23For there stood by me this night an angel, belonging to the God whose I am and whom I serve,
24saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
25Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I believe God, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me.
26But we must run aground on a certain island.”
27But 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.
28They took soundings, and found twenty fathoms. After a little while, they took soundings again, and found fifteen fathoms.
29Fearing that we would run aground on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for daylight.
30As 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,
31Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these stay in the ship, you can’t be saved.”
32Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat, and let it fall off.
33While 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.
34Therefore I beg you to take some food; for this is for your safety; for not a hair will perish from any of your heads.”
35When 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.
36Then they all cheered up, and they also took food.
37In all, we were two hundred seventy-six souls on the ship.
38When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.
39When 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.
40Casting 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.
41But 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.
42The soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim out and escape.
43But 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;
44and the rest should follow, some on planks, and some on other things from the ship. So they all escaped safely to the land.
Drawn from the public-domain commentaries and Spurgeon sermons that cover this exact passage · ~901 words.
Matthew Henry. They made a shift among them to run the ship aground, in a shelf or bed of sand, as it should seem, or an isthmus, or neck of land, washed with the sea on both sides, and therefore two seas are said to meet upon it, and there the forepart stuck fast; and then, when it had no liberty to play, as a ship has when it rides at anchor, but remained immovable, the hinder part would soon be broken of course by the violence of the waves. Whether the seamen did not do their part, being angry that they were disappointed in their design to escape, and therefore wilfully ran the ship aground, or whether we may suppose that they did their utmost to save it, but God in his providence overruled, for the fulfilling of Paul's word, that the ship must be lost (Act 27:22), I cannot say; but this we are sure of that God will confirm the word of his servants, and perform the counsel of his messengers, Isa 44:26. God is ever faithful, and therefore let all that have an interest in his promise be ever cheerful. if with God saying and doing are not two things, then with us believing and enjoying should not. 5. He gives them a sign, telling them particularly what this tempestuous voyage would issue in (Act 27:26): "We must be cast upon a certain island, and that will both break the ship and save the passengers; and so the prediction in both respects will be fulfilled." The pilot had quitted his post, the ship was left to run at random, they knew not what latitude they were in, much less how to steer their course; and yet Providence undertakes to bring them to an island that shall be a refuge for them. They all saw them preparing to go into the boat, but were deceived by the pretence they made; only Paul saw through it, and gave notice to the centurion and the soldiers concerning it, and told them plainly, Except these abide in the ship, you cannot be saved. To cover this vile design, they pretended they would cast anchors out of the fore-ship, or carry them further off, and in order to this they let down the boat, which they had taken in (Act 27:16, Act 27:17), and were going into it, having agreed among themselves, when they were in to make straight for the shore.
Jamieson–Fausset–Brown. 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. 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. 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. 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. taken up the anchors, they committed themselves to the sea--The Margin is here evidently right, "cut the anchors (away), they left them in the sea." loosed the rudder bands--Ancient ships were steered by two large paddles, one on each quarter.
John Calvin. But the centurion, being desirous to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and should escape to land. 44. And when the day began to appear, Paul exhorted them all to take meat, saying, This is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, receiving nothing at all. 34. And when it was day, they knew not the land; but they spied a certain haven having a bank, into the which they minded to thrust the ship. 40. But it behoveth us to consider the wonderful counsel of God, as well in saving Paul as in fulfilling his promise; when as he bringeth those men to land, who did what they could to make his promise of none effect. It is not to be doubted but that Paul himself did that when he took meat, which he commandeth other men; but now he doth not only testify his thankfulness, neither doth he only desire of God that he will sanctify the meat which he is about to eat; but he calleth upon God without fear, who is the author of his life, that those poor wretches, which were drenched in sorrow, might conceive some good hope.
Matthew Henry
chapter
This whole chapter is taken up with an account of Paul's voyage towards Rome, when he was sent thither a prisoner by Festus the governor, upon his appeal to Caesar. I. The beginning of the voyage was well enough, it was calm and prosperous (Act 27:1-8). II. Paul gave them notice of a storm coming, but could not prevail with them to lie by (Act 27:9-11). III. As they pursued their voyage, they met with a great deal of tempestuous weather, which reduced them to such extremity that they counted upon nothing but being cast away (Act 27:12-20). IV. Paul assured them that though they would not be advised by him to prevent their coming into this danger, yet, by the good providence of God, they should be brought safely through it, and none of them should be lost (Act 27:21-26). V. At length they were at midnight thrown upon an island, which proved to be Malta, and then they were in the utmost danger imaginable, but were assisted by Paul's counsel to keep the mariners in the ship, and encouraged by his comforts to eat their meat, and have a good heart on it (Act 27:27-36). VI. Their narrow escape with their lives, when they came to shore, when the ship was wrecked, but all the persons wonderfully preserved (Act 27:37-44).
