Luke had not included himself since Acts 21:18, but now he joined Paul and Aristarchus (Acts 19:29; 20:2, 4) for the voyage to Rome. It is possible that Luke was allowed to go as Paul’s physician and Aristarchus as Paul’s personal attendant. How Paul must have thanked God for his faithful friends who gave up their liberty, and even risked their lives, that he might have the help he needed. There is no evidence that either of these men had been arrested, yet Paul referred to Aristarchus as a “fellow prisoner” (Col. 4:10). This could refer to a voluntary imprisonment on his part in order to assist Paul.
Paul was not the only prisoner that Julius and his men were taking to Rome, for there were “certain other prisoners” with them. The Greek word means “others of a different kind” and may suggest that, unlike Paul, these men were going to Rome to die and not to stand trial. What mercy that they met Paul who could tell them how to go to heaven when they died!
The centurion found a coastal ship leaving Caesarea, so they embarked and covered the eighty miles from Caesarea to Sidon in one day. In Sidon, Paul was permitted to visit his friends and put together the things needed for the long trip. Luke records the kindness of a Roman officer to the apostle Paul (Acts 24:23), as well as the encouragement of the anonymous believers in Sidon. Their names are in God’s book and they shall be rewarded one day (Phil. 4:3).
From Sidon to Myra, the voyage became difficult because of the westerly winds. At Myra, Julius, a Roman officer, found a ship going to Italy, so he abandoned the slower coastal ship and put Paul and the others on board this large grain ship from Egypt that carried 276 passengers (Acts 27:37–38). Rome depended on Egypt for much of its grain supply, and the Roman government gave special consideration to those who ran these ships.
The strong winds again hindered their progress so that “many days” were required to cover the 130 miles from Myra to Cnidus. The pilot then steered southsouthwest to Crete, passing Salmone and finally struggling into Fair Havens. It had been a most difficult voyage, a portent of things to come.
The centurion now had to decide whether to winter at Fair Havens or set sail and try to reach the port of Phoenix (Phoenicia, Acts 27:12) on the southern coast of Crete, about forty miles away. His approach to making this decision is a classic illustration of how not to determine the will of God.
Paul admonished them to stay in Fair Havens. They had already encountered adverse winds, and it was now the start of the stormy season. “The fast” refers to the day of Atonement, which fell in September/October, and every sailor knew that sailing was difficult from mid-September to mid-November, and impossible from mid-November to February.
Acts 27: sounds so much like a prophecy that we are prone to believe God gave Paul a premonition of danger. Paul had already experienced three shipwrecks (2 Cor. 11:25), so he was certainly speaking from experience. (The Greek word translated “perceive” in Acts 27: means “to perceive from past experience.”) However, the men in charge gave little value to Paul’s warning, an attitude they lived to regret.
What were the factors that governed Julius’s decision? To begin with, Fair Havens was not a comfortable place to settle down because it was too open to the winter storms. Phoenix had a more sheltered harbor. Julius also listened to the “expert advice” of the pilot and captain (“master and owner”) of the ship. They advised that the ship head for Phoenix as fast as possible. Surely they could cover forty miles safely, and already they had lost too much time (Acts 27:9). When Julius added up the votes, it was three to one that the ship set sail. After all, the majority cannot be wrong, especially when it includes the experts!
But the clinching argument came with an encouraging change in the weather, for the south wind began to blow gently, and that was just what they needed. As the ship left the harbor, perhaps Julius, the pilot, and the captain smiled tolerantly at Paul and his two friends as if to say, “See, you were wrong!”
However, it was not long before Paul was proved right, for the “soft wind” became a stormy wind. The word translated “tempestuous” gives us the English word typhoon. Sailors called this special wind Euroclydon, a hybrid Greek and Latin word that means “a northeasterner.” The crew had to let the ship drift because it was impossible to steer it, and the wind drove it twenty-three miles to the south, to the island of Cauda. Here the sailors pulled in the small boat that was towed behind larger ships, lest they lose it or it be driven against the ship and cause damage.
As the storm grew worse, the crew did all it could to keep the ship afloat. They wrapped ropes (or chains) around the hull so the boat would not come apart, and they took down some of the sails. The second day, they started throwing some of the wheat overboard, and the third day they jettisoned the furnishings. (Note Luke’s use of “we” in Acts 27:19.) Because of the storm, they could not see the sun or the stars, so it was impossible to determine their position. The situation seemed hopeless, and it all happened because one man would not listen to God’s messenger.
Sometimes we get ourselves into storms for the same reasons: impatience (Acts 27:9), accepting expert advice that is contrary to God’s will, following the majority, and trusting “ideal” conditions (Acts 27:13). “He that believeth shall not make haste” (Isa. 28:16). It pays to listen to God’s Word.