The result justified the apostle’s advice notwithstanding a fair start. But seamen ought to have remembered how apt a mild southerly breeze, in those seas especially, is to shift to a violent northerly wind. So it was now.
“But not long after there beat down it a tempestuous wind that is called Euraquilo; and when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave up and were driven. And running under the lee of a certain small island called Clauda, we were able with difficulty to secure the boat: and when they hoisted it, they used helps, frapping the ship and fearing less they should be cast upon the Syrtis, they lowered the gear and so were driven. But as we were exceedingly pressed by the storm, the next day they began a clearance overboard; and the third [day] they cast out with their own hands the gear {or furniture] of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm lay on, at last every hope that wished us saved was taken away. And when they had been long without food, then Paul stood forth in their midst and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened to me, and not have put to sea from Crete and have gained this injury and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good courage, for there shall be no loss of life among you, only of the ship. For an angel of the God Whose I am and whom I serve stood by me this night saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar; and, behold, God hath granted thee all that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good courage; for I believe God that it shall be as it hath been spoken to me. But we must be cast upon a certain island” (Acts 27:14-2614But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. 15And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. 16And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat: 17Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven. 18And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; 19And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. 20And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. 21But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. 22And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. 23For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, 24Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. 25Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. 26Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island. (Acts 27:14‑26)).
The hurricane that caught the ship beat down from Crete, which appears to be the true force of κατ αὐτῆς not “arose against it,” that is, the ship as in the A.V. This is confirmed by Luke 8:2323But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. (Luke 8:23), though ἒβαλε κατὰ is a far more forcible expression than κατέβη...eis as indeed the case here demanded. Compare also, as Mr. Smith suggested, κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ in Luke 8:3333Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. (Luke 8:33). Other ways of taking the words are unnatural in the extreme. Tyndale, after Luther probably, refers “it” to “their purpose” in verse 13. The version of Geneva (1557) should be noticed: “But anone after, there arose agaynst Candie, a stormye wynd out of the north-east.” Now this was not the fact. The wind blew down from Crete, not against Crete, which it could not do. Besides the accusative not the genetive would have been employed in that case. The A. V. with most understood the ship, which however is in the context always πλοῖον, and so ungrammatical. Only in verse 41 is ναῦς employed. The beating of the tornado down the highlands of Crete seems a far more graphic account than its striking against the ship, which was a matter of course in that sea when exposed to a rushing S. N. E. wind. And here it may be remarked that Euroclydon is no known appellation, nor is there any satisfactory source of the word. The more ancient εὐρακύλων is to be preferred, testified by the best MSS. and Vv. J. Bryant’s objections to the compound are not well grounded. Earo-Auster is a similar hybrid. A north-easterly wind fully accounts for the course of the ship. “Bear up into” is more literally to “face,” a term often applied to the collisions of warfare and of common life. Some have attributed it to the practice of painting an “eye” on each side of the prow, so common of old and not unknown still in the Levant.
The small island to the leeward of which they drove before the wind is now called Gozzo. Chlavda they say on the spot, which is the Romaic pronunciation of Clauda; so that the identification is certain. It was under this lee that they got the boat on board, though with difficulty (vs. 16). When ἆρανυες was used absolutely as in verse 13 (cf. Thuc. 2. 15), it meant weighing anchor; here in verse 17 it has its ordinary force of lifting or taking up. The “helps” in question were means to counteract the violence of the gale, rather than the aid of the passengers as some have thought. “Frapping” is the technical English expressed by “under girding.” It is done by passing a large cable four or five times round the ship’s hull. It was common of old, but has been practiced in recent times and on British ships, mercantile and naval. The precariousness of mere scholarship in explaining such a thing may be seen in the learned A. Bockh’s notion that the cable was applied horizontally. Indeed on his authority Dr. L. Schmitz so gave it in the art. Ships in Dr. W. Smith’s Diet. of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
What is rendered in the A. V. “the quicksands” ought really to be “the Syrtis.” Two Syrtes are spoken of. This was the greater or eastern, now the Gulf of Sidra, which Admiral Smyth was the first to survey adequately, as shown in his “Memoirs on the Mediterranean “: an object of great and natural dread to ancient seamen. In this same verse occurs one of the most serious of the many mistakes in the older versions, even Meyer and other moderns perpetuating them. Had they “struck sail,” the ship must inevitably have been driven directly into the Syrtis. “It is not easy (says Mr. Smith) to imagine a more erroneous translation than that of our A. V. ‘Fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, they strake sail, and so were driven.’ It is in fact equivalent to saying that, fearing a certain danger, they deprived themselves of the only possible means of avoiding it.” Some sail, as the authorities lay down and as common sense feels, is absolutely requisite to keep the ship steady, and hinder her from pitching about and rolling so deeply as to strain and work herself to pieces. Hence the measures necessary were that storm-sails should be set and the ship go on the starboard tack. “Lowering the gear” is the right translation. Kypke, who was a sensible man and sound scholar, is surprisingly loose in his annotations here. He will have it to be “letting down the anchor”! as βλ. κατὰ in verse 12, and so forth, he illustrates βλ πρός. It is singular that Kuhnol, De Wette, and Meyer followed in this wake, so inconsistent with the context.
