Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 27:27
But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;
27. the fourteenth night ] i.e. from the time of their sailing away from Fair Havens. Since that time they had been constantly driven to and fro.
in Adria ] [ R. V. in the sea of Adria]. That part of the Mediterranean which lies between Greece, Italy and Africa is so called. The name embraced a much wider extent of sea than the present Gulf of Venice, which is called “the Adriatic.” Cf. Strabo, ii. 123.
the shipmen deemed ] [ R. V. surmised]. Their knowledge of the sea would enable them to form an opinion from things which others would hardly notice, some alteration in the currents or the different character and sounds of the waves, dashed as they would be against the land.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The fourteenth night – From the time when the tempest commenced.
In Adria – In the Adriatic Sea. This sea is situated between Italy and Dalmatia, now called the Adriatic Gulf. But among the ancients the name was given not only to that gulf, but to the whole sea lying between Greece, Italy, and Africa, including the Sicilian and Ionian Sea. It is evident from the narrative that they were not in the Adriatic Gulf, but in the vicinity of Malta.
Deemed – Judged. Probably by the appearance of the sea.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 27:27-29
But when the fourteenth night was come about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country.
Land ahead
I. Men possess that which tells them there is land ahead. The shipmen deemed, etc. There is, universally, a consciousness in man, that beyond this there is some country. What that country may be we may not be able to define, and our feelings, in prospect of the landing, may widely differ; but to those who are sailing in the Gospel ship, and are being guided by the inspired chart, under the direction of the Heavenly Pilot, the land beyond is a glorious reality, and the prospect of the landing is a source of daily comfort. Let us, standing on the deck of the grand old ship, look out across the wide watery waste for some sign of the country to which we are bound, and make use of the helps to that discovery which our Heavenly Pilot has provided.
1. By the telescope land is discovered when the unaided eye sees nothing but water. As the Bible is a chart, so is it a telescope by which we discover what otherwise would be unseen. Sailors, use your telescopes! Dont use them for looking at the waves, as many do, to magnify their troubles; but for looking beyond the waters, that the sight of the land may assuage your sorrows, and fill your souls with joy. And what a blessed contrast there is between this definiteness and the hazy uncertainty which pervades all human theories and infidel fancies! Yes, there is a country beyond, and the prospect of standing on its shore helps us to rejoice in spite of our light affliction, which is but for a moment.
2. By the telescope the land is defined, when without it its character would be uncertain. Men feel that there must be another shore; but revelation discovers to us much of what that shore is. As soon as the captain, by the aid of his telescope, has discovered the distant hills, every glass in the ship is brought into requisition. Little by little, as the vessel approaches the shore, the dim outline develops into hills and dales; the haven itself is sighted, the tall masts of the ships which lie in the harbour are plainly discerned, while here and there the very people are distinguished who are waiting on the shore. And so, by the aid of our telescope, much may be discovered concerning the Land of Best. By it we discover that it is a better country, that is, an heavenly; that there are many mansions for weary voyagers. And here lies the great difference between natural and revealed religion. The one makes us feel that there is some country; while the other reveals to us where and what that country is. The two may be seen illustrated on board that very ship; for while the sailors deemed that they drew near to some country, Paul could speak most positively and say, We must be cast upon a certain island. To make these discoveries, the telescope must be properly used. You are not to look at it, nor merely to look into it, nor to take it to pieces and criticise it, nor to strut about with it under your arm merely to display it. The Bible is the most ill-used book in the world, With its gilt edges it is admired by those who never look into it; thumbed to death, it is looked into by those who never look through it; it is pulled to pieces by the would be critic; and the would be pious carry it in their hands, while it never reaches their hearts. Now, by such use of the Bible as this no glimpse of the better country will ever be obtained. If the sailor wouldnt look through his telescope until he understood the laws of light, and all the various relations of the lenses which constitute that work of art, he would never see the land at all. To take out one glass and look through it, and then, because he couldnt make wonderful discoveries, throw it and all the rest into the sea, would be an act of supreme folly. But thus many treat the Bible! If you would see the country, take up the glass, just as it is, put it, not to the blind eye of prejudice, as Nelson, when he did not want to see a signal; but to the clear eye of living faith, and you shall see that life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel.
II. Men are daily reminded that they are nearing the land ahead. The sailors had a terrible conviction that they were drawing very near to some country. And without the aid of revelation we are not ignorant of the fact that the end of our voyage will soon be reached. The sailor knows when he is nearing land.
1. By soundings (Act 27:28). As long as men are out on the wide ocean, no line carried by ordinary ships is long enough to reach the deep sea bottom, and therefore they never trouble themselves to take soundings; but as they draw near the land, and are able to take the depth of the water by the ordinary lead lines, they take soundings day by day, as they go.
(1) Look around you.
(a) Can you not see how shallow the water is becoming? Look at those who were boys and girls with you. What havoc time has wrought with them! So-and-So is getting old. Do you not see in all this that you yourselves are nearing the shallows? Time has not spared you.
(b) See what death has done! Go to the churchyard and take soundings there! Be honest with your own souls! You may die at twenty, thirty, or forty years of age; but at whatever age the call may come, you are nearing the shore, and you ought to be prepared for the landing.
(2) Consider yourself. Is it not true that each year finds you weaker, and leaves you weaker still? We hear people say, The winters–they try me more than they did. That means that the waters are becoming shallow.
2. By observation. It was this that helped Columbus to persevere in his westward course till he had sighted the Western World. The sea bird is not an unwelcome visitor; but should a songster from the land fly for refuge towards his vessel, the sailor hails it with delight, and listens to its welcome song as to that of the cherub that sits up aloft. And thus many an aching heart has been cheered in the voyage over the sea of life. Often, like some bright bird of paradise, thoughts of heaven, and music as of eternal love, have cheered the Christian soul, and told him that land was very near. Keep you the vessels head towards the golden sunset. Land is ahead, and near!
3. By experience. As people know, by its influence on the atmosphere, when they are near to the sea; so men may sometimes know, on the sea, when they are drawing near to the land. As the land breeze comes out across the waters, the Christian turns his face towards his rest. Though he cannot see it, he seems to feel the influences of a better country. Much of heaven may be known before we reach the harbour. As the sailors, long before they have sighted America, actually drink of the fresh streams which flow from the western mountains; so, before we reach the haven of rest, we may drink rich, deep draughts of bliss from the eternal hills of life.
III. Men have special seasons which remind them of the land ahead. About midnight the shipmen, etc. Times of midnight make us think of home, and all men have such times. Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God. Midnight times are needful. Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you. It is necessary to make us think of home. If God had not stirred up their nests in Egypt, the Israelites would never have longed for Canaan. It was when on the brink of starvation in a far-off land that the prodigal thought of his fathers house, and wished to be there. Your business fails, to make you think of your heavenly treasure; your beloved ones are taken away, that you may look forward to the time when the family circle, eternally complete, can neer be broken; and pain and sickness lay you low, to remind you that this is not your rest. Then think of home always! Lay up your treasure there!
IV. Men have overwhelming inducements to prepare for the land ahead. It is an awfully solemn fact that millions of our fellow men are living utterly regardless of these things. (W. H. Burton.)
A sermon to sailors
How did they know that at last they had neared land? Well, you must be a sailor to understand that. No doubt there was something in the run of the water, or in the breeze, or in the noise of the waves that appealed to the sailors instinct. Hearing the billows breaking, they dropped the four anchors out of the stern. That seems a very unsailor-like proceeding, say some critics. Perhaps, if they knew a little more they would not be so surprised, for that is just how Admiral Nelson put them out at the battle of the Nile; and when the ships were formed for action at Copenhagen, we are told that they were all anchored by the stern (Nelson had been reading this chapter that morning). There is a picture in Herculaneum contemporary with Pauls time, in which you will see vessels with provision made for anchoring by the stern; and I am told that in Greece they still frequently adopt this plan. But if they had lowered the anchor at the bows, she would have swung round and perhaps on to the rocks, as they did not know how much sea room they had. Four were lowered, and when it was found that they held, the sailors had a prayer meeting–they prayed for the day to break. I will throw what I have to say under three headings, which shall have a little rhythm in them, so that you may remember them the better.
I. Land ahead. The shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country. That is very vague. They were not quite sure whether it was Europe or Africa; but there was something which said, It wont be long before we are aground. There had been land ahead all the fourteen days; for how was it possible for any ship to be going about in Adria without having land ahead? But they never thought about it until they got uncomfortably close to it. The moment a tiny little craft is launched on the ocean of life, there is land ahead, and whether it be an hospitable one, or an iron-bound coast on which the craft goes to pieces, depends upon what sort of a voyage it has made and who is its captain. With some of us, it is a long time before we realise that we are coming to some country. Oh, it is a grand thing when there steals over a mans mind, This life is not the end of everything; the time is not far off when my craft shall touch some country or another! What is leading many a man to realise that he is drawing near some country? Sometimes it is a memory or a word; I have known it come through a dream. When Columbus was searching for the Western country, what kept up his brave heart was that every now and then he saw floating on the water either a stick or a leaf, that he knew must come from the land. Anon he would see flying overhead a bird, which he was certain had left the shore not many hours before. Ay, and there comes a time when a man will look round and see this, that, and the other all saying to him, You are bound for another country. There starts up to his memory that which he has not thought of for many a long year–the word, perhaps, that mother spoke; that address given in the Sunday school; but all of a sudden something says to the man, There is another world; you are drawing near to it. It may be that the warning does not bring very much comfort, as in the case before us. To cry, Land ahead! does not necessarily bring joy. It just depends on the circumstances of the person who hears it. It is one thing to know that you have land ahead when you see the harbour right in front of you; but it is another thing altogether when the night is dark and you are pitching and tossing, ignorant of your latitude and longitude. Tell a man then that there is land ahead, and he will say, It is the worst news I could possibly hear. Some time ago, a brother preached here who was not very well up in nautical matters. In a very vivid manner he described such a storm as never blew. Eventually he asked, Now, what does the captain do? Why, he keeps as near the shore as ever he can. An old tar who was listening, said, Bosh! turn her nose and beat to windard. Now, when the news of Land ahead! strikes a mans ear in a storm, it is no comfort to him if he does not know what land it is. And so is it with the soul. Tell some of us that there is land ahead, and we say, Thank God! for I know what it is. But oh, if it were rung out in the ears of some of you, would it be good news or evil? A little while ago I had the privilege of helping to send a young wife out to her husband in the colonies. I can imagine that young wife standing on the ships deck with her three little ones by her side, and looking anxiously before her as the vessel nears its destination. By and by the man perched aloft sings out, Land ahead! How that young wifes face lights up at the sound! how her eyes drink in that cloud-like object, which very soon will develop into the land she has come so far to reach! But on board that same ship there is a felon, who is being taken back through the Extradition Treaty. Land ahead! It is heard right down in his cell on board the ship, and he says, Curse it! that means the gallows for me. We are all on board the ship of life, and the day is coming when the cry will be heard, Land can be seen now. It will be with no dim eye, unless it be filled with tears of joy, that I trust we shall all be able to say, Lord, that is the best news I heard for many a year.
