Paul Sails For Rome
PAUL SAILS FOR ROME
ACTS 27:1-12
Paul was an experienced sailor, so he knew what he was talking about. But it looks as if the Lord was also guiding Paul’s insight.
Commentators praise the vividness and accuracy of this narrative which describes Paul’s sea voyage from Palestine to Italy; it is “one of the most instructive documents for the knowledge of ancient seamanship.” In this way Paul’s long-cherished ambition to get to Rome is made good, though in circumstances (27:1) which he did not relish. And by this long journey the divine promise was realized (23:11).
Paul had traveling companions all the way; one of them is named (27:2) and at least one other was in the party—Luke the narrator (27:2; “we put to sea”).
The Roman centurion Julius showed consideration to the Christian prisoner he had in custody, even to the extent of permitting him to make contact with his fellow-believers at Sidon. We should probably, however, understand 27:3 to mean: “allowed his friends to visit him” on board before they disembarked.
Having trans-shipped at Myra, the party sailed on a corn-ship bound for Italy. The next stage of the voyage was slow and difficult, owing to unfavorable winds and the need to negotiate dangerous coastal rocks.
At Fair Havens (27:8) Paul came forward with a suggestion. The inference is that the ship’s captain should have anchored in the security of Fair Havens bay during the stormy season. Instead, with Paul’s advice ignored (27:11), the decision of the ship’s personnel was to sail on, hoping at all events to get to Phoenice (or Phoenix) and to winter there (27:12).
Notes 27:1: here is evidence of the presence of this cohort in Syria in first-century ad. 27:2: Aristarchus is found later as a companion of Paul’s at Rome (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24), and we may suppose that he traveled with him all the way. 27:9: “the fast” is the Day of Atonement, to be dated about the 5th October in that year. Ancient sailors regarded the 14th September as the beginning of a two-month period when all navigation was hazardous, so it was particularly risky to venture out of harbor in mid-October. Paul was overruled by the various officials—the helmsman and owner (27:11)—whose decision influenced the centurion.