Bible Commentaries

Ac 27:1-44.

THE VOYAGE TO ITALY--THE SHIPWRECK AND SAFE LANDING AT MALTA.

1. we should sail, &c.--The "we" here reintroduces the historian as one of the company. Not that he had left the apostle from the time when he last included himself

(Ac 21:18),

but the apostle was parted from him by his arrest and imprisonment, until now, when they met in the ship.

delivered Paul and certain other prisoners--State prisoners going to be tried at Rome; of which several instances are on record.

Julius--who treats the apostle throughout with such marked courtesy

(Ac 27:3, 43; Ac 28:16),

that it has been thought [BENGEL] he was present when Paul made his defense before Agrippa (see

Ac 25:23),

and was impressed with his lofty bearing.

a centurion of Augustus' band--the Augustan cohort, an honorary title given to more than one legion of the Roman army, implying, perhaps, that they acted as a bodyguard to the emperor or procurator, as occasion required.

2. a ship of--belonging to.

Adramyttium--a port on the northeast coast of the Ægean Sea. Doubtless the centurion expected to find another ship, bound for Italy, at some of the ports of Asia Minor, without having to go with this ship all the way to Adramyttium; and in this he was not disappointed. See on

Ac 27:6.

meaning to sail by the coasts--"places."

of Asia--a coasting vessel, which was to touch at the ports of proconsular Asia.

one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us--rather, "Aristarchus the Macedonian," &c. The word "one" should not have been introduced here by our translators, as if this name had not occurred before; for we find him seized by the Ephesian mob as a "man of Macedonia and Paul's companion in travel"

(Ac 19:29)

and as a "Thessalonian" accompanying the apostle from Ephesus on his voyage back to Palestine

(Ac 20:4).

Here both these places are mentioned in connection with his name. After this we find him at Rome with the apostle

(Col 4:10; Phm 24).

3. next day we touched at Sidon--To reach this ancient and celebrated Mediterranean port, about seventy miles north from Cæsarea, in one day, they must have had a fair wind.

Julius courteously--(See on

Ac 27:1).

gave him liberty to go to his friends--no doubt disciples, gained, it would seem, by degrees, all along the Phœnician coast since the first preaching there (see on

Ac 11:19

and

Ac 21:4).

to refresh himself--which after his long confinement would not be unnecessary. Such small personal details are in this case extremely interesting.

4. when we had launched--"set sail."

from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary--The wind blowing from the westward, probably with a touch of the north, which was adverse, they sailed under the lee of Cyprus, keeping it on their left, and steering between it and the mainland of Phœnicia.

5. when we had sailed over the Sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia--coasts with which Paul had been long familiar, the one, perhaps, from boyhood, the other from the time of his first missionary tour.

we came to Myra, a city of Lycia--a port a little east of Patara (see on

Ac 21:1).

6. there . . . found a ship of Alexandria, sailing into Italy, and he put us therein--(See on

Ac 27:2).

As Egypt was the granary of Italy, and this vessel was laden with wheat

(Ac 27:35),

we need not wonder it was large enough to carry two hundred seventy-six souls, passengers and crew together

(Ac 27:37).

Besides, the Egyptian merchantmen, among the largest in the Mediterranean, were equal to the largest merchantmen in our day. It may seem strange that on their passage from Alexandria to Italy they should be found at a Lycian port. But even still it is not unusual to stand to the north towards Asia Minor, for the sake of the current.

7. sailed slowly many days--owing to contrary winds.

and scarce--"with difficulty."

were come over against Cnidus--a town on the promontory of the peninsula of that name, having the island of Coos (see on

Ac 21:1)

to the west of it. But for the contrary wind they might have made the distance from Myra (one hundred thirty miles) in one day. They would naturally have put in at Cnidus, whose larger harbor was admirable, but the strong westerly current induced them to run south.

under--the lee of

Crete--(See on

Tit 1:5).

over against Salmone--the cape at the eastern extremity of the island.

8. And hardly passing it--"with difficulty coasting along it," from the same cause as before, the westerly current and head winds.

came to . . . the Fair Havens--an anchorage near the center of the south coast, and a little east of Cape Matala, the southern most point of the island.

nigh whereunto was the city Lasea--identified by the REVEREND GEORGE BROWN [SMITH, Voyages and Shipwreck of St. Paul, Appendix 3, Second Edition, 1856]. (To this invaluable book commentators on this chapter, and these notes, are much indebted).