Chapter 27
[Acts 27:7] -- And after we had sailed slowly for many days, and with difficulty had come against Chios. It is better read as against Cnidus, which is an island opposite Asia.
[Acts 27:11] -- But the centurion trusted the helmsman and the shipmaster. Shipmasters in Greek, in Latin are called navicularius.
[Acts 27:14] -- A Typhonic wind sent itself against them. Another Latin translation says: A tempestuous wind. For Typhus in Greek is called inflation in Latin.
[Acts 27:15] -- And when the ship was caught, and could not face the wind, etc. Another Translation more clearly states: And when the ship was caught, they could not face the wind, and yielded the ship to the wind, and began to gather the sails. Then we ran under an island which is called Clauda, which they could not reach, but lifeboats were sent to help the ship, girding it. They also lowered anchors, fearing they might run aground in the Syrtes. This shows that ropes from the middle of the side of the ship were lowered on both sides around its front parts, attached to anchors that were towed. Similarly, in our, that is, the British sea, they are accustomed to place millstones under the ship's stern to slow it down. They did this to retard the ship's progress, so that it might not rush into the Syrtes, terrifying even to hear about, which draw everything to them. Hence Sallustius says they were named from the dragging.
[Acts 27:16-17] -- We could scarcely obtain the lifeboat. After it was taken, they used auxiliary ropes. The lifeboat or Catascopos is a light boat, made of wicker and covered with rawhide. It is called in Greek from the act of viewing, because sailors or pirates on such a vessel used to observe lands and shores. Thus, when they had launched this lifeboat into the sea to help the larger ship, they could scarcely hold onto it, lest it slip, due to the seething wave.
[Acts 27:17] -- They were being carried under control with a newly lowered sail. Another translation places it thus: "Fearing that they might fall into the Syrtic, they loosened the ropes and thus were being carried."
[Acts 27:23] -- For an angel of God stood by me this night. He was not boasting of himself by saying this but was provoking them to faith. For the sea was allowed to be stormy so that by what was heard and by what was not heard, the spiritual grace in Paul might be revealed.
[Acts 27:31] -- "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved," etc. Because in the danger of shipwreck, the knowledge of sailors who were experienced in the sea was more beneficial than the weapons of soldiers, they were therefore more likely to control the boat than to let the sailors be cast away.
[Acts 27:33] -- And as the day was about to dawn, Paul urged everyone to take some food. In this passage, the most beautiful sense of allegory is laid open, as Paul urged those he promised would be saved from the wreck to take food. And because they were being guided by four anchors amid the force of the waves in the middle of the night, at daybreak, they made for the shore; for no one escapes the tempests of this age unless he is fed with the bread of life. And he who in the night of present tribulations leans with all his might on wisdom, fortitude, temperance, and justice, soon achieves, with the Lord's assistance shining forth, the haven of safety he sought, so long as he seeks only the flame of love to warm his heart.
[Acts 27:40] -- And hoisting the foresail, according to the direction of the breeze, they made for the shore. The foresail is a small sail contrived more for steering the ship than for speed.
[Acts 27:41] -- And when we had fallen into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground. The place is called "bithalassum," bicursal, because the Greeks call the sea "thalassa." It signifies a stretch of land projecting into the sea and surrounded on both sides by the same sea dividing itself.
[Acts 27:41] -- And the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was broken by the violence of the waves, etc. Thus this ship perished, not from a light run over the waves, but by being violently thrust into the bed of the sea itself, partly held by the ground, partly broken by the raging waves. Such indeed is the fate of a soul given to this world, which, neglecting to trample on the desires of the world, fixes the prow of its intention deeply into the earth, dissolving the entire structure of subsequent works by the waves of cares. But those who escape by fragments of this boat seek the land, as others act more cautiously by the examples of those perishing.