Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Acts 27:9

Stay at Fair HavensDetermination to reach Phænix, if possible, 9 - 12.

Acts 27:9. Much time. It is impossible to say precisely how long this time was. Such terms are always relative to the circumstances of the case to which they belong. It is evident from what follows, that continued delay now began to involve considerable anxiety.

Sailing was now dangerous. The more correct translation is, ‘ the further prosecution of the voyage being now dangerous. ' It would be quite a mistake to suppose that the old navigators were afraid to try the open sea. We have an instance of a perfectly free and open voyage of this kind in St. Paul's return from his last missionary expedition (Acts 21:2-3). But in this case a long voyage was in prospect, and the season was very stormy. The sky might be expected to be overcast. What the old sailors especially dreaded, having no compass, was the absence of any power of making observations of the sun and stars (see below, Acts 27:20). Moreover, it is highly probable from what immediately follows that the ship had received great damage, and was already in an unseaworthy condition. There was good reason for remaining in harbour, if possible.

The fast was now already past. This fast was the great Day of Atonement, which took place on the 10 th of Tisri, about the beginning of our October. It is a popular way of describing the season, as we might say ‘about Michaelmas;' and it would be most natural language for St. Paul to use, for the sacred seasons of the Jews were much in his memory, and he probably observed them still as carefully as he could (see Acts 18:21; Acts 20:16; Acts 21:24). In conversing with St. Luke on board the ship, he would speak in this manner, and therefore it would become natural language for St. Luke to use in his narrative. Thus the phrase can hardly be pressed into an argument to prove that the historian himself had been brought up as a Jew.

Paul admonished them. Here we see the apostle, who at first was merely a despised and obscure prisoner, assuming a great position among the people on board the ship, and speaking with confidence on subjects concerning which he might naturally have been supposed to be ignorant. Already he must have acquired considerable influence over the minds of those who had been sailing with him, and must have been viewed by them as no ordinary man. How far he spoke from prophetic enlightenment on this occasion, and how far from instinctive judgment of the risks that were in prospect, we cannot determine. There is always mystery in what relates to inspiration; and certainly St. Paul had had very large experience of the sea and its changes (see 2 Corinthians 11:25, which was written some years before the present occasion). Still the more reverential view is that he did speak under a consciousness of Divine teaching (see below, Acts 27:23).

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Acts 27:9

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