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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Acts 27:29 - 27:29
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Lest haply we should be cast ashore on rocky ground (mē pou kata tracheis topous ekpesōmen). The usual construction after a verb of fearing (mē and the aorist subjunctive ekpesōmen). Literally, “Lest somewhere (pou) we should fall out down against (kata) rocky places.” The change in the soundings made it a very real fear. Tracheis (rough) is old adjective, but in the N.T. only here and Luk 3:5 (from Isa 40:4).
Four anchors (agkuras tessaras). Old word from agkē. In N.T. only in this chapter, with rhiptō here, with ekteinō in Act 27:30, with periaireō in Act 27:40; and Heb 6:19 (figuratively of hope).
From the stern (ek prumnēs). Old word, but in N.T. only in Mar 4:38; here and 41 in contrast with prōira (prow). The usual practice was and is to anchor by the bows. “With a view to running the ship ashore anchoring from the stern would, it is said, be best” (Page). Nelson is quoted as saying that he had been reading Acts 27 the morning of the Battle of Copenhagen (April, 1801) where he anchored his ships from the stern.
Wished for the day (ēuchonto). Imperfect middle, kept on praying for “day to come” (hēmeran genesthai) before the anchors broke under the strain of the storm or began to drag. If the ship had been anchored from the prow, it would have swung round and snapped the anchors or the stern would have faced the beach.