Acts 27

Ac 27:1-44. The Voyage to Italy--The Shipwreck and Safe Landing at Malta.

1. we should sail, &c.--The "we" here reintroduces the historian as one of the company. Not that he had left the apostle from the time when he last included himself (Ac 21:18), but the apostle was parted from him by his arrest and imprisonment, until now, when they met in the ship.

delivered Paul and certain other prisoners--State prisoners going to be tried at Rome; of which several instances are on record.

Julius--who treats the apostle throughout with such marked courtesy (Ac 27:3, 43; Ac 28:16), that it has been thought [Bengel] he was present when Paul made his defense before Agrippa (see Ac 25:23), and was impressed with his lofty bearing.

a centurion of Augustus' band--the Augustan cohort, an honorary title given to more than one legion of the Roman army, implying, perhaps, that they acted as a bodyguard to the emperor or procurator, as occasion required.

2. 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 Ac 27:6.

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" (Ac 19:29) and as a "Thessalonian" accompanying the apostle from Ephesus on his voyage back to Palestine (Ac 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; Phm 24).

3. next day we touched at Sidon--To reach this ancient and celebrated Mediterranean port, about seventy miles north from Cæsarea, in one day, they must have had a fair wind.

Julius courteously--(See on Ac 27:1).

gave him liberty to go to his friends--no doubt disciples, gained, it would seem, by degrees, all along the Phoenician coast since the first preaching there (see on Ac 11:19 and Ac 21:4).

to refresh himself--which after his long confinement would not be unnecessary. Such small personal details are in this case extremely interesting.

4. when we had launched--"set sail."

from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary--The wind blowing from the westward, probably with a touch of the north, which was adverse, they sailed under the lee of Cyprus, keeping it on their left, and steering between it and the mainland of Phoenicia.

5. when we had sailed over the Sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia--coasts with which Paul had been long familiar, the one, perhaps, from boyhood, the other from the time of his first missionary tour.

we came to Myra, a city of Lycia--a port a little east of Patara (see on Ac 21:1).

6. there ... found a ship of Alexandria, sailing into Italy, and he put us therein--(See on Ac 27:2). As Egypt was the granary of Italy, and this vessel was laden with wheat (Ac 27:35), we need not wonder it was large enough to carry two hundred seventy-six souls, passengers and crew together (Ac 27:37). Besides, the Egyptian merchantmen, among the largest in the Mediterranean, were equal to the largest merchantmen in our day. It may seem strange that on their passage from Alexandria to Italy they should be found at a Lycian port. But even still it is not unusual to stand to the north towards Asia Minor, for the sake of the current.

7. sailed slowly many days--owing to contrary winds.

and scarce--"with difficulty."

were come over against Cnidus--a town on the promontory of the peninsula of that name, having the island of Coos (see on Ac 21:1) to the west of it. But for the contrary wind they might have made the distance from Myra (one hundred thirty miles) in one day. They would naturally have put in at Cnidus, whose larger harbor was admirable, but the strong westerly current induced them to run south.

under--the lee of

Crete--(See on Tit 1:5).

over against Salmone--the cape at the eastern extremity of the island.

8. And hardly passing it--"with difficulty coasting along it," from the same cause as before, the westerly current and head winds.

came to ... the Fair Havens--an anchorage near the center of the south coast, and a little east of Cape Matala, the southern most point of the island.

nigh whereunto was the city Lasea--identified by the Reverend George Brown [Smith, Voyages and Shipwreck of St. Paul, Appendix 3, Second Edition, 1856]. (To this invaluable book commentators on this chapter, and these notes, are much indebted).

9-10. when much time was spent--since leaving Cæsarea. But for unforeseen delays they might have reached the Italian coast before the stormy season.

and when sailing--the navigation of the open sea.

was now dangerous, because the fast was now ... past--that of the day of atonement, answering to the end of September and beginning of October, about which time the navigation is pronounced unsafe by writers of authority. Since all hope of completing the voyage during that season was abandoned, the question next was, whether they should winter at Fair Havens, or move to Port Phenice, a harbor about forty miles to the westward. Paul assisted at the consultation and strongly urged them to winter where they were.

11. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and owner ... more than ... Paul--He would naturally think them best able to judge, and there was much to say for their opinion, as the bay at Fair Havens, being open to nearly one-half of the compass, could not be a good winter harbor.

12. Phenice--"Phenix," now called Lutro.

which lieth toward the southwest and northwest--If this means that it was open to the west, it would certainly not be good anchorage! It is thought therefore to mean that a wind from that quarter would lead into it, or that it lay in an easterly direction from such a wind [Smith]. Ac 27:13 seems to confirm this.

13. when the south wind blew softly, supposing they had attained their purpose--With such a wind they had every prospect of reaching their destination in a few hours.