II. Heave out the lead. When those ship men took soundings they found twenty fathoms of water. Why did they sound? Because they knew they were getting nearer and nearer, and wanted to be sure of their position. Those men were wonderfully like some of us; they did not begin to sound until they were in danger. They found twenty fathoms, which is a good deal of water; but directly after they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms. What, shoal off five fathoms so quickly! There can be no doubt now of danger. Oh, you dear fellows, I want you to heave out the lead. Have you realised how far your ship has got? Perhaps you could if I were to put a line into your hands. Take sounding by this–
1. The change that you can see in others. When you arrived home, after a long absence, and went to look at your old chums, you were astonished to see how they had grown. That bit of a boy is now as tall as yourself; and of another you said, What an old chap he is getting! But remember that you look as old in his eyes as he does in yours. Is it not strange how we can all mark alterations in others which we do not notice in ourselves? Take soundings, man.
2. Or, if you cannot realise your position in heaving out the lead in that way, call to mind the names of the ships you have sailed in and the crews you once belonged to. Where are they? How many captains have you sailed under? Any of them dead? Call up to mind those you have voyaged with, and I think, as you look along the list, and put a mark against those whose ships have touched the shore, you will come to the conclusion, Shallowing fast! Twenty fathoms!–fifteen!
3. And are there not signs in yourself that you are drawing near some country? Some of you will say that ships sides are not so easy to climb as they were twenty years ago, and that it seems a longer way up the mast than it used to do. You have not the legs and hands you once had; your sight is not so clear as it was once. Your wife says, I am going to pull out all those grey hairs; but you say that if she does you will not have many left. Go and look in the mirror tonight, and, if you are a sensible man, it will be like heaving the lead. Yes, you will say; I cannot be far off some shore. Ah, life is shoaling fast with us all. Come, is it twenty fathoms–fifteen? Some of you are much nearer than that. Let down the lead again, and you will find that it is shoaling off to ten fathoms, five fathoms–less than that! Heave out the lead, then, those of you who are still a little way off. Do not go drifting on to the rocks like a fool. If you will not believe our testimony that there is land ahead of some sort, then heave out the lead for yourselves, and you will find, beyond all doubt, that your life is shoaling rapidly.
III. Down with the anchor in the oceans bed. After those sailors had let down the lead it was no use their saying that they did not believe the tale that it told, for it said, very plainly, In a few minutes you will be on that rocky gridiron. There was only one thing to be done now–to drop anchor, and pray God that they might grip. So out went the four. That must have been a very anxious moment; for they did not know whether there was good anchorage or not. Captain Smith tells us that the very best possible anchorage is in St. Pauls Bay, and another nautical book says, if only the cable do not give way, no anchor will ever drag there. They were in the right place, though they did not know it. For a moment they asked themselves, Will the cables snap? Will the anchors drag? But, thank God! they held; and now the ship is stopped. There is hope for them now, though they are not saved yet; and so they go down on their knees and pray for the day. This scene reminds me of a far different one; but there Paul also was throwing out his anchors. He is in Damascus. The Lord has stricken him down; he is blind–in the dark; but he confesses his sin–and then out go the anchors of prayer, and hope, and faith. Out with the anchors, and let your prayer be that of these men, who prayed for the day. They got their answer. They had conscious salvation brought to them, for when the day dawned, Paul came to them and said, Be of good cheer; not a hair shall fall from the, head of any one of you. They are not out of the ship yet, but prayer is answered; there is light in the sky, and God says they shall all be saved. And when it was day they saw a little creek right in front of them, and letting go the anchors they steered right for it. True, the ship went to pieces; but every one of the two hundred and seventy-six on board got safe to land. Look you, the poor ship of mans human body has to go to pieces; but that need not trouble us much so long as the passengers are all right–as long as the soul is secure, never mind the old ship. We shall all get into a place where two seas meet before long. If we are called to die Christ will show us a creek where we can die safely. And the Lord will do for our old ship what was not done with that of which we have been speaking–He will put it all together again on the Resurrection morning; and it will be a better ship than before. (Archibald G. Brown.)
Then, fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern.—
Fitted for sea
In the town of Landport there stands a monument of Sir Charles Napier, the particular feature of which is, that it says nothing whatever of the admiral, but bears underneath his name the simple inscription, ready, aye ready. This exactly portrays the character of the man. The sailor became admiral through being always prepared. Be like him. Though these men would not heed Paul, they were not careless men; for when the danger came it found them prepared. They cast four anchors out of the stern. Be ye also ready! See to your anchors, because, as with the sailor–
I. The anchor will be your preparation for the storm. When a ship is leaving the docks, little heed is given by the landsman to any preparation which has been made for emergencies. As long as she is nicely painted and well dressed out with bunting, she is admired by the crowd, and pronounced ready for sea. You can never judge of a ship by merely outward appearances, and so men cannot be known by that which is merely external. The casual observer sees as much religion in the formalist as he does in the most sincere worshipper. Because Eliab was a fine handsome fellow, Samuel thought he was the man whom God bad chosen to be a king. But the Lord said, Look not on his countenance the Lord looketh on the heart. How about your heart? To me you all appear alike. Together you bow in the attitude of prayer. Like the ships leaving the docks for the voyage, I see you all drifting down the river to the ocean. Are you ready for the dangers that will come? God knows, and you know. In what do you trust? Christ in you, the hope of glory, alone can be your sheet anchor when trials come. There is as much difference between a man who is without hope, and one who has a good hope through grace, as there is between a ship that has no anchor, and one that is well provided. When the storm comes, the one has no alternative but to be dashed to pieces on the rocks, while the other can cast her anchors and hopefully wait for the day.
II. The anchor should be the object of your solicitude in the storm. With many of us the storms are already felt. We are driven up and down on lifes Adria, and sometimes wishing for the day. Like the sailor, let us stand by our anchors. Take care of your hope! These men were ready to cast everything into the sea; all might go; but the anchors, heavy and cumbrous as they were, they must be guarded as dear life. The extremity to which they were driven may he gathered from the fact that even the tackling, the very thing which would be needed for the working of the ship, was cast into the sea. What will men not do to save their lives? Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But though these men gave up so much, their anchors were retained. A landsman, knowing nothing about the use of anchors, would have been puzzled to know why those ugly, heavy things were spared, when all that merchandise was being thrown into the sea. Does somebody question whether such a fool could be found? I submit that, spiritually, this is ever the way of the world. Let men be placed in a position which demands the giving up either of their bales or of their Bible, and there are thousands who would be ready to counsel the throwing overboard of the anchor and the saving of the goods. Christian, take care of your hope! How can you proceed on the voyage of life without it? If today you are without hope, let me entreat you, at once search for your lost treasure. As we were cruising in the Solent, we noticed a large ship lying to, with two or three boats dragging around her. Being curious to know what hindered her, we found that she had let her cable slip and had lost her anchor. Of course the captain could not think of going to sea without his anchor. Not long after, however, before the shades of evening had gathered around her, we saw that the anchor had been found, that all sail was being crowded upon the vessel, and, as though glad to be gone, she was running away before the breeze. Hopeless Christian, imitate that shipmaster. Regain your hope. Do you ask how?–where? Drag for it. Go to the place where it was lost. Remember where the mistake was made which cost you your peace. At any cost recover your hope. You may have to cast your wares into the sea your money, your friends; but if your anchor is safe, even though all his waves and his billows should go over you, like David in similar distress, you will be able to exclaim, Why art thou cast down, O my soul?Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
III. The anchor will be the source of your confidence through the storm. Christian and Hopeful suffered much in Doubting Castle simply through forgetfulness. The key which was found in Hopefuls bosom would have let them out the first night as well as the last. When the emergency came, these men knew how to use their anchors. Whether they felt quite easy is open to doubt. A sailor, to feel happy, requires to know–
1. That his anchor itself is trustworthy.
2. That the anchorage into which he has cast it is good. A good anchor is useless with a bad ground, and a good ground is equally useless with a bad anchor. Now, these men doubtless knew their anchors well, but they were ignorant of the anchorage to which they were moored. It is possible, as in this case, to have good anchors and anchorage, and yet, through ignorance, to be all the time in suspense; and it is equally possible, as many have proved to their destruction, to have a false confidence in that which is bad. Sailors have often ridden out a gale, expecting every moment to find their anchor gone; while others have been suddenly alarmed to find that very anchor upon which they could have staked their lives has come home. And so in the religious world, there are many who have a good hope, but who fear it is bad; while there are also many who have a useless hope, and who believe it to be good. The whole question is set before us in the words of Paul, Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. Have we this anchor and this anchorage? Or are we ever saying, I know what I do, or what I feel, or what I try to be? Legality, Formality, and Experience have been the ruin of millions. As anchors they have been tried, and they have utterly failed. What, then, is the hope which maketh not ashamed? It is the fruit of faith in Christ. Talk to any ordinary man, and he will tell you that he hopes to get to heaven; but if you ask him to give you a reason for the hope that he indulges, he will be totally unable to supply one. Our wishes are not hopes. For a ploughman to say that he hoped one day to be the King of England would be absurd and false; but for the heir-apparent, who had reason to expect, as well as to desire, the exalted position, the expression would be justifiable. Then dont say you hope to get to heaven unless you have good reason to expect it. Dont pillow your soul on a lie. A bad hope is infinitely worse than none at all. As long as men have something they can call a hope, they do not concern themselves about the good hope through grace.
