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. A CENTURION OF AUGUSTUS’ BAND. — Literally,... [ Continue Reading ]
ENTERING INTO A SHIP OF ADRAMYTTIUM. — Better, _embarking in._ Adramyttium was a town on the coast of Mysia, opposite Lesbos. It lay on the Roman road from Assos and Troas to Pergamus, Ephesus, and Miletus. It was a port of considerable importance, and the Gulf of _Adramyti_ still retains its name.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JULIUS COURTEOUSLY ENTREATED. — The English fairly expresses the meaning of the Greek adverb, which is literally _philanthropically._ We note, as in other instances, the favourable impression made by St. Paul’s conduct on official persons who came in contact with him. (Comp. Acts 18:14; Acts 19:... [ Continue Reading ]
WE SAILED UNDER CYPRUS... — Had the wind been favourable, the ship would naturally have taken the direct course from Sidon to Mysia, leaving Cyprus on the right, as in his previous voyage St. Paul had sailed from Patara to Tyre (Acts 21:1). As it was, the wind probably being from the north-west, the... [ Continue Reading ]
WE CAME TO MYRA, A CITY OF LYCIA. — The city lay about two miles and a half from the mouth of the river Andriacus. It had been at one time the metropolis of Lycia, and the remains of a theatre and an aqueduct remain to attest its former stateliness.... [ Continue Reading ]
A SHIP OF ALEXANDRIA SAILING INTO ITALY. — A glance at the map will show that the ship, which was probably one of those engaged in the corn-trade between Egypt and Rome, must have been driven out of its course. This may have been owing to the prevalence of the westerly winds already noticed. The Ale... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN WE HAD SAILED SLOWLY MANY DAYS. — The Etesian gales from the north-west, which prevail in the Archipelago during the latter part of July and the whole of August, were still blowing strongly, and during the “many days” (probably a fortnight or three weeks) the ship had not been able to traverse... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, HARDLY PASSING IT. — The Greek adverb is the same as the “scarce” of Acts 27:7, and should be translated as before, _with difficulty._ A PLACE WHICH IS CALLED THE FAIR HAVENS. — It was obvious that the ship would have been again exposed, after passing Crete, or even its central promontory, Cap... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THE FAST WAS NOW ALREADY PAST. — The Fast was the Jewish Day of Atonement, which fell on the tenth of Tisri (in that year, September 24th), the seventh month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year. The sailing season with the Jews was reckoned from the Feast of Pentecost to that of Tabernacles, w... [ Continue Reading ]
SIRS, I PERCEIVE THAT THIS VOYAGE WILL BE WITH HURT. — The tone is clearly that of a man who speaks more from the foresight gained by observation than from a direct supernatural prediction. St. Paul had had, it will be remembered, the experience of three shipwrecks (2 Corinthians 11:25), and the Epi... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS THE CENTURION BELIEVED THE MASTER. — Better, _the pilot._ The word is the same as that translated “ship-master,” in Revelation 18:17. The advice was, we may believe, determined by the fact that there was a better harbour but a few miles further on the coast. Could they not press on thit... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BECAUSE THE HAVEN WAS NOT COMMODIOUS TO WINTER IN... — The anchorage in the Fair Havens, while it gave immediate shelter from the north-west gales, was open to those from other points of the compass, and it was therefore decided by the majority (there would seem to have been something like a vot... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE SOUTH WIND BLEW SOFTLY. — There was a change at once in the force and the direction of the wind. With a gentle and favourable breeze from the south, the pilot and the owner thought that all was smooth sailing, and the ship left the Fair Havens and made across the bay, a distance of thir... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE AROSE AGAINST IT... — The Greek pronoun is in the feminine, and as the noun used for ship is, throughout the narrative, in the neuter, the difference of gender presents a difficulty. Grammatically the pronoun seems to refer to Crete, and if referred to it, the sentence admits of three possible... [ Continue Reading ]
AND COULD NOT BEAR UP INTO THE WIND. — The Greek verb is literally, “to look into the wind’s eye,” to _face_ the wind. The figure is a sufficiently natural one in all languages; but it perhaps received additional vividness from the fact that a large eye was commonly painted on the prow of Greek vess... [ Continue Reading ]