14-15. a tempestuous--"typhonic"

wind--that is, like a typhon or tornado, causing a whirling of the clouds, owing to the meeting of opposite currents of air.

called Euroclydon--The true reading appears to be Euro-aquilo, or east-northeast, which answers all the effects here ascribed to it.

16-17. under--the lee of.

a certain--"small"

island ... Clauda--southwest of Crete, now called Gonzo; about twenty-three miles to leeward.

we had much work to come by--that is, to hoist up and secure.

the boat--now become necessary. But why was this difficult? Independently of the gale, raging at the time, the boat had been towed between twenty and thirty miles after the gale sprang up, and could scarcely fail to be filled with water [Smith].

19-20. cast out with our own hands--passengers and crew together.

the tackling of the ship--whatever they could do without that carried weight. This further effort to lighten the ship seems to show that it was now in a leaking condition, as will presently appear more evident.

21-26. But after long abstinence--(See on Ac 27:33). "The hardships which the crew endured during a gale of such continuance, and their exhaustion from laboring at the pumps and hunger, may be imagined, but are not described" [Smith].

Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened to me, &c.--not meaning to reflect on them for the past, but to claim their confidence for what he was now to say:

27-29. when the fourteenth night was come--from the time they left Fair Havens.

as we were driven--drifting

up and down in Adria--the Adriatic, that sea which lies between Greece and Italy.

about midnight the shipmen deemed--no doubt from the peculiar sound of the breakers.

that they drew near some country--"that some land was approaching them." This nautical language gives a graphic character to the narrative.

30. as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship--under cover of night.

when they had let down the boat ... as though they would ... cast anchors out of the foreship--"bow"--rather, "carry out" anchors, to hold the ship fore as well as aft. "This could have been of no advantage in the circumstances, and as the pretext could not deceive a seaman, we must infer that the officers of the ship were parties to the unworthy attempt, which was perhaps detected by the nautical skill of St. Luke, and communicated by him to St. Paul" [Smith].

31. Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers--the only parties now to be trusted, and whose own safety was now at stake.

except ye abide in the ship ye cannot be saved--The soldiers and passengers could not be expected to possess the necessary seamanship in so very critical a case. The flight of the crew, therefore, might well be regarded as certain destruction to all who remained. In full assurance of ultimate safety, in virtue of a DIVINE pledge, to all in the ship, Paul speaks and acts throughout this whole scene in the exercise of a sound judgment as to the indispensable HUMAN conditions of safety; and as there is no trace of any feeling of inconsistency between these two things in his mind, so even the centurion, under whose orders the soldiers acted on Paul's views, seems never to have felt perplexed by the twofold aspect, divine and human, in which the same thing presented itself to the mind of Paul. Divine agency and human instrumentality are in all the events of life quite as much as here. The only difference is that the one is for the most part shrouded from view, while the other is ever naked and open to the senses.

32. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat--already lowered.

and let her fall off--let the boat drift away.

33-37. while day was coming on--"until it should be day"; that is, in the interval between the cutting off of the boat and the approach of day, which all were "anxiously looking for" (Ac 27:29).

Paul--now looked up to by all the passengers as the man to direct them.

besought them all to take meat--"partake of a meal."

saying, This is the fourteenth day ye have tarried--"waited for a breathing time."

having eaten nothing--that is, taken no regular meal. The impossibility of cooking, the occupation of all hands to keep down leakage, &c., sufficiently explain this, which is indeed a common occurrence in such cases.

38-40. when they had eaten enough, &c.--With fresh strength after the meal, they make a third and last effort to lighten the ship, not only by pumping, as before, but by throwing the whole cargo of wheat into the sea (see on Ac 27:6).

41. falling into a place where two seas met--Smith thinks this refers to the channel, not more than one hundred yards broad, which separates the small island of Salmone from Malta, forming a communication between the sea inside the bay and that outside.

the fore part stuck fast, and remained immovable--"The rocks of Malta disintegrate into extremely minute particles of sand and clay, which, when acted upon by the currents or surface agitation, form a deposit of tenacious clay; but, in still waters, where these causes do not act, mud is formed; but it is only in creeks, where there are no currents, and at such a depth as to be undisturbed by the waves, that the mud occurs. A ship, therefore, impelled by the force of a gale, into a creek, with such a bottom, would strike a bottom of mud, graduating into tenacious clay, into which the fore part would fix itself, and be held fast, while the stern was exposed to the force of the waves" [Smith].

hinder part was broken--The continued action denoted by the tense here is to be noted--"was fast breaking," going to pieces.

42-44. the soldiers' counsel was to hill the prisoners, lest any ... should escape--Roman cruelty, which made the keepers answerable for their prisoners with their own lives, is here reflected in this cruel proposal.