IV. The anchor will be the means of your deliverance from the storm. But for their good anchors, humanly speaking, they would never have seen the day for which they wished. So, Christian, if your anchor is good, it will be the means of your deliverance. Storms of afflictions will come, but, by a good hope, you shall be held until the calm of blessing shall succeed. In the Rapids of Death, when your vessel is altogether beyond your control, and you seem to be thrown about by the troubled waters, even then Hope shall find that the anchorage is good, and you shall outride the danger. (W. H. Burton.)
Wished for the day.—
Wished for day
If tis double death to die in sight of shore, as Shakespeare says, it is also, or nearly, double death to die in the dark. Some would almost say, Surely the bitterness of death is past, if light be vouchsafed to the dying, and so the shadows flee away. Well can they understand a pregnant symbolism in that incident of patriarchal days, when a deep sleep fell upon Abram as the sun was going down; and, lo! a horror of a great darkness fell upon him. With something of a shuddering sympathy can they connect the fact that, on the day whence all Good Fridays take their name, there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour, with that other fact that about the ninth hour there was heard a wailing cry, whose echo reverberates through all space and time, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani! Ever memorable in classical lore is the supplication of the Greek warrior in Homer, not to die in the dark. Let him see his foe and see his end, however imminent, however inevitable. Frequent in historical narrative are instances like that of Labedoyere, who, when brought out to be shot, refused to have his eyes bandaged, and looking straight at the levelled muskets, exclaimed in a loud voice, Fire! my friends. Marshal Ney, a week or two later, also refused to have his eyes bandaged. For five-and-twenty years, he said, I have been accustomed to face the balls of the enemy. Then taking off his hat with his left hand, and placing his right upon his heart, he too said in a loud voice, fronting the soldiers, My comrades, fire on me. Murat fell in a like manner, after a like request–but gazing to the last on a medallion which contained portraits of his wife and children. Dr. Croly applied the Homeric prayer of Ajax to an incident in the long war with France, when twenty-seven thousand British were eager, under Abercrombie and the Duke of York, to attack the French lines, and at the first tap of the drum a general cheer was given from all the columns. But the day, we read, had scarcely broke when a dense fog fell suddenly upon the whole horizon, and rendered movement almost impossible. Nothing could exceed the vexation of the army at this impediment, and if our soldiers had ever heard of Homer there would have been many a repetition of his warriors prayer, that live or die, it might be in the light of day. It has been observed of a certain railway catastrophe, where the crash and collision occurred in a tunnel–in that very place which nobody, even on ordinary occasions, passes through without a slight shudder and an undefined dread of some such disaster as the one in question–that Ajaxs prayer has been muttered by many who never heard of Ajax; and if we are to die, it is at least mitigation of the hour of fate when it overtakes us in daylight. In tracing, psychologically, the development within us of the sense of awe, Professor Newman attributes to the gloom of night more universally, perhaps, than to any other phenomenon, the first awakening of an uneasy sense of vastness. A young child, as he says, accustomed to survey the narrow limits of a lighted room, wakes in the night, and is frightened at the dim vacancy. No nurses tales about spectres are needed to make the darkness awful. Nor, he adds, is it from fear of any human or material enemy: it is the negation, the unknown, the unlimited, which excites and alarms; and sometimes the more if mingled with glimpses of light. The last words audible of Goethe were, More light! The final darkness grew apace, in the words of his ablest biographer, and he whose eternal longings had been for more light, gave a parting cry for it as he was passing under the shadow of death. (F. Jacox, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 27. Driven up and down in Adria] See Clarke on Ac 27:17.
Deemed that they drew near to some country] They judged so, either by the smell of land, which those used to the sea can perceive at a considerable distance, or by the agitation of the sea, rippling of the tide, flight of sea-birds, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In Adria; not in the Adriatic Bay, or Gulf of Venice, which divides Italy and Dalmatia, though that be also so called; but this name is sometimes extended to those parts of the Mediterranean Sea which border on Sicily, and Ionia in Greece, and must be passed over by such as go from Crete, or Candia, to Melita, or Malta.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27-29. when the fourteenth night wascomefrom the time they left Fair Havens.
as we were drivendrifting
up and down in AdriatheAdriatic, that sea which lies between Greece and Italy.
about midnight the shipmendeemedno doubt from the peculiar sound of the breakers.
that they drew near somecountry“that some land was approaching them.” Thisnautical language gives a graphic character to the narrative.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But when the fourteenth night was come,…. From their setting out from the Fair Havens in Crete, or from the beginning of the storm:
as they were driven up and down in Adria: or “in the Adriatic sea”, as the Syriac version renders it: the Adriatic sea is now called by the Turks the gulf of Venice, and the straits of Venice, and sometimes the Venetian sea i; but formerly the Adriatic sea included more than the Venetian gulf; it took in the Ionian and Sicilian seas, and had its name from the city Adria, a colony of the Tuscans k. It is called by Ptolomy l Hadria, and reckoned a city of the Picenes. Pliny m places it near the river Padus, and calls it Atriae, a town of the Tuscans, which had a famous port, from whence the sea was before called Atriatic, which is now Adriatic. Adria, Justin n says, which is near to the Illyrian sea, and gave name to the Adriatic sea, is a Grecian city; and from this place the ancestors of Adrian, the Roman emperor, originally came; and all the sea between Illyricum and Italy is called the Adriatic; and from the beginning of it, which is at the city of Venice, unto Garganus, a mountain in Italy, and Dyrrachium, a city of Macedonia, it is 600 miles in length, and its largest breadth is 200, and the least 150, and the mouth of it 60. The other part of the sea, which washes Macedonia and Epirus, is called the Ionian sea. Moreover, this whole sea is called the superior sea, with respect to the Tyrrhenian, which dashes the other shore of Italy, and is called the inferior o. In this same sea, Josephus p, the historian, was shipwrecked as he was on a voyage to Rome: his account is this;
“I came to Rome, having gone through many dangers by sea, for our ship being sunk in the middle of Adria, being in number about six hundred, we swam all night; and about break of day, by the providence of God, a ship of Cyrene appeared to us, in which I, and some others, in all eighty, getting before the rest, were received into it, and so got safe to Dicearchia, which the Italians call Puteoli;”
a place afterwards mentioned, where the apostle also arrived. And the sea itself is often, by the poets q called Adria, as here, and is represented as a very troublesome sea; and here Paul, and the ship’s company, were driven to and fro by the storm,
when about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country: about the middle of the night the mariners thought, by some observations they made, that they were nigh land; or, as it is in the Greek text, “that some country drew near to them”; which well agrees with the language and sense of seafaring persons, to whose sight the land seems to draw near them, or depart from them, when they draw near, or depart from that: the Ethiopic version is, “they thought they should have seen a city”; they had a notion of some city near; and the Arabic version, “they thought to know in what country, or place” they were; and therefore did as follows.
i Hyde not. in Peritzol. Itinera Mundi, p. 53, 54. k Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 28. l Geograph. l. 3. c. 1. m Nat. Hist. l. 3. c. 16. n Hist ex Trogo, l. 20. c. 1. o Pausanias, Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p. 337. p In Vita sua, sect. 3. p. 905. q Horat. Carnin. l. 1. ode 3. & l. 3. ode. 3. 9. Ovid. Trist, l. 1, eleg. 11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As we were driven to and fro ( ). Genitive absolute with present passive participle of , old verb to bear different ways (=, two), this way and that. Continued to be tossed to and fro in the rough seas. It would seem so to those on board. It does not necessarily mean that the wind had changed. The fourteenth night is reckoned from the time they left Fair Havens.
In the sea of Adria ( H). Not the Adriatic Sea as we now call the sea between Italy and the mainland of Illyricum, but all the lower Mediterranean between Italy and Greece. Luke’s usage is like that of Strabo.
Surmised (). Imperfect active indicative of , inchoative, began to suspect.
That they were drawing near to some country ( ). Infinitive with accusative of general reference in indirect assertion. is here used intransitively and Luke writes from the sailor’s standpoint that a certain land was drawing near to them (, dative). The sailors heard the sound of breakers and grew uneasy.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Adria. The Adriatic Sea : embracing all that part of the Mediterranean lying south of Italy, east of Sicily, and west of Greece.
Deemed [] . Better, as Rev., suspected or surmised.
That they drew near to some country. Lit., that some land is drawing near to them.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But when the fourteenth night was come,” (hos de tessareskaidekate nuks egeneto) “Now when the fourteenth night (of the storm-drifting) came,” after they had sailed out of Fair Haven, in a soft breeze, in spite of Paul’s warning, Act 27:8-13.
