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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 27:33 - 27:38
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Paul again encourages his shipmates:
v. 33. And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take me at, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
v. 34. Wherefore I pray you to take some me at, for this is for your health; for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
v. 35. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
v. 36. Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.
v. 37. And we were in all in the ship two hundred three score and sixteen souls.
v. 38. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.
That the events of the last two weeks, the terrible buffeting by wind and waves, the constant danger of death, the absence of sun and stars, had had a demoralizing effect upon all men on board, is easily understood. In spite of Paul's cheering and reassuring words when the storm was at its height, the strain had not permitted either crew or passengers to eat. The man with the greatest calmness and self-possession on the entire vessel was the apostle; he was now easily the leading spirit in the whole ship's company. Since about midnight the ship had been straining at her anchors, in constant danger that some unusually heavy sea might cause the cables to part and throw them all on the rocky reefs. And now, finally, came the late dawn of a lowering November day. But just as day was about to break. Paul earnestly urged all men on board to take some food, reminding them that it was now the fourteenth day since they had been on the watch, on the lookout for help and deliverance, during all of which time they had been without food and had eaten nothing, had taken no regular meal. Now and then one of them might have snatched a hasty bite, but not enough to keep up sufficient strength for any emergency. "Paul suggests to the whole company to take food, in order to strengthen themselves for the escape from the ship. This was a wise and necessary act. It was forced on Paul by the situation; yet he was the only one that preserved sufficient coolness and courage to think of preparing for the immediate future. " Paul thus begged them to take some food and to make a good square meal of it, since this was necessary for their safety and for the work which they would have to perform to obtain deliverance from their present peril. And he again assures them that not a hair of their heads would perish; they would neither lose their lives nor suffer any serious hurt in their bodies. After these words Paul himself set a good example: he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and, breaking the bread, began to eat. Note that Paul, even in the time of greatest peril, did not neglect to say grace and thank God, who had provided the food; nor did the presence of heathen hinder him from following his usual custom in this respect. The courage of Paul was infectious, for now the entire company was of good cheer; all men on board felt the need of showing more trust and manliness, and so they also themselves took some meat, partook of food, a large number, as Luke notes, a total of two hundred and seventy-six souls: they all were inspired by his confidence. When they had then eaten to their satisfaction, every one making a full meal of it, this restored them to such calmness and strength that they afterwards lightened the ship by throwing the grain, which seems to have made up a large part of her cargo, into the sea. The purpose was to have the vessel ride as high as possible in the water, thus diminishing her draught sufficiently to lift her over banks and shoals and to bring her as near to the land as possible. Note: It is always to the advantage and profit of the children of this world that Christians live in their midst. More than once, in days of great danger and distress, the advice and the prayers of the Christians have brought help.