Acts 27 - Introduction
_PAUL SHIPPING TOWARD ROME, FORETELLETH THE DANGER OF THE VOYAGE, BUT IS NOT BELIEVED: THEY ARE TOSSED TO AND FRO WITH A TEMPEST, AND SUFFER SHIPWRECK; YET ALL COME SAFE TO LAND._ _Anno Domini 63._... [ Continue Reading ]
_PAUL SHIPPING TOWARD ROME, FORETELLETH THE DANGER OF THE VOYAGE, BUT IS NOT BELIEVED: THEY ARE TOSSED TO AND FRO WITH A TEMPEST, AND SUFFER SHIPWRECK; YET ALL COME SAFE TO LAND._ _Anno Domini 63._... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WE SHOULD FAIL— Prisoners of importance used frequently to be sent, as from other provinces, so from Judea, to Rome. _Julius_ was very probably a freed-man of the Julian or Caesarean family, for freed-men bore commonly the names of their masters who gave them their freedom. He was centurion of... [ Continue Reading ]
ADRAMYTTIUM,— Was a city of Mysia, not far from Pergamos. Along with the apostle there went St. Luke, the writer of this book, and _Aristarchus_ the Macedonian from the city of Thessalonica. Aristarchus had been with St. Paul in Ephesus at the time of the tumult there, ch. Acts 19:29 where he had be... [ Continue Reading ]
TO REFRESH HIMSELF.— _To enjoy the benefit of their care._... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN WE HAD SAILED, &C.— _When we had traversed the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we arrived at Myra,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
A SHIP OF ALEXANDRIA SAILING, &C.— Or, _Bound for Italy, and put us on board._ There was a great trade carried on between Alexandria and the coasts of Italy, consisting chieflyof the produce of Egypt, and of Persian and Indian goods. The usual ports for this traffic were in Italy; and the Alexandria... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN WE HAD SAILED SLOWLY— The Syriac assigns a reason for this, telling us that it was owing to the ship's being deeply laden; but there seems to be another, and a very sufficient reason assigned in the verse itself, _the wind not suffering. Cnidus_ was a city and promontory of _Doris,_ in the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, HARDLY PASSING IT,— _And passing it with difficulty. The fair havens,_ so called to this day, was a considerable port in that part of Crete; not far from which was the city of _Lasea,_ or _Alassa._... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THE FAST WAS NOW ALREADY PAST,— That is, the yearly fast of atonement for the sins of the people of Israel, mentioned in many places of the Old Testament; in two or three of which places it is ordered to be kept on the tenth day of the seventh month, five days before the feast of tabernacles... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THE LADING AND SHIP,— Or, of _the cargo and ship._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BECAUSE THE HAVEN, &C.— _And that port not being commodious to winter in, most were of opinion to depart thence, and endeavour to reach Phenice,_ (_a haven of Crete, which lies on the south side toward the western part of that island,_) _and pass the winter there._ Heylin.... [ Continue Reading ]
LOOSING THENCE,— That is, from the fair havens. Some have thought that the word ασσον rendered _by,_ in the next clause, is a proper name; but it is used adverbially both by Homer and Herodotus.... [ Continue Reading ]
EUROCLYDON— Among many other particulars respecting the air and weather of Syria, &c. we are told that the _westerly_ winds there are generally attended _with rain._ (See Luke 12:54. 1 Kings 18:41; 1 Kings 18:46.) But the easterly winds are usually dry, notwithstanding they are sometimes exceedingly... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE SHIP WAS CAUGHT, &C.— _And as the ship was violently hurried away, and was not able to bear up against the wind,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
CLAUDA,— This island, otherwise called _Gaudos,_ or _Cauda,_ lay a little to the south of the western coast of Crete.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE QUICKSANDS,— The greater and lesser _Syrtis_ on the African shore, infamous for their destruction of mariners. Many approved writers of antiquity have described them. _Undergirding the ship,_ was binding it round with ropes and cables, in order to prevent it from bulging.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HAVE GAINED THIS HARM AND LOSS.— The words 'Υβριν και ζημιαν, rendered _harm and loss,_ are used Acts 27:10 and no doubt they have a reference here to what the apostle had before declared. The word 'Υβρις generally signifies some kind of _wrong,_ and accordingly it is almost always used with its... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ANGEL OF GOD,— _An angel of the God._ &c. There was great propriety in this, as St. Paul was speaking to _heathens._... [ Continue Reading ]
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._... [ Continue Reading ]
EXCEPT THESE ABIDE IN THE SHIP, &C.— _"Unless these_ mariners _continue in the ship,_ without whose help we know not how to manage her, _ye cannot be saved;_ for the promise made you of your lives was to be understood as given on condition of your taking the most prudential measures to secure them,... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS DAY IS THE FOURTEENTH, &C.— _This is the fourteenth day that, waiting for some favourable change, ye have continued fasting, and not taken one meal._ Heylin. Comp. Matthew 11:18. Appian speaks of an army, which for twenty days together took neither food nor sleep; by which he must mean, they ne... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE SHALL NOT AN HAIR FALL FROM THE HEAD, &C.— This expression appears to have been a proverbial and general expression of entire safety. Comp. 1 Kings 1:52.Matthew 10:30. Luke 12:7; Luke 21:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY HAD TAKEN UP THE ANCHORS,— _When they had weighed their anchors, they committed_ [the ship] _to the sea._ Some rather choose to render this, _Having cut the anchors, they left them in the sea._ The original is certainly dubious, and will admit of either sense. It is said, _they loosed the... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE CENTURION, WILLING TO SAVE PAUL, &C.— Thus God, for St. Paul's sake, not only saved all the rest of the ship's company from being lost in the sea, but kept the prisoners from being murdered according to the unjust and barbarous proposal of the soldiers; who could have thought of no worse sch... [ Continue Reading ]