2) “As we were driven up and down in Adria,” (diapheromenon hemon en to Adria) “While we were being carried about in Adria,” known today as the Adriatic Sea, the greater Mediterranean between Greece, Italy, and Africa.
3) “About midnight,” (kato meson tes nektos) “About the middle of the (fourteenth) night,” since leaving Fair Haven, Act 27:8-9.
4) “The shipmen deemed,” (hupenooun hoi nautai) “The sailors supposed (hypothecated),” gave out their judgement.
5) “That they drew near to some country; (prosagein tina autois choran) “That they were approaching some particular country,” that some land was nearing them, a nautical term, perhaps because of the sound of the breakers, as if the waves were breaking on a rocky coast.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act. 27:27. The fourteenth night dated from the rising of the gale, which occurred soon after leaving the Fair Havens. The Sea of Adria.See Homiletical Analysis. Though applied to the sea between Greece and Italy, it also embraced the ocean waters around Sicily and as far south as the coast of Africa. The country towards which the ship drifted was not the island of Meleda near the Dalmatian coast, but that of Malta, south of Sicily, so that the course of drifting was west-by-north.
Act. 27:29. They cast four anchors out of the stern.One advantage of doing so was that the ship was thus ready for running ashore. Besides, had they anchored from the prow, the vessel might have swung round and been dashed against the rocks. Csar (De Bel., Civ., i. 25) secured his ships by means of four anchors: naves quaternis anchoris destinabat, ne fluctibus moverentur; and Nelson is said to have anchored his ships in this way at the Battle of Copenhagen, having been led to do so by reading on the morning before the battle the twenty-seventh chapter of the Acts (Conybeare and Howson).
Act. 27:30. Cast anchors out of the foreship should be, stretch or lay out anchors from the foreships. The idea seems to have been to pretend to sail out from the bows in the boat with one or two anchors, so as to drop them into the sea at the full length of the cables. The intention was to escape and leave the soldiers and prisoners to their fate.
Act. 27:31. On the seeming inconsistency of this verse with Act. 27:22 see on Act. 27:26. Notwithstanding Pauls previous assurance of safety, nothing but death could result if the only persons who could man the vessel were allowed to leave it.
Act. 27:32. The soldiers to whom Paul gave the alarm prevented the base attempt of the sailors to desert the ship from being successful.
Act. 27:33. Paul besought them all to take meat, or food.Because of their long fast, and because of the labours which the dawning day might bring them. Before they could reach the shore, much fatigue would require to be endured and for this they would need to recruit their strength by means of food,
Act. 27:35. He took bread and gave thanks.Neither celebrating a love-feast or Eucharist (Olshausen, Ewald), nor acting as a father of a family (Meyer, Hackett), since there is no mention made of any distribution of the bread, as in Luk. 24:30; but simply setting them example as a pious Jew or Christian, who asks a blessing on his food (De Wette, Zckler, Alford)an example which they all followed (Act. 27:36).
Act. 27:37. Two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.The number is probably correct, though some ancient authorities read about threescore and sixteen. The vessel must therefore have been quite equal in size to the largest class of modern merchantmen. Its keel, it has been estimated, would be about one hundred feet in length, while its carrying capacity would be about eleven and twelve hundred tons.
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.Act. 27:27-37
Nearing the Breakers; or, a Night of Anxiety
I. The situation on the fourteenth night.(I.e., from the bursting of the storm, which occurred soon after leaving Fair Havens, perhaps on the same day, at nightfall.)
1. Drifting in the Adria. Though usually applied to the Gulf of Venice, or the sea between Italy and Greece, the term Adria comprehended, in a wider sense, the ocean around Sicily, near which was Melita. The later Greek and Roman writers even called by this name the entire sheet of water as far as Africa. In what direction they drifted can be inferred from the statement that they were wrecked on Melita, or Malta, near Sicily, not the island of the same name on the Dalmatian coast. It was on this Ocean of Adria that Josephus was wrecked (Life, 3).
2. Nearing land. The time was now midnight. Whatever that may be to poets and landsmen, to tempest-tossed sailors in a sinking ship, with no moon or stars in the firmament overhead, or even with these, it must ever be a season of deep horror and great danger. With the sound, too, of breakers ahead announcing the proximity of unknown land, the acuteness of distress felt by crew and passengers in such a plight must be simply appalling.
And fast through the midnight dark and drear,
Through the whistling sleet and snow,
Like a sheeted ghost the vessel swept
Towards the reef of Normans woe.
And ever the fitful gusts between
A sound came from the land;
It was the sound of the trampling surf
On the rocks and the hard sea-sand.
Longfellow.
Such was the position of Pauls ship on that terrible fourteenth night. The sailors on the look-out surmised, from the sound of foam-crested billows dashing against rocks or breaking on the beach, that they were drawing near to some country, and this surmise the soundings forthwith taken confirmedfirst twenty fathoms, and again, after a little space, fifteen fathoms.
3. Letting go anchors. So imminent was the peril, and so great the fear of being hurled amid rocks, that the mariners dropped into the sea from the stern four anchors, in the hope of retarding the fate which now appeared inevitable. Ancient vessels, not carrying so large anchors as modern ships, had often more of them. Lucian (Nav., v.), in describing the Alexandrian corn-ship, speaks of her as having anchors (in the plural). Athenus mentions a ship which had eight (Hackett); and that Pauls possessed more than four is expressly stated (Act. 27:30). The reason for dropping the anchors from the stern, instead of from the prow, as was customary (Anchora de pror jacitur, Virgil, n. 6:902), is evident. Had the ship been anchored from the bows it might have swung round and struck upon the rocks, whereas, anchored from the stern, it was ready to be run ashore at any moment. The anchorage in St. Pauls bay, the traditionary locality of the shipwreck, is reported good. While the cables hold there is no danger, as the anchors will never start (Sailing Directions).
4. Longing for the day. Whether or not the crew and passengers cried every man unto his god, as the mariners on Jonahs ship did (Jon. 1:5), and as it may well be believed Paul did (see Act. 27:24), all on board fervently wished the night gone, since, for aught they knew, any moment the ship might founder, or the cables might snap. The tension of hope and fear, the suspense which made men almost cry
And if our fate be death, give light and let us die
is vividly brought brought before us by Lukes words (Plumptre).
5. Attempting to escape. Under pretence of paying out anchors from the foreship a number, perhaps all, of the sailors lowered the boat into the sea, and, mean spirited and selfish, would themselves have been overboard had not Paul, with his eagle eye, perceived and frustrated their design by informing the centurion and the soldiers, adding, with a peremptory tone of authority, that unless the sailors remained on board, the rest of the ships company could not be saved. Either Paul had received a Divine intimation to that effect, or he reasoned that, should the sailors abandon the vessel, no possibility could remain of successfully working it in any favourable emergency that might arise.
6. Defeating the (would be) deserters. Nothing can show more forcibly, says Lewin, the absolute ascendency which Paul had gained over his comrades than the implicit faith with which they now executed his commands. With military promptitude the soldiers held no discussion on the subject, but decided the question by immediate action. With that short sword with which the Roman legions cleft their way through every obstacle to universal victory, they cut the ropes, and the boat fell off, and, if not instantly swamped, drifted off to leeward into the darkness, and was dashed to pieces on the rocks (Conybeare and Howson). Beautifully writes Besser: It was a strong faith which did that. The last bridge between the lost ship, for which there was no deliverance, and the near land was, with this act, broken. At the same moment that the centurion ordered the boats ropes to be cut and the boat to be dropped into the sea, he stepped with his soldiers into the salvation boat of Pauls word, which was hung with fast cords to the faithfulness of Almighty God. Do thou also hew the cords from every boat upon which thou hast placed thy confidence alongside of God, and then will to thee a morning light dawn in thy night, when thou shalt see the glorious help of God.
II. The situation on the fifteenth dawn.At length the grey light of coming dawn began to relieve the intolerable gloom which had prevailed during night. The rain fell in torrents (Act. 28:2). The crew and passengers shivered through cold, wet, hunger, and fear. A second time, therefore, Paul addressed himself to the company.
1. He repeated his assurance of safety for all on board. Not a hair of their heads should perishnot even of the sailors who had so meanly attempted to leave them. Thus did he requite their evil with good, and heap coals of fire upon their heads (Rom. 9:20). How they were to get ashore lay, as yet, beyond his knowledge. Only the fact that all should reach the beach alive had been revealed to him, and he believed that that would come to pass which God had said. When God speaks, faith immediately proceeds to hush her doubts, knowing that nothing can be too hard for omnipotence (Jer. 32:17).
2. He besought them to take food. For fourteen days and nights they had eaten nothingat least, nothing adequate to their necessities, having been able to obtain no regular meals, and having had no heart to eat what they could obtain, fear and despair having quenched their appetites. The idea that they had been keeping a religious fast is not for a moment to be entertained. Appian, says Doddridge, speaks of an army which for twenty days together had neither food nor sleep: by which he must mean that they neither made full meals nor slept whole nights together. The same interpretation must be given to this phrase (quoted by Hackett). It was physically impossible that the two hundred and seventy-six who were on board could have gone on for fourteen days without any food at all. Scanty rations had, we must believe, been doled out to those who came for them; but the tension of suspense was so great that they had not sat down to any regular meal (Plumptre). As an inducement to their compliance with his entreaty Paul explained that this was absolutely necessary for their safety; meaning that, though they might not perish through drowning, unless they took support they might die of weakness induced by starvation.
