And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners. — The vigour of Roman law, which inflicted capital punishment on those who were in charge of prisoners and suffered them to escape (see Notes on Acts 12:19; Acts 16:27), must be remembered, as explaining the apparently wanton cruelty of the proposal. In putting the prisoners to death the soldiers saw the only chance of escaping death themselves.
Related Commentaries of Acts 27:42
Acts 27:42
42 And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.