AND RUNNING UNDER A CERTAIN ISLAND WHICH IS CALLED CLAUDA. — Some MSS. give the various-reading Cauda, which agrees more closely with the form Gaudos found in Pliny and Suidas. This, in its turn, has passed into the modern _Gozzo._ The island lay about twenty-three miles to the south-west of Crete.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY USED HELPS, UNDERGIRDING THE SHIP. — The word “helps” answers to what we should call “precautions,” or “remedial measures.” The process described, technically known as “frapping,” consisted in carrying a strong cable several times round the ship from stem to stern, so as to keep the planks from... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEXT DAY THEY LIGHTENED THE SHIP. — St. Luke uses the technical term for throwing the bulk of the cargo overboard. They effected, in this way, the relief of the ship from the imminent danger of sinking. The act shows that, in spite of the undergirding, leakage was still going on. The cargo, as c... [ Continue Reading ]
WE CAST OUT WITH OUR OWN HANDS THE TACKLING OF THE SHIP. — The better MSS. give the third person plural, and not the first. If we accept the Received text, the fact that the passengers as well as the crew were pressed into the service indicates the urgency of the peril; but even with the other readi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN NEITHER SUN NOR STARS IN MANY DAYS APPEARED. — We have to remember that before the invention of the compass the sun and stars were the only guides of sailors who were out of sight of land. Now the sky was over-cast and this guidance failed. The ship was driving, but whither they knew not. ALL... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER LONG ABSTINENCE... — We find from Acts 27:35 that there was still a fair supply of food on board, but. as they could not tell how long it might be before they reached a harbour, the crew, amounting, with passengers, to two hundred and seventy-six men (Acts 27:37), had been naturally put on red... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW I EXHORT YOU TO BE OF GOOD CHEER. — Look and tone, we may well believe, helped the words. It was something in that scene of misery and dejection to see one man stand forward with a brave, calm confidence. FOR THERE SHALL BE NO LOSS OF ANY MAN’S LIFE AMONG YOU. — The quiet courage of the spe... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THERE STOOD BY ME THIS NIGHT... — With most others of the enthusiastic type of character, visions, real or supposed, of messengers from the unseen world have produced terror and agitation. With St. Paul they are the source of a calm strength and presence of mind which he is able, in his turn, to... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAR NOT, PAUL. — The words obviously came as an answer to the prayer, prompted by the fear, not of death or danger in itself, but lest the cherished purpose of his heart should be frustrated when it seemed on the very verge of attainment. The words that follow imply that his prayer had not been bou... [ Continue Reading ]
WE MUST BE CAST UPON A CERTAIN ISLAND. — This had clearly formed part of the special revelation that had been granted to the Apostle. It was more than a conjecture, and the “must” was emphasised as by a prophetic insight into the future.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE FOURTEENTH NIGHT WAS COME. — The time is apparently reckoned from their leaving the Fair Havens. (Comp. Acts 27:18; Acts 27:33.) AS WE WERE DRIVEN UP AND DOWN IN ADRIA. — — The name was used as including more than the Gulf of Venice, to which the name Adriatic has been confined by more rece... [ Continue Reading ]
TWENTY FATHOMS. — The Greek noun so rendered was defined as the length of the outstretched arms from hand to hand, including the chest. It was reckoned as equal to four cubits — _i.e.,_ to about six feet — and is therefore fairly represented by our “fathom.” The soundings here given agree with those... [ Continue Reading ]
FEARING LEST WE SHOULD HAVE FALLEN UPON ROCKS. — Literally, _upon rough places_ — the reefs of rock which were indicated by the breakers and by the diminished depth of water. THEY CAST FOUR ANCHORS OUT OF THE STERN. — It was no unusual thing for a ship to be furnished with this complement of anchors... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS THE SHIPMEN WERE ABOUT TO FLEE... — The hour of danger called out the natural instinct of self-preservation, to the exclusion of better feelings. It was easy for the sailors to urge that the ship needed anchors fore as well as aft, and, while pretending to be occupied about this, to lower the... [ Continue Reading ]