3. He himself set them an example. Having taken bread, he gave thanks to God in presence of them all, and began to eat. There is no ground for assuming either that Paul intended his action to be commemorative of the Lords Supper or that the Christians present (who must have been few) understood it in this light. Just as little did he purpose to represent himself as the father or head of the family, since he did not distribute among the company the bread which he took. Simply he designed, one may suppose, to exemplify his own precept; and in so doing he properly acted as a pious Jew or a devout Christian, giving thanks to God in presence of them all for the lives He had hitherto preserved amid the dangers of the deep as well as for the prospect of safety that lay before them; for the food which, in His providence, they still possessed, and for the comparative calmness of mind in which at last they were allowed to partake of itafter which, having broken it, he began to eat. It must have been a sublime as well as strange spectacle to that shipload of heathen soldiers and prisoners, sailors and passengers, all shivering and shrunken, poor, emaciated creatures, starving and coldto look upon the face and hear the voice of the one unperturbed spirit among thema physically weak but spiritually strong Jew; a shackled prisoner, standing on the deck in the grey light of dawn, amid the rain and storm, the howling of the winds and dashing of the waves, perhaps the shrieking of the passengers, the cursing of the soldiers, and the shoutings of the prisoners, lifting up his soul to God in prayer, and then quietly partaking of food. Were I a painter, writes Besser, I would paint that scene! And one feels disposed to say, A men! One would like to have heard Pauls grace, and to have seen the faces of them who listened to it! How it impressed them may never be known; how it affected them is told. Then were they all of good cheer, and themselves also took food.
Learn
1. Mans helplessness, apart from God, amid the storms of life.
2. The unspeakable baseness of the natural heart, as shown in the mean attempt of the sailors.
3. The value of a good man in times of difficulty and danger.
4. The sublimity of true religion, as seen in Paul.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act. 27:27. Midnight on the Sea.
I. A gloomy picture.
1. A stormy ocean.
2. A drifting wreck.
3. A starless sky.
4. A rocky coast.
5. A despairing crew.
II. A suggestive symbol.Of the Christless soul.
1. Tossed about upon the sea of life.
2. Drifting he knows not whither.
3. Without a star of hope in the interior firmament of his soul.
4. Nearing an unknown country, the future world.
5. Filled with alarm for his safety.
III. An instructive contrast.The voyage of the Christian soul different in these respects.
1. Tossed about by lifes tribulations, he is not afraid.
2. Driven to and fro, he always knows whither he is bound.
3. Though stars shine not without, they do within.
4. The country he nears is not unknown.
5. A stranger to despair, he is conscious of a settled peace and holy joy.
Act. 27:29. Anchored from, the Stern.Many whose faces are, or seem to be, turned towards the shore of the better country are held back, being anchored from the stern
I. By their secret lusts.
II. By their earthly affections.
III. By their worldly occupations.
IV. By their darling enjoyments.
Act. 27:31, along with Act. 27:22. Theological Doctrines and Theological Mistakes.
I. Theological doctrines.
1. The doctrine of Divine Fore-ordination. That God fore-knows and fore-ordains (or, vice vers, fore-ordains and fore-knows) everything that comes to pass illustrated by the promise that no life should be lost.
2. The doctrine of human freedom. That man is responsible for working out his own destiny exemplified by the statement that, except the sailors remained in the ship, neither they nor the rest could be saved.
II. Theological mistakes.
1. That Divine fore-ordination precludes human freedom. This is an error, since the same wisdom that ordains the end ordains also the meansviz., human freedom.
2. That human freedom precludes Divine fore-ordination. This the twofold mystery of Gods relation to His intelligent creatures, that He can create free beings without Himself ceasing to be free, and that He can fix His own plan without fixing (in the sense of coercing) mans.
Act. 27:34. A Daring Prophecy. There shall not a hair perish from the head of any of you!
I. Most unlikely in the view of reason.Beyond all reasonable ground of hope or expectation it must have seemed to crew and captain, centurion and owner, soldiers and prisoners, that, with a sinking ship on a wind-driven ocean, and an unknown coast to the leeward, with multitudes on board who could not swim, none of them should be lost! Had any one asserted it but Paul, it would instantly have been scorned as unworthy of credence. As it was, it is not evident that much trust was reposed in the prediction. So most of Gods predictions (not, however, the worlds, which always seem reasonable!) are spurned by the unbelieving world as contrary to common-sense, if not impossible.
II. Absolutely certain in the eye of faith.To Paul it looked neither impossible nor incredible that what he had affirmed should come true. Paul believed
1. That God had the power to perform this unlikely thing; since all things were possible with God, and nothing could be hard for Him who held the water (Isa. 40:12) and the lives of men (Dan. 5:23) in the hollow of His hand.
2. That God was faithful, and would perform that which He had promised (Act. 27:25). Such faith characteristic of Gods people (Rom. 4:21). On these grounds the Church rests her confidence to-day in the predictions of Scripture.
III. Exactly fulfilled in the course of experience.Precisely as Paul had said it came to pass. At one time failure threatened (Act. 27:30-31), but in the end all escaped safe to land (Act. 27:44). So in the long run will every word that God has uttered be fulfilled (Mat. 5:18; Mat. 24:35).
Act. 27:35. Pauls Prayer upon The Ships Deck; or, Grace before Meals.
I. A time-honoured practice.Rendered venerable and sacred by the example of Samuel (1Sa. 9:13) and of Jesus (Mat. 14:19; Mar. 8:6-7; Luk. 9:16).
II. A highly becoming practice.Considering whence the meals come (Jas. 1:17) and the undeservingness of the recipient (Gen. 32:10).
III. A truly religious practice.Practically enjoined upon Christians, not alone by Christs example and Pauls (1Co. 10:30), but by direct Scripture precept (1Th. 5:17; 1Ti. 4:4).
IV. An eminently useful practice.Being calculated, when not done with ostentation or timidity, or in secrecy, but humbly yet courageously, so as to let its true character be seenbeing calculated to seriously impress beholders.
V. A greatly neglected practice.Much reason to fear that, even in pious households and with individual Christians, this hallowed custom has much fallen into disreputegreatly to the injury of religion.
Act. 27:10-35. Paul in the Storm.A noble picture
I. Of manly courage.
1. His prudent counsel (Act. 27:10).
2. His presence of mind (Act. 27:31).
II. Of Christian peace of mind.
1. His friendly address (Act. 27:21).
2. His confident trust in God (Act. 27:25).
III. Of apostolic unction.
1. His prophetic exhortation (Act. 27:24).
2. His priestly love-feast (Act. 27:35).
Paul in The Storm.Christs glory reflected in the apostle.
I. Christs prophetical office.In Pauls warning (Act. 27:10) and promise (Act. 27:25).
II. Christs priestly office.In Pauls pastoral care (Act. 27:21) and love-feast (Act. 27:34-35).
III. Christs kingly office.In Pauls greatness of mind (Act. 27:35) and the souls given to him and rescued for his sake (Act. 27:24; Act. 27:31).Gerok in Lange.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(27) When the fourteenth night was come.The time is apparently reckoned from their leaving the Fair Havens. (Comp. Act. 27:18-19; Act. 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 recent geographers. So Ptolemy (iii. 16) speaks of the Adria as washing the south coast of the Peloponnesus and the east coast of Sicily (iii. 4). So Josephus (Life, c. 3), narrating his shipwreck, just two years after St. Pauls, on his voyage from Juda to Puteoli, states that he was picked up by another ship sailing from Cyrene to the same port, in the middle of Adria. The intersection of the lines of the two vessels would fall, as a glance at the map will show, within the region now mentioned by St. Luke under the same name.
The shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country.Literally, they suspected, or surmised, that a certain country was approaching them. The sound of breakers, probably the white lines of foam seen through the darkness, gave rise, we may believe, to this impression. The country which they were nearing could hardly be any other than the head-land known as the Point of Koura, at the east extremity of St. Pauls, Bay, in Malta. To the Apostle the sight and the sound would alike witness that his prediction was on the point of fulfilment.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Soundings and Shallows the attempted Desertion by the Sailors , Act 27:27-32 .
The close of the narrative approaches. Here, Act 27:27, it is midnight, Act 27:33 it is dawning day, Act 27:39 it is day.
27. Fourteenth night After their start from Fair Havens, Act 27:13.
In Adria The Adriatic sea. Its earlier and narrower meaning was limited to the sea between Italy and Greece, now called the Gulf of Venice. Its later and large meaning includes the entire basin limited by Italy, Greece, Sicily, Crete, and Africa. It was from taking the word in its narrower meaning that earlier commentators have endeavoured to find the Melita of this shipwreck in the Gulf of Venice.
Midnight When signs of land could only be heard, not seen.
Deemed Conjectured.
Country Land. They conjectured this probably as they were nearing what is now called St. Paul’s Bay from hearing the dash of breakers upon Point Koura.
“But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven to and fro in the sea of Adria, about midnight the sailors surmised that they were drawing near to some country, and they sounded, and found twenty fathoms, and after a little space, they sounded again, and found fifteen fathoms. And fearing lest haply we should be cast ashore on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for the day.”
They were under the control of that raging storm for fourteen days, arriving eventually in the sea of Adria, the central Mediterranean. Fourteen is twice seven, intensified divine perfection. Even the timing of the storm was planned. While to those in the ship all seemed lost, to God it was going according to plan. However, in the midst of the howling wind and the great breakers the experienced sailors then saw or heard something in those breakers that now gave them hope. Perhaps it was a lessening in their size, that suggested to them that they were approaching shallower water, which meant land somewhere ahead. Or they may have discerned the sound of surf, and breakers on a shoreline. Whatever it was they tossed out the lead and discovered a depth of twenty fathoms. And after a while they tossed it out again and the depth was now only fifteen fathoms. They were fast approaching land. But it was night. And they dared not approach unknown land at night. So they cast out four stern anchors and waited, and wished and prayed, for day. The purpose in using stern anchors was in order to keep the ship pointing in the same direction
In sight of land:
v. 27. But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country,
v. 28. and sounded, and found it twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.
v. 29. Then, fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern and wished for the day.
v. 30. And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship,
v. 31. Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.
v. 32. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.
