CRITICAL REMARKS
Acts 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.
Acts 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. Cæsar (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).
Acts 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.
Acts 27:31. On the seeming inconsistency of this verse with Acts 27:22 see on Acts 27:26. Notwithstanding Paul’s previous assurance of safety, nothing but death could result if the only persons who could man the vessel were allowed to leave it.
Acts 27:32. The soldiers to whom Paul gave the alarm prevented the base attempt of the sailors to desert the ship from being successful.
Acts 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,
Acts 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 Luke 24:30; but simply setting them example as a pious Jew or Christian, who asks a blessing on his food (De Wette, Zöckler, Alford)—an example which they all followed (Acts 27:36).
Acts 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.—Acts 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 Norman’s 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 Paul’s 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 confirmed—first 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). “Athenæus mentions a ship which had eight” (Hackett); and that Paul’s possessed more than four is expressly stated (Acts 27:30). The reason for dropping the anchors from the stern, instead of from the prow, as was customary (Anchora de prorâ jacitur, Virgil, Æn. 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. Paul’s 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 Jonah’s ship did (Jonah 1:5), and as it may well be believed Paul did (see Acts 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 Luke’s 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 ship’s 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 boat’s ropes to be cut and the boat to be dropped into the sea, he stepped with his soldiers into the salvation boat of Paul’s 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 (Acts 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 perish—not 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 (Romans 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 (Jeremiah 32:17).
2. He besought them to take food. For fourteen days and nights they had eaten nothing—at 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 Lord’s 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 it—after 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 cold—to look upon the face and hear the voice of the one unperturbed spirit among them—a 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 Paul’s “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. Man’s 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
Acts 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 life’s 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.
Acts 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.
Acts 27:31, along with Acts 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 versâ, 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 means—viz., human freedom.
2. That human freedom precludes Divine fore-ordination. This the twofold mystery of God’s 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) man’s.
Acts 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 God’s predictions (not, however, the world’s, 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 (Isaiah 40:12) and the lives of men (Daniel 5:23) in the hollow of His hand.
2. That God was faithful, and would perform that which He had promised (Acts 27:25). Such faith characteristic of God’s people (Romans 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 (Acts 27:30-31), but in the end all escaped safe to land (Acts 27:44). So in the long run will every word that God has uttered be fulfilled (Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:35).
Acts 27:35. Paul’s Prayer upon The Ship’s Deck; or, Grace before Meals.
I. A time-honoured practice.—Rendered venerable and sacred by the example of Samuel (1 Samuel 9:13) and of Jesus (Matthew 14:19; Mark 8:6-7; Luke 9:16).
II. A highly becoming practice.—Considering whence the meals come (James 1:17) and the undeservingness of the recipient (Genesis 32:10).
III. A truly religious practice.—Practically enjoined upon Christians, not alone by Christ’s example and Paul’s (1 Corinthians 10:30), but by direct Scripture precept (1 Thessalonians 5:17; 1 Timothy 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 seen—being 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 disrepute—greatly to the injury of religion.
Acts 27:10-35. Paul in the Storm.—A noble picture—
I. Of manly courage.—
1. His prudent counsel (Acts 27:10).
2. His presence of mind (Acts 27:31).
II. Of Christian peace of mind.—
1. His friendly address (Acts 27:21).
2. His confident trust in God (Acts 27:25).
III. Of apostolic unction.—
1. His prophetic exhortation (Acts 27:24).
2. His priestly love-feast (Acts 27:35).
Paul in The Storm.—Christ’s glory reflected in the apostle.
I. Christ’s prophetical office.—In Paul’s warning (Acts 27:10) and promise (Acts 27:25).
II. Christ’s priestly office.—In Paul’s pastoral care (Acts 27:21) and love-feast (Acts 27:34-35).
III. Christ’s kingly office.—In Paul’s greatness of mind (Acts 27:35) and the souls given to him and rescued for his sake (Acts 27:24; Acts 27:31).—Gerok in Lange.