Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Acts Chapter 27

Acts 27:1. 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 a cohort belonging to the legion called Augustus's legion. Lipsius mentions the inscription of a stone which notices that legion. See Lipsius in Tacit.

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Acts 27:2. 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. Act 19:29 where he had been seized by the mob, and exposed to great hazard. He afterwards attended him to Macedonia, and returned with him to Asia, ch. Acts 20:4. Now accompanying him to Rome, he was there a fellow-prisoner with him, Col 4:10 and is mentioned in St. Paul's epistle to Philemon, Phm 1:24 who was probably their common friend, as a valuable assistant in his ministerial work. It was, no doubt, a great comfort to the apostle to have the company of two such friends as St. Luke and Aristarchus; as it was also a great instance of their affection to him, that they would follow him when he was going as a prisoner to Rome, not being ashamed of his bonds; and especially that they would attend him at a time when they knew sailing to be dangerous. See Acts 27:9.

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Acts 27:3. To refresh himself.— To enjoy the benefit of their care.

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Acts 27:5. When we had sailed, &c.— When we had traversed the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we arrived at Myra, &c.

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Acts 27:6. 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 Alexandrians were indulged with a particular privilege to engage their commerce.

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Acts 27:7. 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 peninsula of Caria. Crete is an island of the Mediterranean sea, now called Candia; and Salmone is a promontory on the eastern coast of that island.

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Acts 27:8. 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.

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Acts 27:9. 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. Now the feast of tabernacles began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, which answers to part of our September and October; this Jewish fast therefore fell about the twenty-fifth of September, and as it was now past for some time, the nights were growing long and dark, and the heavens cloudy: the Michaelmas floods were coming down upon the Mediterranean sea, and the stormy months of autumn and winter advancing. Philo in several passages speaks of this as an ill time to sail; as does also Aratus.

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Acts 27:10. Of the lading and ship,— Or, of the cargo and ship.

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Acts 27:12. 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.

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Acts 27:13. 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.

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Acts 27:14. 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. 1Ki 18:41; 1 Kings 18:46.) But the easterly winds are usually dry, notwithstanding they are sometimes exceedingly hazyand tempestuous; at which times they are called by the sea-faring people, levanters, being not confined to any single point, but blowing in all directions, from the north-east, round by the north to the south-east. The great wind, or mighty tempest, or vehement east wind, described by the prophet Jonah (i. 4 Acts 4:8.), appears to have been one of these levanters; as was also, in all probability, the Euroclydon here mentioned: for St. Luke describes it to be ανεμος τυφωνικος, a violent or tempestuous wind, bearing away all before it; and, from the circumstances which attended it, appears to have varied very little throughout the whole period of it from the true east point. For after the ship could not αντοφθαλμειν, bear, or, in the mariner's term, luff up against it, (Acts 27:15.) but they were obliged to let her drive, we cannot conceive, as there are no remarkable currents in that part of the sea, and as the rudder could be of little use, that it could take any other course than as the winds alone directed it. Accordingly, in the description of the storm, we find the vessel was first of all under the island Clauda, (Acts 27:16.) which is a little to the southward of the parallel of that part of the coast of Crete, from whence it may be supposed to have been driven; then it was tossed along the bottom of the gulph of Adria, (Acts 27:27.) and afterwards broken in pieces (Acts 27:41.) at Melita, which is a little to the northward of the parallel above mentioned; sothat the direction and course of this particular euroclydon seems to have been first at east by north, and afterwards pretty nearly east by south. Virgil elegantly describes one of these Levanters thus:

——ubi navigiis violentior incidit Eurus, Nosse, quot Ionii veniant ad litora fluctus. Georg. 2. 5. 107, 108.

——Number, when the blustering Eurus roars, The billows beating on Ionian shores. DRYDEN.

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Acts 27:15. 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.

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Acts 27:16. Clauda,— This island, otherwise called Gaudos, or Cauda, lay a little to the south of the western coast of Crete.

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Acts 27:17. 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.

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Acts 27:21. And have gained this harm and loss.— The words 'Υβριν και ζημιαν, rendered harm and loss, are used Act 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 compounds and derivatives in this sense; (comp. 2 Corinthians 12:10. Matthew 22:6. Luke 11:45; Luke 18:32.) but it extends to any violent assault, ch. Acts 14:5. 1Th 2:2 and is here used for that of waves and winds. Our word injury exactly corresponds with it, and is used in the same latitude. Thus none would scruple to say that a ship had been much injured by a storm. The word Ζημια signifies a loss, especially a fine; (see Mark 8:36.) and perhaps it may be used here to insinuate that this loss was a kind of fine paid for their own imprudence. To gain a loss seems to have been a proverbial expression.

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Acts 27:23. The angel of God,— An angel of the God. &c. There was great propriety in this, as St. Paul was speaking to heathens.

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Acts 27:27. 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.

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Acts 27:31. 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, that present circumstances will admit." God foretold the deliverance of the ship's company as certain, though suspended on this condition, because he knew it would be complied with; and directed St. Paul to urge the necessity of that compliance, as what he knew would be the successful means of securing it; though none can deny but these sailors had a natural power of going out of the ship, or the soldiers a natural power of permitting them to do it. The application of this remark to other affairs of great moment, appears both easy and important. See the Inferences.

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Acts 27:33. 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 never made full meals, nor slept whole nights together. The sameinterpretation, I think, should be given to the phrase before us; which some also suppose may intimate, that they were now at short allowance, as they were likely to have a much longer voyage than was at first intended, and had 276 souls on board.

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Acts 27:34. 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; Matthew 10:30. Luke 12:7; Luke 21:18.

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Acts 27:40. 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 rudder bands. Ships in those days had commonly two rudders, one on each side; which were fastened to the ship by bands or chains; and on loosing these bands it is supposed that the rudders sunk deeper into the sea, and by their weight rendered the ship less subject to be overset by the winds. But more probably the rudders had been fastened when they let the vessel drive; and were now loosened when they had need of them to steer her into the creek. For after they had just been throwing out their corn to lighten the ship, it is not easy to suppose they should immediately contrive a method to increase the weight of it. The word 'Αρτεμονα, seems properly to be translated main-sail. Grotius contends that it was a sail near the fore-part of the ship, answering either to what we call the foremast, or to the bowsprit; which last seems to agree best with the account which Stephens hascollected from the most considerable authorities. See his Latin Thesaurus on the word artemon. The last clause should be rendered, Hoisted up the mainsail, and were carried by the wind to the shore.

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