About this time the ship, a mere plaything of the waves, was being tossed about in the Adria, in the Ionian Sea between Sicily and Greece, being driven in a uniform, continuous motion toward the west, and the fourteenth night had descended upon them. It was about in the middle of the night when the sailors surmised, not because they were able to distinguish anything in the dense darkness, but because the sound of the waves, the rolling of the breakers, seemed to indicate as much, that same land was approaching them, just as it appears to a traveler from the deck of a ship. So they quickly took soundings and found the depth to be twenty fathoms (a fathom, six feet); however, after they had traversed but a little more space and had again cast out the sounding-lead, they measured fifteen fathoms. The conclusion which they drew from these soundings made the crew fear, together with the passengers, that they would be cast on rocky ground, either on the shore or on submerged reefs. So they let down four anchors from the stern of the ship and heartily wished that day would dawn. Anchorage from the stern in this case, not knowing what was a score of feet away from them, enabled the sailors to manage the ship far more easily and would keep her under the control of the helm, in case it would prove feasible to run her ashore in the morning. Paul was on deck; as were most of the passengers, and so he was enabled to thwart a treacherous plan of the crew. For the sailors desired earnestly to flee from the ship, to escape and leave soldiers, passengers, and prisoners to their fate; they lowered the small boat into the sea with the plea that they wanted to let down anchors from the bow, or prow, of the ship as well. They pretended that they must take the anchors the full cable length away. But Paul, noticing their deception, told the centurion and the soldiers that, unless these men remained in the ship, they all could not be saved. The soldiers thereupon made short work of the matter. They simply chopped off the ropes that held the boat and let her fall down, the waves at once carrying the skiff away. Thus Paul again saved the lives of all the people on the ship, for it stood to reason that neither the soldiers nor the passengers would be able to handle the vessel in an emergency like the present one. A Christian will at all times have the welfare of all men at heart and, so far as lies in his power, will advise, help, and protect them in every bodily need.
Act 27:27. In Adria, In the Adriatic sea. All that part of the Mediterranean which lay south of Italy, was called by the ancients the Adriatic sea; and that which is now the gulph of Venice, was the Sinus Adriaticus or Adriatic Bay.
Act 27:27-29 . But after the commencement of the fourteenth night (namely, after the departure from Fair Havens, comp. Act 27:18-19 ), while we were driven up and down ( ., see the passages in Wetstein and Kypke, II. p. 141, and Philo, de migr. Abr. p. 410 E) in the Adriatic sea, about midnight the sailors descried, etc. The article was not required before the ordinal number (Poppo, ad Thuc. ii. 70:5), as a special demonstrative stress (Ameis on Hom. Od. xiv. 241) is not contemplated, but only the simple statement of time. On (see the critical remarks), the night set in , comp. Herod, viii. 70; Thuc. iv. 25; Polyb. i. 11. 15, ii. 25. 5.
] here and frequently, not in the narrower sense (Phi 3:16 . Phi 3:20 ) of the Golfo di Venetia , but in the wider sense of the sea between Italy and Greece, extending southward as far as, and inclusive of, Sicily. See Forbiger, Geogr . II. p. 16 ff. “Hadriae arbiter notus .” [174] Horat. Od . i. 3. 15.
] that it approaches to them . “Lucas optice loquitur nautarum more,” Kypke. See Cic. Quaest. acad. iv. 25. The opposite is , recedere . See Smith and the passages in Kuinoel. The conjecture of the sailors ( ) had doubtless its foundation in the noise of the surf (Smith), such as is usual in the vicinity of land.
On , to cast the sounding lead ( , in Herodotus ), see the passages from Eustathius in Wetstein; and on (concerning the accent, Gttling, p. 138), a measure of length of six feet, like our fathom , see Herod. ii. 169; Boeckh, metrol . Unters . p. 210 ff.
] note the active: having made a short interval, i.e. having removed the ship a little way farther. Comp. Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 41 [E. T. 47].
] With this decrease of depth the danger increased of their falling on reefs ( ), such as are frequent in the vicinity of small islands.
] Comp. Caes. Bell. civ. i. 25 : “Naves quatenis ancoris destinabat, ne fluctibus moverentur.” For the different expressions for casting anchor , see Poll i. 103.
[174] Comp. Scherzer, statistisch commercielle Ergebnisse , p. 51: “During the European winter a sailing vessel may be often forced to lose fourteen days or more by a persistent south-east wind in the Adriatic Gulf.”
But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country; (28) And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms. (29) Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. (30) And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, (31) Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. (32) Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. (33) And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. (34) Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an 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 presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat. (36) Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat. (37) And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. (38) And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.
How truly interesting the whole narrative is. And what a lovely view the Lord hath given us of Paul. No doubt, his cheerfulness in the midst of the storm, very much contributed to animate the whole ship’s company. I do not apprehend, that when Paul admonished them to eat some food, saying, that it was the fourteenth day they had fasted, and had taken nothing, that he meant they had been all that while without the smallest food. For strictly, and properly speaking, had this been the case, life would have been, in some instances at least, if not in all, destroyed for want of food. But I rather suppose, that he meant they had not, on account of the storm ; taken their usual meals in a regular manner; but only caught a morsel of food now and then, as the tempest would suffer them. Some have read the passage different from our translation, and rendered it, as if Paul had said, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried for, and continued fasting, having taken nothing, that is, ye have continued this whole day fasting. So that in this sense, they had not fasted but this day. And, certainly, this sense is much more probable, for in the other view of fourteen whole days’ fasting of two hundred, threescore, and sixteen persons, nothing short of a miracle could have kept them all alive.
It hath been supposed by some, that Paul made this meal somewhat sacramental, by taking bread as Christ did, and giving thanks. But it appears to me to be a wrong idea. The Ordinance of the Supper would have been unsuited to the whole ship’s company in their then circumstances. And we can hardly suppose that the Apostle would have brought that sacred service, which is peculiarly and specially intended for the sweet memorial of Christ’s death in the Lord’s family, to be received in common with those who know not the Lord.
27 But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;
Ver. 27. In Adria ] That is, in the Adriatic Sea.
27. .] driven about , or up and down, as E. V., not ‘ drifting through ,’ as Dr. Bloomf., though this may have been the fact ; see examples below. Plutarch speaking of the tumult during which Galba was murdered, (probably from Tacitus, ‘Agebatur huc illuc Galba, vario turb fluctuantis impulsu ,’ Hist. i. 40); Philo, de Migr. Abr. p. 464, , , . The reckoning of days counts from their leaving Fair Havens: see Act 27:18-19 .
] Adria, in the wider sense, embraces net only the Venetian Gulf, but the sea to the south of Greece: so Ptolemy (iii. 16), . So also (iii. 4) . In fact, he bounds Italy on the S., Sicily on the E., Greece on the S. and W., and Crete on the W. by this sea, which notices sufficiently indicate its dimensions. So also Pausanias ( Act 27:25 ), speaking of the straits of Messina, says that the sea there is . , , .
] What gave rise to this suspicion? Probably the sound (or even the apparent sight) of breakers. “If we assume that St. Paul’s Bay, in Malta, is the actual scene of the shipwreck, we can have no difficulty in explaining what these indications must have been. No ship can enter it from the east without passing within a quarter of a mile of the point of Koura: but before reaching it, the land is too low and too far from the track of a ship driven from the eastward, to be seen in a dark night. When she does come within this distance, it is impossible to avoid observing the breakers: for with north-easterly gales, the sea breaks upon it with such violence, that Capt. Smyth, in his view of the headland, has made the breakers its distinctive character.” Smith, p. 79.
I recommend the reader to study the reasonings and calculations by which Mr. Smith (pp. 79 86) has established, I think satisfactorily, that this could be no other than the point of Koura, east of St. Paul’s Bay, in Malta.
] was approaching them . The opposite is , ‘recedere.’ ‘Lucas optice loquitur, nautarum more.’ Kuin.
