still further. They knew they were safe, for God had spoken. Different it was with the crew of the ship. In great distress they feared the coming disaster and cast out four anchors. The shipmen attempted flight by a clever scheme. Paul discovered their plan and said to the centurion and soldiers, “Except these abide in the ship, ye (not we) cannot be saved.” God had given him all who were in the ship. The work of the sailors was needed when the daybreak came. And the soldiers believed the word of Paul, for they cut the ropes, which set the boat adrift the sailors tried to use. Then Paul exhorted them to eat. Once more he assured them that not a hair should fall from the head of any one. Before the whole company, two hundred and seventy-six persons, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God. The Lord had exalted the prisoner, and he really stands out as the leader of the distressed company. They all became encouraged by the words and action. All has its lessons. However the meal has nothing to do with the Lord’s Supper. It tells us typically how necessary it is that we must feed on the bread of life in the days of danger, the times when everything breaks up. “And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 9, 14, 21, 27, 33, 39 The Voyage from Caesarea to Melita.
The Voyage from Caesarea to Melita.
From Caesarea to Fair Havens:
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v. 1. And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band.
v. 2. And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia, one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.
v. 3. And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.
v. 4. And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
v. 5. And when we had sailed over these a of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra. a city of Lycia.
v. 6. And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.
v. 7. And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone;
v. 8. and, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called the Fair Havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.
The hearing before Agrippa, which gave him as well as Festus the conviction that. Paul was innocent of any offense against the empire, had one good result: it ended the uncertainty of the Caesarean imprisonment. It was determined that the trip to Italy, for which several routes were open, should be made entirely by sea. Luke here, as the text shows, again joined the company of Paul. He had probably spent the intervening two years in gathering the material which was later, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, used in his gospel. Paul and certain other prisoners were committed to the charge of a centurion by the name of Julius, an officer of the imperial guard, or cohort, a body of soldiers that bore the emperor’s name and was probably used for confidential business between Rome and the provinces. Since they were in somewhat of a hurry, they did not wait for the coming of a large vessel. hut embarked in a ship from Adramyttium, that is, from the port of Adramyttium, a harbor on the coast of Mysia, not far from Troas. This was a coastwise sailboat, engaged in local freight trade, bound for the seaports of Asia Minor. The intention of Julius was to be on the lookout for a larger vessel that was going directly to Italy. An expectation which could hardly fail of fulfillment. Paul not only had Luke as a companion, but also Aristarchus of Thessalonica, one of the men that had come up to Jerusalem with him, chap. 20:4. The fact that this man later is called a fellow-prisoner of Paul, Col 4:10, docs not argue that he made the trip with Paul in that capacity. The chances are that. Luke would have mentioned the fact of his being a prisoner, had this been his condition at the time. By the next day the boat had made a run along the coast of almost seventy miles and put in at Sidon, the former capital of Phoenicia, superseded as the commercial metropolis by Tyre. Here Julius gave the first evidence of the respect and friendly feeling which he showed to Paul on the entire voyage: he treated him kindly, having probably received instructions from Festus to that effect and himself being impressed by the personal character and conduct of Paul. Probably with the soldier to whom he was chained, the apostle received permission to go to his friends in the city, the brethren of the local congregation, and to receive their care. He may not exactly have been in need of medical care, but the kind words of his fellow-Christians at this time were undoubtedly north more to Paul than any mere entertainment for his benefit. After the business of the master of the vessel had been concluded at this port. they put to sea from there and sailed along below Cyprus, under the lee of this large island in the eastern Mediterranean. This made it necessary for the ship to sail around the long peninsula which juts out toward Syria, instead of cutting straight across the Mediterranean south of the island. But the winds were adverse. Having rounded the northeastern extremity of Cyprus, the ship crept along slowly from point to point along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, "using the local land breezes when possible, and the current constantly running to the westward along the southern coast. " in this way they reached the harbor of Myra, on the southern coast of Lycia, one of the great ports in the corn trade between Egypt and Rome. The centurion therefore found here a ship from Alexandria in Egypt, apparently a grain ship bound for Italy, and he transferred his prisoners and their friends to this larger merchant-vessel, put them on board, in the fond belief that the remainder of the voyage could now easily be accomplished. But for quite a number of days they made slow headway, reaching a point off Cnidus, a city on the coast of Caria, only with considerable difficulty, and were unable to enter. The wind still hindering their progress across the Aegean Sea, they turned to the south, to try the course in the lee of the island of Crete, which they reached off Cape Salmone, on the eastern extremity. And even here they sailed along the southern side of the island only with difficulty, until they reached a certain place called Fair Havens, about in the center of the southern coast, the city of Lasea being near it. The start from Caesarea having been made in the late summer or early fall of the year 59 or 60, winter was now approaching, and shipping was becoming dangerous.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul, as a prisoner, begins his journey to Rome.
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General Information:
The word "we" includes the author of Acts, Paul, and the others traveling with Paul, but not the reader. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
General Information:
Adramyttium was a city possibly located on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. (See: How to Translate Names)
When it was decided
This can be stated in active form. AT: "When the king and the governor decided" (See: Active or Passive)
sail for Italy
Italy is the name of the province Rome was in. See how you translated "Italy" in Acts 18:2.
they put Paul and some other prisoners under the charge of a centurion named Julius of the Imperial Regiment
"they put a centurion named Julius, of the Imperial Regiment, in charge of Paul and some other prisoners"
they put Paul and some other prisoners
Possible meanings are that 1) "they" refers to the governor and the king or 2) "they" refers to other Roman officials.
a centurion named Julius
Julius is a man's name. (See: How to Translate Names)
the Imperial Regiment
This was the name of the battalion or army from which the centurion came. Some versions translate this as "the Augustan Regiment." (See: How to Translate Names)
We boarded a ship ... which was about to sail
Here "ship ... which was about to sail" stands for the crew that will sail the ship. AT: "We boarded a ship ... which a crew was about to sail" (See: Metonymy)
a ship from Adramyttium
Possible meanings are 1) a ship that had come from Adramyttium or 2) a ship that was registered or licensed in Adramyttium.
about to sail
"soon going to sail" or "would depart soon"
went to sea
"began our journey on the sea"
Aristarchus
Aristarchus came from Macedonia but had been working with Paul in Ephesus. See how you translated his name in Acts 19:29.
translationWords
Paul
prison
centurion
Asia
Thessalonica
Macedonia
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 21, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42 27:1–28:16 The vivid nautical language used throughout the account…
27:1–28:16 The vivid nautical language used throughout the account of Paul’s journey to Rome yields one of the best available accounts of an ancient sea voyage. • This is the last “we” section in Acts (see also 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18). During the two years of Paul’s imprisonment, Luke had probably done much of the research for his Gospel throughout Judea and Galilee. Here, as a member of Paul’s sailing party, he was an eyewitness participant in the danger at sea.
27:1 Julius is otherwise unknown. • The Imperial Regiment (see study note on 10:1-8) served in Syria during this time.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.