Source · CC0-1.0 / Public Domain
21–44
We have here the issue of the distress of Paul and his fellow-travellers; they escaped with their lives and that was all, and that was for Paul's sake. We are here told (Act 27:37) what number there were on board - mariners, merchants, soldiers, prisoners, and other passengers, in all two hundred and seventy-six souls; this is taken notice of to make us the more concerned for them in reading the story, that they were such a considerable number, whose lives were now in the utmost jeopardy, and one Paul among them worth more than all the rest. We left them in despair, giving up themselves for gone. Whether they called every man on his God, as Jonah's mariners did, we are not told; it is well if this laudable practice in a storm was not gone out of fashion and made a jest of. However, Paul among these seamen was not, like Jonah among his, the cause of the storm, but the comforter in the storm, and as much a credit to the profession of an apostle as Jonah was a blemish to the character of a prophet. Now here we have,
I. The encouragement Paul gave them, by assuring them, in the name of God, that their lives should all be saved, even when, in human appearance, all hope that they should be saved was taken away. Paul rescued them from their despair first, that they might not die of that, and starve themselves in that, and then they were in a fair way to be rescued from their distress. After long abstinence, as if they were resolved not to eat till they knew whether they should live or die, Paul stood forth in the midst of them. During the distress hitherto Paul hid himself among them, was one of the crowd, helped with the rest to throw out the tackling (Act 27:19), but now he distinguished himself, and, though a prisoner, undertook to be their counsellor and comforter.
1. He reproves them for not taking his advice, which was to stay where they were, in the road of Lasea (Act 27:8): "You should have hearkened to me and not have loosed from Crete, where we might have made a shift to winter well enough, and then we should not have gained this harm and loss, that is, we should have escaped them." Harm and loss in the world, if sanctified to us, may be truly said to be gain; for if they wean us from present things, and awaken us to think of a future state, we are truly gainers by them. Observe, They did not hearken to Paul when he warned them of their danger, and yet if they will but acknowledge their folly, and repent of it, he will speak comfort and relief to them now that they are in danger, so compassionate is God to those that are in misery, though they bring themselves into it by their own incogitancy, nay, by their own wilfulness, and contempt of admonition. Paul, before administering comfort, will first make them sensible of their sin in not hearkening to him, by upbraiding them with their rashness, and probably, when he tells them of their gaining harm and loss, he reflects upon what they promised themselves by proceeding on their voyage, that they should gain so much time, gain this and the other point: "But," says he, "you have gained nothing but harm and loss; how will you answer it?" That which they are blamed for is their loosing from Crete, where they were safe. Note, Most people bring themselves into inconvenience, because they do not know when they are well off, but gain harm and loss by aiming against advice to better themselves.
2. He assures them that though they should lose the ship yet they should none of them lose their lives: "You see your folly in not being ruled by me:" he does not say, "Now therefore expect to fare accordingly, you may thank yourselves if you be all lost, those that will not be counselled cannot be helped." No, "Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing; your case is sad, but it is not desperate, now, I exhort you to be of good cheer." Thus we say to sinners that are convinced of their sin and folly, and begin to see and bewail their error, "You should have hearkened unto us, and sho…
Source · CC0-1.0 / Public Domain
Jamieson–Fausset–Brown
23
there stood by me this night the angel of God--as in Act 16:9; Act 23:11.
whose I am-- (Co1 6:19-20).
and whom I serve--in the sense of worship or religious consecration (see on Act 13:2).
Source · Public Domain (CC Public Domain Mark 1.0)
24
saying, Fear not, Paul: thou must be brought before CÃ&brvbrsar and, lo, God hath given thee all . . . that sail with thee--While the crew were toiling at the pumps, Paul was wrestling in prayer, not for himself only and the cause in which he was going a prisoner to Rome, but with true magnanimity of soul for all his shipmates; and God heard him, "giving him" (remarkable expression!) all that sailed with him. "When the cheerless day came he gathered the sailors (and passengers) around him on the deck of the laboring vessel, and raising his voice above the storm" [HOWSON], reported the divine communication he had received; adding with a noble simplicity, "for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me," and encouraging all on board to "be of good cheer" in the same confidence. What a contrast to this is the speech of CÃ&brvbrsar in similar circumstances to his pilot, bidding him keep up his spirit because he carried CÃ&brvbrsar and CÃ&brvbrsar's fortune! [PLUTARCH]. The Roman general knew no better name for the Divine Providence, by which he had been so often preserved, than CÃ&brvbrsar's fortune [HUMPHRY]. From the explicit particulars--that the ship would be lost, but not one that sailed in it, and that they "must be cast on a certain island"--one would conclude a visional representation of a total wreck, a mass of human beings struggling with the angry elements, and one and all of those whose figures and countenances had daily met his eye on deck, standing on some unknown island shore. From what follows, it would seem that Paul from this time was regarded with a deference akin to awe.
