Acts 27:41

And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. AND FALLING INTO A PLACE WHERE TWO SEAS MET, [ topon (G5117) dithalasson (G1337)] - literally, 'a place AND FALLING INTO A PLACE WHERE TWO SEAS MET, [ topon (G5117) dithalasson (G1337)] - literally, 'a place of two seas;' a place 'which had sea on both sides.' The word is used both for an isthmus and a strait. Mr. Smith thinks that here it refers to the channel (not more than a hundred yards broad) which separates the small island of Salmone from Malta, forming a communic

− 41._They thrust in the ship. _And then it might seem that both God had mocked Paul, and that he, with trifling, had brought his partners in a vain hope; − (651) but God did forthwith put away that error by giving them prosperous success. It was meet that when the ship was broken, they should be so discouraged, and that their souls should so melt, that despair might increase the glory of the miracle. For God useth to moderate and govern his works so, that he maketh some show of difficulty by reason of many lets [hindrances] which fall out. By this means he sharpeneth our senses unto greater attentiveness, that we may at length learn that, though all the world strive against him, yet will he have the victory. This is the reason why he had lieffer [rather] draw Paul and his companions to the shore after that the ship was lost, − (652) than bring the ship whole to land.

39-44 The ship that had weathered the storm in the open sea, where it had room, is dashed to pieces when it sticks fast. Thus, if the heart fixes in the world in affection, and cleaving to it, it is lost. Satan's temptations beat against it, and it is gone; but as long as it keeps above the world, though tossed with cares and tumults, there is hope for it. They had the shore in view, yet suffered shipwreck in the harbour; thus we are taught never to be secure. Though there is great difficulty in the way of the promised salvation, it shall, without fail, be brought to pass. It will come to pass that whatever the trials and dangers may be, in due time all believers will get safely to heaven. Lord Jesus, thou hast assured us that none of thine shall perish. Thou wilt bring them all safe to the heavenly shore. And what a pleasing landing will that be! Thou wilt present them to thy Father, an...

Verse 41. _WHERE TWO SEAS MEET_] The tide running down from each side of the tongue of land, mentioned Acts 27:39, and meeting at the point. _RAN THE SHIP AGROUND_] In striving to cross at this point of land, they had not taken a sufficiency of _sea-room_, and therefore ran _aground_. _THE FOREPART STUCK FAST_] Got into the sands; and perhaps the shore here was very _bold_ or steep, so that the stem of the vessel might be immersed in the quicksands, which would soon close round it, while the stern, violently agitated with the surge, would soon be broken to pieces. It is extremely difficult to find the true meaning of several of the nautical terms used in this chapter. I have given that which appeared to me to be the most likely; but cannot absolutely say that I have everywhere hit the true meaning....

AND FALLING - Being carried by the wind and waves. INTO A PLACE WHERE TWO SEAS MET - Greek: into a place of a double sea - διθάλασσον dithalasson. That is, a place which was washed on both sides by the sea. It refers properly to an isthmus, tongue of land, or a sand-bar stretching out from the mainland, and which was washed on both sides by the waves. It is evident that this was not properly an isthmus that was above the waves, but was probably a long sand-bank that stretched far out into the sea, and which they did not perceive. In endeavoring to make the harbor, they ran into this bar (sand-bank). THEY RAN THE SHIP AGROUND - Not designedly, but in endeavoring to reach the harbor, Acts 27:39.The hinder part was broken -

EXPOSITION ACTS 27:1 For, for _into, _A.V.;_ to a centurion named Julius of the Augustan band _for unto _one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus_'_ band, _A.V. THAT WE SHOULD SAIL. Observe the "we," denoting that Luke was of the party. Connecting it with the "we" of Acts 21:17, the inference is obvious that Luke was with Paul through the whole of these two eventful years, and that it is to this presence that we owe the detailed circumstantial narrative of Acts 21-28., as well as, perhaps, the composition of St. Luke's Gospel, for which the two years at Caesarea afforded an admirable opportunity. THE AUGUSTAN BAND; or, _cohort _(σπεῖρα); as...

AND FALLING INTO A PLACE WHERE TWO SEAS MET,.... An "isthmus", on each side of which the sea ran; and which the inhabitants of Malta, as Beza says, show to this day, and call it, "la Cala de San Paulo", or the Descent of Saint Paul. The meeting of these two seas might occasion a great rippling in the sea like to a large eddy, or counter tide; and here might be a sand on which THEY RAN THE SHIP AGROUND; for this place where the two seas met, as the same annotator observes, could not be the shore itself; for otherwise, to what purpose should they cast themselves into the sea, as they afterwards did, if the head of the ship struck upon the shore, and stuck fast there? but must rather mean a shelf of sand, opposite, or near the entrance into the bay, and where the shipwreck was. AND THE FORE PART STUCK FAST, AND REMAINED UNMOVABLE; so that there was no getting her off: but the hinder part...

Paul had advised the captain not to set sail for a while, Acts 27:11. _Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things, which were spoken by Paul. And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete._ He is very unwise who trusts the winds, and equally so is he who sets his confidence upon any earthly thing, for fickle as the wind that blows are all things beneath the moon, Acts 27:14. But not long after ther

ACTS 27:41 u`po. th/j bi,aj @tw/n kuma,twn# {C} While it may be true, as Ropes points out, that “the curtness of u`po. th/j bi,aj led to various expansions,” it is also true that the penchant of Alexandrian scribes for brevity of expression may account for the deletion of tw/n kuma,twn. Faced with these conflicting possibilities, the Committee decided to retain the words tw/n kuma,twn but to enclose them within square brackets in order to indicate doubt that they belong in the text. The singular readings of 629 and of Y are the result of scribal idiosyncrasies....

CHAPTER 27 _ 1. From Caesarea to Fair Havens (Acts 27:1)._ 2. The Unheeded Warning. The Storm. Paul's Vision and Assurance of Safety (Acts 27:9). 3. The Shipwreck (Acts 27:27). Much has been written on this Chapter. The voyage of the Apostle Paul to Rome and the shipwreck is often explained as being typical of the stormy voyage of the professing church, her adversities and shipwreck. However, such an application needs caution. it is easy to make fanciful and far-fetched allegorical applications. Besides church history other lessons have been drawn from this narrative. A recent commentator claims that the keynote to the interpretation is given in...