1 When it was decided we would sail to Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius.
Paul was about to begin his "fourth" missionary journey, but Rome would provide the expenses. In Acts 23:11, it stated that “And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also at Rome” Paul was immortal, until he completed this task. Caesar Nero was one of the most brutal and evil kings in history. He was about to hear the gospel from one of his Jewish prisoners at his own expense.
Paul appealed to Caesar, so he was being sent to Rome as a prisoner. The "we" is Luke, meaning that Luke joined him for the trip to Rome. While Paul was imprisoned in nearby Caesera for two years, Luke was most likely in Jerusalem, interviewing, gaining research, and writing his two books of the New Testament. The other prisoners could have been Roman prisoners who appealed to Caesar, or prisoners who would be trained for the Roman gladiator games. Nero may have been planning on throwing these prisoners to the wild beats in Rome. Since these men were about to die a terrible death, Paul was given a divine opportunity to tell them about Christ.
2 We went on board a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to various ports along the coast of the province of Asia and put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.
Luke’s description of the sea voyage was obviously written by an eyewitness. Many skeptics have confirmed that all of Luke's geographical references are accurate in description, location and time setting. Many call it the best record of nautical practice from ancient times.
Adramyttium was a seaport city in Asia Minor. The ship would stop at several ports along the way to Rome. The seaport city of Aristarchus was mentioned in both Colossians and Philemon.
3 The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius, treating Paul kindly, allowed him to go to his friends so they could provide him with what he needed.
Sidon was a Phoenician city which provided timber for the Jewish temple during the days of David and Solomon. The Phoenicians were a world power who had controlled the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. Alexander the Great conquered both Tyre and Sidon. Rome finally destroyed Carthage, making the Mediterranean Sea a "Roman lake".
Julius allowed Paul to fellowship with friends at the Church of Sidon. Why did this Roman official allow Paul to do this? Paul may have shared the gospel with him. According to Romans, the purpose of the gospel is to turn one's enemies into one's friends.
4 From there we put out to sea and sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.
Because of unfavorable wind patterns, the captain had to change his route.
5 After we had sailed across the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we put in at Myra in Lycia.
Myra was a seaport of Cilicia.
6 There the centurion found a ship from Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.
Egypt was the bread basket of Rome. Alexandria, Egypt provided most of the wheat for the Roman Empire.
7 We sailed slowly for many days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus. Because the wind prevented us from going any farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.
Cnidus was a seaport city on the extreme southwest corner of Asia Minor. God is sovereign over the weather, so he is detouring Paul's trip to Rome for evangelistic purposes.
8 With difficulty we sailed along the coast of Crete and came to a place called Fair Havens that was near the town of Lasea.
Fair Havens was a harbor in the City of Lasea, on the south central coast of Crete. Today it is known as Limeomes Kalous. The Cretans were known for their laziness and depravity. Later, Paul wrote to Titus to appoint elders for Cretan island churches.
Caught in a Violent Storm
9 Since considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them,
The “fast” mentioned here was probably the Day of Atonement, which occurred on October 5. Since no details of the Fast were given, it means that Luke was Jewish and none were needed.
10 “Men, I can see the voyage is going to end in disaster and great loss not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”
Paul was using his own travel experience, not divine information, to perceive this situation.
11 But the centurion was more convinced by the captain and the ship’s owner than by what Paul said. Paul was expressing his personal opinion, and all of these things came true, except for the loss of life.
The centurion listened to the ship's owner and captain, who had more experience than Paul.
12 Because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there. They hoped that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
Fair Havens was not a safe place to spend the winter, so they decided to take a risk and sail to Phoenix, a harbor near Crete and Greece. Notice that the sailors were depending upon human speculation. Paul knew that he was headed to Rome, so his information was from a divine source.
13 When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought they could carry out their purpose, so they weighed anchor and sailed close along the coast of Crete.
The captain decided to take the south wind, but he sailed close to the shore for safety.
14 Not long after this, a hurricane-force wind called the northeaster blew down from the island.
The captain was caught in a hurricane. The northeaster was a strong wind out of Europe.
15 When the ship was caught in it and could not head into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along.
The Greek word for "caught" is συναρπάζω (sunharpazo), meaning to seize or drag by force. This is the same root word as the English word "rapture". The ship was seized and dragged away, just as believers will be seized and dragged away at the Rapture of the Church.
16 As we ran under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were able with difficulty to get the ship’s boat under control.
The wind was blowing them southwest to an island called Cauda, which is modern Ghaudo today.
17 After the crew had hoisted it aboard, they used supports to undergird the ship. Fearing they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor, thus letting themselves be driven along.
