Acts 27:20-22 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared The direction of which could be the less spared before the compass was found out; and no small tempest lay on us Still the wind was boisterous, and the sea ran high; all hope that we should be saved That is, delivered from the danger we were in; was then taken away The whole ship's company expected nothing but that the ship would certainly be lost, and we should all perish with it. But after long abstinence For all this time they had had no heart to think of taking any regular refreshment, and probably several of them took little or none; Paul stood forth in the midst of them Authorized by God to give them encouragement; and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me Paul having foreseen and foretold what had befallen them, and warned them not to set sail from Crete, they ought to have believed his prediction, and taken his advice, especially as Luke and Aristarchus, if not some others on board the ship, Paul's companions, could have borne, and probably did bear, witness to the spirit of prophecy and the miraculous powers with which he was endowed: and for their not hearkening to him they were now deservedly punished. And to have gained That is, to have brought upon yourselves and upon us all, as well as upon the owner of the ship, this harm and loss Which is now before your eyes. The words, υβριν και ζημιαν, rendered harm and loss, are used Acts 27:10, and have here evidently a reference to what the apostle had there predicted. And Or nevertheless; now I exhort you Bad as the situation of affairs may appear; to be of good cheer For though you conclude you must inevitably perish, I assure you there shall be no loss of any man's life Among you, that is, provided they would do as he directed them, see Acts 27:31. In God's promises there is generally implied a tacit condition, which, from the nature of the thing, is to be understood, as in the promise made to Eli, 1 Samuel 2:30. Paul here foretels their preservation so particularly, that, when it was effected, more credit might be given to the gospel which he preached, and more glory might redound to the God he worshipped.