Act 27:27 . , i.e. , since their departure from Fair Havens, cf. Act 27:18-19 , see also the reckonings of mileage in Breusing, p. 189, and Goerne, who reckons from the departure from Cauda. : “as we were driven to and fro,” R.V., so Ramsay; “huc illuc ferri,” Blass, cf. for a similar meaning of the verb Philo, De Migr. Abr. , 27, Strabo, 3, p. 144, and other instances as in Plutarch, see Wetstein, Grimm-Thayer, sub v. But J. Smith (so Breusing, Goerne, Rendall) takes the word as signifying that they were driven through the waters of the Adria uniformly in the same direction, i.e. , right across from Cauda to Malta, and not as moving up and down, or to and fro. Ramsay (so Farrar) holds that St. Luke writes as a landsman who supposes that they drifted to and fro, whilst a sailor would have known that they drifted in a uniform direction (an explanation which Page describes as easy but unsatisfactory, but he thinks that the Greek word cannot be used as J. Smith believes); Rendall however maintains that throughout the Acts the habitual force of in composition, e.g. , , , , , , whether governing an accusative or used absolutely is to express continuous movement onwards over an intervening space. : “in the sea of Adria,” R.V. (on the form of the word see Hastings’ B.D., more properly “Adrias”); not in the narrower sense of the Adriatic, the Gulf of Venice, or as we now speak of “the Adriatic,” but as including the whole sea which lay between Malta, Italy, Greece and Crete; St. Luke probably used the term as it was colloquially used by the sailors in this wider sense. For Mommsen’s objection to the term here see above, Introd., p. 8. The passage in Strabo, ii., 123 ( cf. vii. 187), where the Ionian sea is spoken of as a part of what is now called Adria plainly justifies a wider use of the term in St. Paul’s day than had been originally attached to it, cf. Ptolemy, Geogr , iii., 4, 14, 15, 16, who applies it to the sea extending from Sicily to Crete, and thus represents, although living some sixty or seventy years after him, what was no doubt the current usage in St. Luke’s day; so J. Smith, Breusing, Goerne, Vars, Ramsay, Renan, Blass, etc. Josephus, Vita , 3, speaks of being taken up in the middle of Adria, , when his ship foundered, by a vessel sailing from Cyrene to Puteoli. See further “Adria,” Hastings’ B.D., where a full criticism of the attempt made by W. Falconer (and others), Dissertation on St. Paul’s Voyage , 1817, republished with additions in 1870, to limit the term to the branch of the sea between Italy and Illyria, and to identify Melita with an island off its Illyrian shore, will be found; see further on Act 28:1 , and C. and H., small edition, p. 660 ff., for other references to the meaning of the term “Adria,” and Renan, Saint Paul , p. 552, J. Smith, p. 280 ff., 4th edit, (editor’s note), and Encycl. Bibl. , i., 72, 1899. ., cf. Act 16:25 for a similar expression, only in Luke. : only in Luke; “surmised,” R.V., less decided than “deemed,” A.V., see on Act 13:25 ( cf. 1Ti 6:4 ). .: “that some land was approaching them,” R.V., so Breusing and Ramsay; intransitive in LXX, Jos 3:9 , 1Sa 9:18 , Jer 26 (46):3, etc., “Lucas optice loquitur, nautarum more,” Kypke; the opposite verb would be , recedere , see Wetstein and Blass for illustrations. J. Smith thinks that probably they heard the breakers on the shore, but Breusing and Goerne (so Blass) think that the anchor or whatever weight was dragged behind the ship appeared to strike the ground, see above on Act 27:17 , cf. critical note for , Doric for . : the point of Koura, east of St. Paul’s Bay, J. Smith; the ship would pass within a quarter of a mile of it, and while the land is too low to be seen when the night is stormy, the breakers can be heard for a considerable distance; cf. the description of the wreck of the Lively in 1810, Smith, p. 123, 4th edition.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act 27:27-32
27But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to surmise that they were approaching some land. 28They took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. 29Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and wished for daybreak. 30But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, 31Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” 32Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.
Act 27:27 “the fourteenth night” This time fits exactly the distance covered in their drifting configuration (i.e., sea anchor). They traveled 476 miles at 36 miles per 24-hour period.
“Adriatic Sea” This refers to the south central Mediterranean (Adria). It does not refer to the Adriatic Sea of our day.
“began to surmise that they were approaching some land” They possibly heard the breakers or saw certain birds or fish.
Act 27:28 “sounding” This is from the verb that means “to heave the lead,” which refers to dropping a weighted rope, marked to denote the depth of the water.
“fathom” This was the space between the arms outstretched. It denoted the measurement used by sailors to express the depth of the water.
Act 27:29 It was still dark. They did not know exactly where they were. They wanted to slow down or stop the ship’s approach to land until they could see where the ship was heading.
Act 27:30 These sailors were not men of faith. They would do whatever they could to save themselves.
Act 27:31 There were some conditions (third class conditional sentence) connected to Paul’s updated vision and God’s promise.
“saved” This is the OT sense of physical deliverance (cf. Jas 5:15). Knowing Paul, these sailors, soldiers, and fellow passengers also heard the gospel, which brings the NT sense of the term spiritual salvation. What a tragedy to be saved from physical death to die an eternal death!
driven up and down. Greek. diaphero = to carry hither and thither. Compare 13, 49. Mar 11:16. Then “to differ”, as in the other occurances. Mat 6:26; Mat 10:31; Mat 12:12. Luk 12:7, Luk 12:24. Rom 2:18. 1Co 15:41. Gal 1:2, Gal 1:6; Gal 4:1. Php 1:1, Php 1:10.
Adria = the Adria. In Paul’s day this term included the part of the Mediterranean lying south of Italy, east of Sicily, and west of Greece. Josephus was on board a ship which foundered in the Adriatic Sea and was picked up by a ship of Cyrene, which landed him at Puteoli (Life, 3).
about. Greek. kata. App-104.
shipmen = seamen. Greek. nautes. Only here, Act 27:30, and Rev 18:17.
deemed = were supposing. See Act 13:25.
they drew, &c. = some country was drawing near to them. Greek. prosago. See Act 16:20.
27. .] driven about, or up and down, as E. V., not drifting through, as Dr. Bloomf., though this may have been the fact; see examples below. Plutarch speaking of the tumult during which Galba was murdered, (probably from Tacitus, Agebatur huc illuc Galba, vario turb fluctuantis impulsu, Hist. i. 40); Philo, de Migr. Abr. p. 464, , , . The reckoning of days counts from their leaving Fair Havens: see Act 27:18-19.
] Adria, in the wider sense, embraces net only the Venetian Gulf, but the sea to the south of Greece:-so Ptolemy (iii. 16), . So also (iii. 4) . In fact, he bounds Italy on the S., Sicily on the E., Greece on the S. and W., and Crete on the W. by this sea, which notices sufficiently indicate its dimensions. So also Pausanias (Act 27:25), speaking of the straits of Messina, says that the sea there is . , , .
] What gave rise to this suspicion? Probably the sound (or even the apparent sight) of breakers. If we assume that St. Pauls Bay, in Malta, is the actual scene of the shipwreck, we can have no difficulty in explaining what these indications must have been. No ship can enter it from the east without passing within a quarter of a mile of the point of Koura: but before reaching it, the land is too low and too far from the track of a ship driven from the eastward, to be seen in a dark night. When she does come within this distance, it is impossible to avoid observing the breakers: for with north-easterly gales, the sea breaks upon it with such violence, that Capt. Smyth, in his view of the headland, has made the breakers its distinctive character. Smith, p. 79.
I recommend the reader to study the reasonings and calculations by which Mr. Smith (pp. 79-86) has established, I think satisfactorily, that this could be no other than the point of Koura, east of St. Pauls Bay, in Malta.
] was approaching them. The opposite is , recedere. Lucas optice loquitur, nautarum more. Kuin.
Act 27:27. , the fourteenth) after having left Crete: Act 27:18-19.- , that land drew near to them) To persons who are being carried along, the lands seem to be in motion.
Safety Dependent on Obedience
Act 27:27-34
Paul presents a noble picture, standing there in the gray dawn while the heavy seas are breaking over the ship. He seems to have become by force of character the commander of the entire company. Certainly the soldiers and passengers owed their lives to his sagacity in penetrating the purpose of the sailors in leaving the ship. Note that he said to Julius, ye cannot be saved not we. The Apostle was so sure of God that he had no shadow of doubt as to his own preservation, Act 27:24.
Once more he encouraged them, and urged them to take food. He himself set the example, giving thanks to God in the presence of them all. How brave and how inspiring was his behavior! They all began to be of good cheer. Men may say what they will about the impracticability of Christs teachings, but let a man once begin to live by them, obeying them absolutely and trusting Christ utterly, and he becomes like a lion in courage. Through God we can do valiantly, for He treads down our enemies, Psa 60:12.
the fourteenth: Act 27:18-20
Adria: Adria strictly speaking, was the name of the Adriatic gulf, now the Gulf of Venice, an arm of the Mediterranean, about 400 miles long and 140 broad, stretching along the eastern shores of Italy on one side, and Dalmatia, Sclavonia, and Macedonia on the other. But the term Adria was extended far beyond the limits of this gulf, and appears to have been given to an indeterminate extent of sea, as we say, generally, the Levant. It is observable, that the sacred historian does not say “in the Adriatic gulf,” but “in Adria,” (that is, the Adriatic sea, [Strong’s G99] being understood); which, says Hesychius, was the same as the Ionian sea; and Strabo says that the Ionian gulf “is a part of that now called the Adriatic.” But not only the Ionian, but even the Sicilian sea, and part of that which washes Crete, were called the Adriatic. Thus the scholiast on Dionysius Periegetis says, “they call this Sicilian sea Adria.” And Ptolemy says that Sicily was bounded on the east by the Adriatic, [Strong’s G5259], [Strong’s G99], and that Crete was bounded on the west by the Adriatic sea, [Strong’s G5259], [Strong’s G5120], [Strong’s G3989].
the shipmen: Act 27:30, 1Ki 9:27, Jon 1:6, Rev 18:17
Reciprocal: Act 27:15 – we Act 27:33 – This
7
Act 27:27. Two weeks after leaving Crete the mariners thought they saw indications of being near land. They were being driven back and forth in Adria, the Adriatic Sea, which is that part of the Mediterranean between Greece and Italy.
Anchoring in the Night, 27-29.
Act 27:27. When the fourteenth night was come. The reckoning, as above in Act 27:12; Act 27:19, is from their leaving Fair Havens. About a day must be . allowed, more or less, for all that was done before the ship was made ready under the lee of Clauda for the gale which had suddenly come upon them.
As we were driven up and down in Adria. Two points must be carefully noted here. In the first place, the word does not necessarily mean that they were driven to and fro; nor is there any reason to suppose that the wind was perpetually changing its course. The sinuosities which in old Bible-maps used to be assigned to this part of St. Pauls imaginary course, were only an indication of ignorance as to the right way of solving this problem. The direction of the ships way, though of course it varied slightly as she came up and fell off, during the changing moods of the gale, did not deviate far from a straight line. The other point relates to the meaning of Adria. The popular language of our own day might easily lead us to suppose that the Gulf of Venice is intended. But this would not be in accordance with the use of geographical terms in classical times. This word Adria denoted the central basin of the Mediterranean between Sicily on the west and Greece on the east, and extending as far southwards as the coast of Africa. To quote two well-known geographers, Ptolemy distinguishes clearly between the Adriatic Sea and the Adriatic Gulf; and Pausanias says that the Straits of Messina separate the Tyrrhene Sea from the Adriatic Sea.
About midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country. The phrase here used ( ) is characteristic of that animated language of sailors, according to which everything is spoken of from their own point of view, the ship being, as it were, personified. These sailors suspected that they were fetching some land near to them. But now we must inquire into the reason why they suspected this. It was the middle of the night; hence the thought could not have been suggested by anything which they saw. There were no lighthouses then to warn them. Nor would the suggestion have come through any fragrance of gardens, as has been fancifully supposed, for the wind blew from the ship towards the land. The fact is, they heard the sound of breakers, which is a terrible sound to seamen, and which is often perceived by sailors, when the ears of others would not recognise it. Thus it is true to nature that St. Luke should observe that it was the shipmen who became conscious of this danger. As to that part of the coast of Malta, if the conclusion to which we shall be led may be anticipated, there must have been infallibly breakers on Koura Point that night.
A farther account is here given both of the apostle’s imminent danger and extra-ordinary deliverance; for fourteen days together the ship was continually tossed in the sea; at last the mariners cast four anchors out of the ship, and, by the help of a boat, intended to make their escape, leaving the passengers to shift for themselves: St. Paul, perceiving this, told the centurion and the soldiers, that, though Almighty God had promised to preserve them, yet they must not expect it without using due means for their own preservation, which was to stay the mariners in the ship; whose help and diligence, direction, and care, would be especially needful to them on such an occasion. Hereupon the soldiers, to prevent the mariners’ design, cut the ropes of the boat, and let it fall into the sea.
Learn hence, That the end and the means are always joined together in the purpose and decree of God. The same God that ordained the end, ordained the means in order to that end; therefore, as to trust to means is to neglect God, so to neglect the means is to tempt God.
As here, That God who decreed that they should not perish with the ship, decreed that the skilful seamen should abide in the ship. Almighty God likes not to be tied to means himself; but it is his pleasure to tie us.
Sometimes, to show his sovereignty, he is pleased to work without means.
Sometimes, to show his omnipotency, he works against means; the fire shall not burn, the water shall not drown, the iron shall swim, the sun shall stand still, nay, go several degrees backward.
The first cause can suspend the power and operation of second causes, when he pleases. But as the care of the end means belongs to us, and must be used when they may, and where they can be used.
Accordingly here, the mariners, in order to their own and others’ preservation which was needful. The purpose of God to prolong our lives, must not lessen our care for the preservation of our lives; when God has ordained and appointed means, we cannot expect to find safety in the neglect or contempt of those means.
Act 27:27-32. But when the fourteenth night Since they left Crete; was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria That is, in the Adriatic sea: as the ancients called all that part of the Mediterranean sea which lay south of Italy. About midnight, the shipmen deemed (apprehended) that they drew near to some country Or shore; which confirmed what Paul had told them, that they must be driven upon some island: and, to try whether it was so or not, they sounded In order to ascertain the depth of the water, which would be less as they drew nearer to the shore. And by the first experiment, they found it twenty fathoms, and by the next only fifteen Which decrease of their sounding convinced them that their apprehension was just. Then, fearing lest they should have fallen upon rocks Of which there were very many in those seas, especially about the islands, where there might not be depth of water sufficient to keep the vessel from striking; they cast four anchors out of the stern This shows how great the tempest was, in that they needed so many anchors; and wished for day That they might the better discern their situation. And, as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship Perceiving the danger to be extreme, and endeavouring to provide for their own safety, by making to the shore; and when To compass their design; they let down the boat into the sea Supposing it would go more safely over the shallows; and were just going into it, under colour as though they would have cast anchors From the ships head, to make the vessel more secure; thus dissembling the true reason of their going into the boat, which was to make their escape. Paul Who knew it was the will of God that all proper endeavours should be used for their preservation, in a dependance on the promise he had given them, perceiving the design they had in view; said to the centurion and to the soldiers Who had power to hinder their accomplishing their design; Except these mariners abide in the ship Without whom ye know not how to manage it; ye cannot be saved He does not say, We. That they would not have regarded. The soldiers were not careful for the lives of the prisoners: nor was Paul careful for his own. We may learn hence, to use the most proper means for security and success, even while we depend on Divine Providence, and wait for the accomplishment of Gods own promise. He never designed any promise should encourage rational creatures to act in an irrational manner; or to remain inactive, when he has given them natural capacities of doing something, at least, for their own benefit. To expect the accomplishment of any promise without exerting these, is at best vain and dangerous presumption, if all pretence of relying upon it be not profane hypocrisy. Then the soldiers Who had learned from their commander to pay a deference to what Paul said, that the success of this intended fraud might be effectually prevented; cut off the ropes of the boat By which it was fastened to the side of the ship; and let it fall off into the sea Before any of the mariners got into it.
27-29. Notwithstanding the assurance of final safety, their danger, for a time, became more imminent. (27) “And when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven along in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors supposed that they were drawing near to some land; (28) and having sounded, they found it twenty fathoms. And going a little farther, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms. (29) Then fearing lest they should fall upon breakers, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for day.” From this time till day-break, the ship lay with her bow to the shore, where the waves were dashing fearfully over the hidden rocks; and was held back from inevitable destruction only by the four anchors cast astern. It was a period of fearful suspense, rendered hideous by the darkness of the night and the raging of the storm. They “wished for day,” but they knew not whether it would bring relief, or only render them more certain of destruction.
27. This island is not in the Adriatic Sea, but the Mediterranean, opposite the mouth of the Adriatic, and at that time considered as belonging to it. When at midnight the sailors surmise that they are approaching land.
Act 27:27-44. Landing on Malta.Adria was not then what is now called the Adriatic, but was a general name for the sea between Malta, Italy, Greece, and Crete. After a fortnights tossing on this sea there were signs that some land was approaching. This took place at night when nothing could be seen; distant breakers probably were heard. The surmise was confirmed by the use of the lead, and lest she should go upon the rocks in the dark, the ship was anchored, but in such a way that her bow pointed to the shore. When day broke they would know what kind of a shore it was. The crew may not have wished to desert the ship (Act 27:30), but the safety of the party required that they should remain on board, and on Pauls initiative, the soldiers secured that they should do so. The exact translation of the first clause of Act 27:33 is: But till it should come to be day, indicating that the time of waiting was filled up by the action of Paul, which is narrated, and which needs little comment. There was nothing to be done, and the people were hungry (Act 27:21); food is hard to come by, and apt to be forgotten, in a storm, and provisions get spoiled. The meal put them in better heart for the efforts still to be made. As for the number (Act 27:37), Josephus tells us of a voyage he made to Rome with 600 on board. The discharge of the cargo (Act 27:38) would help the ship when run aground to move higher up the beach. The bay with a sandy beach (Act 27:39) is identified with St. Pauls Bay in the NE. of Malta. For a description, see Smith. The anchors, accordingly, were slipped and left in the sea (Act 27:40); the two great oars, one on each side of the stern, by which the ship was steered and which were tied up while she was at anchor, were released from their fastenings; the foresail, the smaller sail, was hoisted to give her steering way, and they made for the beach. The place where two seas met (Act 27:41) is probably at the inner side of the island Salmonetta, which lies at the mouth of St. Pauls Bay. There is a stiff, muddy bottom, good for anchoring, or for holding fast a ship that runs aground on it. If the ship drew 18 feet, there would be a good deal of rough water between her and the land.
[Act 27:38. In spite of the opening words, the wheat must be the cargo of grain which they were taking to Rome, not the provisions for crew and passengers; to have thrown these overboard would have been improvident and of little use. Naber (Mnemosyne, 1881, pp. 293f.) conjectures histon for siton, throwing out the mast. This involves merely the transposition of two letters. He thinks the mast is not the main-mast, but a smaller mast in the bows to which the foresail could be attached. The main-mast, ho supposes, may have been cut away several days previously. His discussion is reproduced in Baljons edition of the NT, pp. 421f. It rests on the (probably incorrect) view that the wheat means the supplies for the voyage; and the emendation cannot be pronounced more than tempting and ingenious.A. S. P.]
Verse 27
Adria; the Adriatic Sea.–Deemed that they drew near, &c.; by certain signs, familiar to seamen, such as the appearing of birds, or of floating plants, or a change in the color of the water.
27:27 {7} But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in {e} Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed {f} that they drew near to some country;
(7) We attain and come to the promised and sure salvation through the midst of tempests and death itself.
(e) For Ptolemy writes that the Adriatic Sea beats upon the east shore of Cecilia.
(f) Or, some country drew near to them.
The shipwreck 27:27-44
The ancient name of the central part of the Mediterranean Sea was the Adriatic or Hadriatic Sea. People referred to what we now call the Adriatic Sea as the Gulf of Adria or Hadria or as the Ionian Sea. [Note: Bruce, Commentary on . . ., p. 515; Longenecker, p. 561.] The winds and currents had carried Paul’s ship in a northwesterly direction from the south-central Mediterranean. The sailors may have smelled the land, which sailors can do, or they may have heard the waves breaking on shore.
"Took soundings" is literally "hearing the land" in Greek. To determine the depth of the water the sailors tied a weight to a line and threw it overboard. The depth to which it sank indicated the depth of the water. A fathom is 6 feet, so these depths were 120 and 90 feet.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)