Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 27]
course on to shoals or rocks (Page who cites Xenophon, _Anab_.
VII. 5, 12). The Syrtis was the name for two quicksands between
Carthage and Cyrenaica, this clearly being the Syrtis Major most
dangerous because of the sandbanks (\surtis\, from \sur•\). The
wind would drive the ship right into this peril if something were
not done. {They lowered the gear} (\chalasantes to skeuos\).
First aorist active participle of \chala•\ (cf. Lu 5:4 for
lowering the nets). \Skeuos\ means vessel or gear. They slackened
or reduced sail, especially the mainsail, but leaving enough to
keep the ship's head as close to the wind as was practicable. {So
were driven} (\hout•s epheronto\). Imperfect passive indicative
again as in verse 15 with the addition of \hout•s\ (thus). The
ship was now fixed as near to the wind (E N E) as possible (seven
points). That would enable the ship to go actually W by N and so
avoid the quicksands. J. Smith has shown that, a day being lost
around Cauda, the ship going 36 miles in 24 hours in 13 days
would make 468 miles. The Island of Malta (Melita) is precisely
in that direction (W by N) from Cauda and is 480 miles. Page sees
a difficulty about this explanation of the steady drift of the
ship in the word \diapheromenon\ in verse 27, but that was at
the end of the drifting and the varied winds could have come then
and not before. The whole narrative as explained carefully in
Smith's _Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul_ is a masterpiece of
precise and accurate scholarship. A resume of his results appears
in my _Luke the Historian in the Light of Research_.
27:18 {As we laboured exceedingly with the storm} (\sphodr•s
cheimazomen•n h•m•n\). Genitive absolute with present passive
participle of \cheimaz•\, old verb to afflict with a tempest
(\cheima\, stormy weather), to toss upon the waves, here alone in
N.T. {They began to throw overboard} (\ekbal•n epoiounto\).
Literally, "They began to make (inchoative imperfect middle of
\poie•\) a casting out" (\ekbol•n\ from \ekball•\, to cast out,
old word, only here in N.T.). Cf. Latin _jacturam facere_. This
to lighten the ship by throwing overboard the cargo. The grain in
the ship would shift and make it list and so added to the danger.
{They cast out} (\eripsan\). Third person plural aorist active of
\ript•\, not \eripsamen\ as Textus Receptus. {With their own
hands} (\autocheires\). Old word (\autos, cheir\) but here alone
in N.T. Vivid and graphic touch by Luke who, of course, watched
every movement day by day. {The tackling} (\t•n skeu•n\). The
furniture of the ship that could be spared. It was becoming
desperate.
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