EXCEPT THESE ABIDE IN THE SHIP... — We need hardly embarrass ourselves with the question how far the divine promise was dependent on the contingency thus specified. Prompt vigour, and clear discernment of what was needed on the instant, spoke out in the Apostle’s words. The assurance that had been g... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE SOLDIERS CUT OFF THE ROPES OF THE BOAT. — The act had to be the work of an instant. The boat was already lowered, the sailors were on the point of leaping into it. We can picture their mortification on finding their selfish plat at once detected and frustrated. Even in this, however, there... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL BESOUGHT THEM ALL TO TAKE MEAT. — Better, _to take food;_ and so in the next verse. Once again the practical insight of the Apostle — yet more, perhaps, his kindly human sympathy — comes prominently forward. Soldiers and sailors needed something that would draw them together after the incident... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS FOR YOUR HEALTH. — Better, _safety,_ or _preservation._ The Greek word is not that commonly translated “health,” and the translators seem to have used it in the wider sense which it had in older English. So, for example, in Wiclif’s version, “the knowledge of salvation” in Luke 1:77 appears... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK BREAD, AND GAVE THANKS TO GOD. — The act was a common practice of devout Jews at the beginning and the end of meals. (See Note on Matthew 14:9.) To the heathen soldiers and sailors it was probably altogether new, and at such a moment must have been singularly impressive. The act of “breaking... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WERE THEY ALL OF GOOD CHEER. — The words present a striking contrast to the despair of Acts 27:20. The hearty cheerfulness (is it too colloquial a phrase to say the “pluck”?) of the Apostle had communicated itself, as by a kind of electric sympathy, to his companions. They looked to him as thei... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE WERE IN ALL IN THE SHIP... — The number is given here, either as a fact that had been omitted before, and was not without its interest, or probably because then for the first time, when they were all gathered at their meal, the writer had taken the pains to count them. A man does not commonly... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD EATEN ENOUGH... — More accurately, _when they were filled with food._ The words describe a full and hearty meal. The first effect of this was seen in renewed activity for work. In spite of all that had been done before (Acts 27:18), the ship still needed to be lightened. The tense... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY KNEW NOT THE LAND. — It was, of course, probable enough that some at least of the sailors had been at Malta before; but St. Paul’s Bay, which we assume to be the point they had now reached, was remote from the Great Harbour, now that of _Valetta,_ into which ships commonly sailed, and may there... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD TAKEN UP THE ANCHORS. — Better, _And when they had cleared away_ (or, _cut off_)_ the anchors, they let them go into the sea._ It is obvious that nothing would have been gained at such a juncture by encumbering the ship, which they were anxious to lighten as much as possible, with... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FALLING INTO A PLACE WHERE TWO SEAS MET. — Better, _But falling,_ as in contrast with the attempt described in the previous verse. At the west end of St. Paul’s Bay lies the island of Salmonetta. From their place of anchorage the crew could not have seen that it was an island, and in trying to r... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SOLDIERS’ COUNSEL WAS TO KILL THE PRISONERS. — The vigour of Roman law, which inflicted capital punishment on those who were in charge of prisoners and suffered them to escape (see Notes on Acts 12:19; Acts 16:27), must be remembered, as explaining the apparently wanton cruelty of the propos... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE CENTURION, WILLING TO SAVE PAUL. — Better, _wishing,_ as expressing a stronger desire than the sense of mere acquiescence which has come to be attached to “willing.” The Apostle had, we have seen, from the outset gained the respect of the centurion Julius (Acts 27:1). The courage and thought... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE REST, SOME ON BOARDS... — These were probably planks from the decks. The words “broken pieces are not in the Greek, but fairly express its force. Literally, _on some of the things from the ship._ These might, it is obvious, have been pieces of timber from the bulwarks, loose spars, tables, s... [ Continue Reading ]