Source · Public Domain (CC Public Domain Mark 1.0)
27
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.
Source · Public Domain (CC Public Domain Mark 1.0)
29
they cast four anchors out of the stern--The ordinary way was to cast the anchor, as now, from the bow: but ancient ships, built with both ends alike, were fitted with hawseholes in the stern, so that in case of need they could anchor either way. And when the fear was, as here, that they might fall on the rocks to leeward, and the intention was to run the ship ashore as soon as daylight enabled them to fix upon a safe spot, the very best thing they could do was to anchor by the stern [SMITH]. In stormy weather two anchors were used, and we have instances of four being employed, as here.
and wished--"anxiously" or "devoutly wished."
for day--the remark this of one present, and with all his shipmates alive to the horrors of their condition. "The ship might go down at her anchors, or the coast to leeward might be iron-bound, affording no beach on which they could land with safety. Hence their anxious longing for day, and the ungenerous but natural attempt, not peculiar to ancient times, of the seamen to save their own lives by taking to the boat" [SMITH].
Source · Public Domain (CC Public Domain Mark 1.0)
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].
Source · Public Domain (CC Public Domain Mark 1.0)
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.
Source · Public Domain (CC Public Domain Mark 1.0)
32
Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat--already lowered.
and let her fall off--let the boat drift away.
Source · Public Domain (CC Public Domain Mark 1.0)
33
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" (Act 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.
Source · Public Domain (CC Public Domain Mark 1.0)
9 more notes on this passage are in the library.
John Calvin
33
Acts 27:33-44
33. And when the day began to appear, Paul exhorted them all to take meat, saying, This is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, receiving nothing at all. 34. Wherefore I exhort you to take meat; for this no doubt is for your health; because there shall not one hair fall from the head of any of you. 35. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in the sight of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat. 36. Then were they all refreshed in their minds, and they also took meat. 37. And all the souls which were in the ship were two hundred threescore and sixteen. 38. And when they had eaten enough, they did lighten the ship. casting out the wheat into the sea. 39. And when it was day, they knew not the land; but they spied a certain haven having a bank, into the which they minded to thrust the ship. 40. And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves to the sea; also, having loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted up the mainsail to the wind, they drew toward the shore. 41. But when they were fallen into a place where two seas met, they thrust in the ship, and the fore part did stick fast, and moved not; but the hinder part brake through the violence of the waves. 42. Furthermore, the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any, after he swam out, should escape. 43. But the centurion, being desirous to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and should escape to land. 44. And the other, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship; and so it came to pass, that they all escaped safe to land.
33. And when the day began. Whatsoever the mariners think, Paul's faith doth not quail; [648] but he leaneth steadfastly to the promise which was made to him. For he doth not only exhort them to take meat, as did he who, in extreme despair, uttered these words, Dine, soldiers, we shall sup in hell; [649] but continuing steadfast in his prophecy, he willeth them to be of good courage. The force of faith doth therein show itself, when as it armeth us unto patience, and doth valiantly bear off and beat back those assaults wherewith Satan goeth about to shake it. But whereas he saith, that they continued fasting for the space of fourteen days, it may seem absurd and false. There may some one man be found which can abide to fast long, but it is scarce credible of so great a multitude. We may easily answer, That their unwonted abstinence from meat is improperly called fasting; because they had never filled their belly during all that time; because those who are in sorrow and heaviness do almost loathe meat. And because despair was the cause of this their loathing of meat, he affirmeth again that they shall live, so they be of good courage. For a faithful minister of the word must not only bring abroad the promises, but also counsel men to follow God whithersoever he calleth them; and that they be not slothful and sluggish. Furthermore, the meaning of the words is this, God hath determined to save you, this confidence ought to animate you, and to make you merry, [650] that you be not negligent in your own business.
35. He took bread. That he may the better encourage them, by his own example, he taketh bread and eateth. Luke saith that he gave thanks, not only according to his daily custom, but because that served greatly to testify his boldness and good confidence. It is not to be doubted but that Paul himself did that when he took meat, which he commandeth other men; but now he doth not only testify his thankfulness, neither doth he only desire of God that he will sanctify the meat which he is about to eat; but he calleth upon God without fear, who is the author of his life, that those poor wretches, which were drenched in sorrow, might conceive some good hope. And he prevailed thus far, at least, that they gathered so much courage to them as to take meat,…
Source · Public Domain (CC Public Domain Mark 1.0)