A dinghy is a small boat which was pulled by the larger boat. The dinghy that they were pulling was full of water, making the ship drag too slowly, so they pulled it up.
18 The next day, because we were violently battered by the storm, they began throwing the cargo overboard,
They now were getting desperate, so they threw their cargo overboard.
19 and on the third day they threw the ship’s gear overboard with their own hands.
Now, they were really desperate.
20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and a violent storm continued to batter us, we finally abandoned all hope of being saved.
The storm kept the ship in complete darkness for many days. Even Luke had lost all hope.
21 Since many of them had no desire to eat, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not put out to sea from Crete, thus avoiding this damage and loss.”
They had grain on board, but they were too busy to stop and eat. Paul took leadership and reminded the men that he knew what he was talking about, so they should at least listen to him.
22 “And now I advise you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship will be lost.”
Paul had direct information from God. Before, he had given only his human opinion, stating that men would die. Divine revelation informed him that no men would die.
23 “For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve came to me”
His divine information came from an angel of God.
24 “and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul! You must stand before Caesar, and God has graciously granted you the safety of all who are sailing with you.’
God had already promised Paul that he would witness in Rome, so Paul was immortal. The lives of all of these men will be saved in order to deliver Paul safely in front of Caesar Nero.
25 “Therefore keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be just as I have been told.”
Paul informed them to stay courageous and place their faith in God to get them through this situation.
26 “But we must run aground on some island.”
Paul was not told the name of the island, but it was Melita, 470 miles off course.
27 When the fourteenth night had come, while we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected they were approaching some land.
They had been blown across the Mediterranean for two full weeks.
28 They took soundings and found the water was twenty fathoms deep; when they had sailed a little farther they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms deep.
They went from 120 feet above sea bed to 90 feet above sea bed, meaning that their ship may hit rock bottom.
29 Because they were afraid that we would run aground on the rocky coast, they threw out four anchors from the stern and wished for day to appear.
They did not want their ship torn apart by rocks, so they threw their anchor overboard and stopped the ship. The Greek word for "wished" is εὔχομαι (euchomai), meaning that they prayed. The verb is imperfect, meaning that they continually prayed for assistance.
30 Then when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and were lowering the ship’s boat into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the bow,
The sailors were pretending that they were lowering the dinghy, but their motive was to jump on the dinghy and sail away, leaving the passengers behind. Paul was an experienced traveler, so he knew their motive.
31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”
The sailors were still needed so that they could land the ship on the shore safely. Notice that Paul the prisoner had risen to a place of commanding leadership.
32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it drift away.
The sailors now had no escape. They must steer the ship to safety.
33 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense and have gone without food; you have eaten nothing.”
Paul had taken the lead and he advised them to eat.
34 “Therefore I urge you to take some food, for this is important for your survival. For not one of you will lose a hair from his head.”
Paul had divine knowledge that every man would survive.
35 After he said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat.
Breaking the bread was the traditional Jewish ritual of giving thanks.
36 So all of them were encouraged and took food themselves.
Everyone was hungry, so the food encouraged them.
37 (We were in all two hundred seventy-six persons on the ship.)
There were 276 people on the ship, including Luke.
38 When they had eaten enough to be satisfied, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.
They threw the wheat overboard to lessen the weight of the ship so that it would not bottom out. The men had no more food.
Paul is Shipwrecked
39 When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.
They did not recognize the land. They had no idea where they had landed. They noticed a bay with a beach, so they decided to attempt a beach landing. The small bay on the island of Malta where the ship finally grounded has been called St. Paul’s Bay since that time.
40 So they slipped the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage that bound the steering oars together. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and steered toward the beach.
If the ship was to be beached, they no longer needed the anchors. The anchors would just cause more weight to the ship, making it easier for the ship to bottom out. The sails were set to blow the ship as close to the shore as possible, so that they would not have to swim as far.
41 But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.
The ship was not able to reach shore, because it was caught between two rocks. The waves were hitting the ship so hard that it began to break up the stern.
42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that none of them would escape by swimming away.
According to Roman Law, if one prisoner escaped, then all of the soldiers would be executed. Therefore, the soldiers were planning to kill all of the prisoners.
43 But the centurion, wanting to save Paul’s life, prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,
Since the centurion made the order not to kill the prisoners, he was now responsible. If the prisoners escaped, then he alone would be executed.
44 and the rest were to follow, some on planks and some on pieces of the ship. And in this way all were brought safely to land.
Paul's prophecy was fulfilled. The ship landed safely on land. All 276 men arrived safely on the island. All of the cargo was lost. Everything happened, just exactly as Paul predicted.