In verse 18 we see them reduced to the very frequently adopted resource of getting rid of cargo, ὲκβ. ποτ. being the proper terms employed, as we may see in the Onom. of Julius Pollux. In verse 19 they go farther, and “with their own hands” the seamen threw away — what they would not have done save in imminent danger — the ship’s furniture, spare gear, and so forth. The inability to see sun or stars added to their danger, and the violence of the weather so prolonged.
But now leaving the details of the voyage, interesting though they are in the decisive proof they afford at every turn of the absolute reliableness of the divine word, and its incomparable superiority to all the versions and the commentaries of the learned and pious, let us turn to the devoted servant of the Lord, who stands forth in the hour of need and danger and darkness. If he gently recalls their former slight of his counsel, it is neither to pain them nor to exalt himself. Dwelling in love, he dwelt in God and God in him, as every Christian should; and thus he is enabled to use wisely what grace gave. He confesses openly the secret of favor from on high, a favor that extended to them; for the true God despises not any, while He loves perfectly those Whom He adopts as sons to Himself by Jesus our Lord. Yet He does not overlook His offspring, as the same apostle once preached to the Athenians, idolatrous though they were. It is of no small moment that we too should remember this; for evangelical men are apt to think only of the relations of grace. These are of all importance, and only too feebly held by the saints in general. We can scarcely exaggerate what sovereign grace has given us in Christ. But we do not well to slight what scripture reveals of the place man has, as man, and sinner though he be, in the divine mind and compassion. It is the more to be remembered in these days when infidel dreams of development or evolution entice and defile real believers. Truth ignored or neglected by the faithful is the constant resource of Satan for those who know not God and His Son.
Man has a relationship to God which be alone of earthly beings possesses. Other creatures here below began to live when they were organized. Not so man, till Jehovah Elohim breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, the ground of his immortal soul and of his immediate responsibility to God. Therefore, when for him death came in through sin, he alone is to rise again and to give account to God.
Undoubtedly another than Adam was in the counsels of God, the Second Man and Last Adam, infinitely higher than man, even the Son of God no less than the Father, in due time to become the new Head of divine blessing to God’s glory, far, far more than retrieving in obedience unto death what the old head had lost through disobedience; so that mercy might rejoice over judgment, and grace to the sinner be a display of God’s righteousness in virtue of the blood of Jesus.
There are three considerations of no little moment to hold intact and without con fusion. First, the moral nature of God abides in its invisible purity and honor. He loves good and hates evil. His will alone is entitled to guide and govern. The creature is responsible to obey Him. Secondly, the race being alien and sinful (for Adam innocent had no child), grace in Christ alone produces what suits God’s nature according to His word and by His Spirit; as grace alone provided an adequate and everlasting redemption in Christ’s blood and gave that life in Him which is ever holy, dependent, obedient, as He — Himself was in all perfection. But, thirdly, God does not for all this give up His place as “a faithful Creator.” He is the Savior (that is, Preserver) of all men, especially of those that believe. Not a sparrow falls on the ground without our Father, yea, the very hairs of our head are all numbered. Surely there is no reason to fear those that kill the body but are unable to kill the soul. He only is to be feared who is able to kill both body and soul in hell. Not only are others not to be feared, but as the children and servants of God, we are in a position and ought to have the heart to make supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings for all men; for kings and all that are in high places, no less than for the wretched, and suffering, and degraded, whom their fellows avoid and despise. Grace not only elevates above all the present glory of the world by uniting us to Christ at God’s right hand, but sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God through the Holy Spirit given to us.
All these elements we may see here full and active and in harmony. Christ before the heart delivers from mere and barren theory as well as one sidedness. Not only is there the union of humbleness and dignity, but faith and love with the unflinching confession of Him whose he was and whom he served. There is no seeking to please or win men as his aim. He abides the Lord’s bondman. He testifies a direct revelation sent at that very time. He declares the witness it bore to God’s compassion toward them all, united to His special favor to His servant; and all this in the midst of this busy, blind, selfish, ungodly world.
Two things are to be noticed in that divine message to the apostle, while a prisoner in the hands of the Gentiles through the malice of the Jews. First, he can speak of all his fellow-voyagers given him by God, not of course for eternal life, but for present security. Secondly, he predicts that they must be on a certain island, without pretending to know more. God had not disclosed its name; and he faithfully follows. Revelation was given to exalt not man but God.