seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 27:27 On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. 28 They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. 29 Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. 30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.
33 Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. 34 Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” 35 After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. 36 They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board. 38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40 Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. 41 But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.
42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. 43 But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44 The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.
I got the image of an old comic strip. It was black and white.... a guy stuck on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. He had a palm tree and that was it. He was always saying ironic things or catching ironic things from the ocean. I mean who needs a prom dress on a deserted island in the middle of the sea, type of ironic thing. I've been thinking of that stupid comic strip for two days knowing Paul was going to run aground. I bet there were a million uncharted islands.Bet you thought I was going to tear into verse 35 right away! Ah ha ha.... Paul finally prayed. He gave thanks to the Lord. Finally!!!!! Or did he?
Here's the commentary.
They did not recognize the land: They did not know it at first, but they came to an island called Malta. The place where the ship came aground is now called St. Paul’s Bay.
i. “Only the rarest conjunction of favorable circumstances could have brought about such a fortunate ending to their apparently hopeless situation…all these circumstances are united in St. Paul’s Bay.” (Ramsay, cited by Bruce)
ii. “If they missed Malta, there would have been nothing for it but to hold on for 200 miles until they struck the Tunisian coast, and no one could have expected the ship to survive that long.” (Bruce)
"Breaking bread" is a familiar way to say "eating dinner". In this case, Paul broke a loaf from the food supplies before they got thrown into the sea. Paul pulled out a loaf of bread and broke it up and ate it. Getting a few carbs in the body is always a good thing to do before swimming to shore from a busted-up boat. After 14 days battling a Northeaster [hurricane] the bread had to be stone hard. After 14 days battling a Northeaster [hurricane] they had to be so hungry it was easy to utter "Oh thank God!".I'm not sure Paul has prayed yet. If I were in a sinking ship and hadn't eaten for days.... I might relent and say something snazzy to God upon finding a loaf of bread to share.
Wait.... that's not so.... I would have been in prayer for the whole fourteen days... and the days before that too. See, I've been praying for years. I don't see Paul being a man of prayer. I think he is a man of order. The knock down Jesus gave him on the road to Damascus didn't change him into an orphaned child ready to join God's loving family. In my opinion Paul's like an orphan who still wants his parents to come claim him. I really think Paul would have been happy if things would go back to the way before he held the coats during the murder of Stephen. I really think Paul would have been happy if things would go back to the way they were before he heard the name Jesus.
Remember, Paul knew about God before the murder. He was a big deal at the Temple. Paul thought he was defending God's honor when he held those coats. Paul thought he was defending God. Paul thought of God as vengeful. Paul wasn't much for praying. I think "gave thanks" went more like "Oh thank God!" rather than a wordy prayer. And so, he got tagged with a prayer when all he was doing was breaking a chunk of bread before running ashore.
"Oh thank God!"
