Which being taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship: and fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, they let down the sail yard and so were driven.
ην αραντες βοηθειαις εχρωντο υποζωννυντες το πλοιον φοβουμενοι τε μη εις την συρτην εκπεσωσιν χαλασαντες το σκευος ουτως εφεροντο
5 Church Fathers comment on this verse
They were caught in a storm and threw out the ship’s cargo. The writer points to this by adding: “Fearing lest they should run aground, they lowered the sail.” All this is permitted so that afterward they would not remain in unbelief. A violent storm arises, great darkness comes, and for deliverance from destruction they throw out both the wheat and everything else. This is precisely what the words mean: “Fearing lest they should run aground, they lowered the sail.”
When the ship stopped in the bay of Fair Havens, the season was already late. The fast of the Day of Atonement had already passed, on the tenth day of the month Tishri, in the second half of September. The winter months, dangerous for navigation, had arrived. Paul had gained considerable experience in sea journeys during his apostolic travels. He advised them to spend the winter in Fair Havens. But this bay was unsuitable for wintering. Therefore the centurion, trusting the helmsman and the ship's master more, agreed to the advice of others. They wished, if possible, to reach the harbor of Phoenix for the winter. It lay on the same shore of Crete, but capes jutting into the sea protected it better from the southwest and northwest winds.
Therefore, when a south wind blew, harmless for sailing, they set out and sailed close by Crete. But soon afterward a hurricane arose and began to drive the ship over the waves of the sea. All the usual means in such cases were used to keep the ship afloat and wait out the storm, but without success. For many days neither sun nor stars were visible because of the violent storm. At last all hope of salvation disappeared.
A small relief was afforded by the little island of Cauda, which appeared on their course. Yet there a new danger arose, that of running aground, after which complete destruction would inevitably have followed. Therefore every effort was used somehow to avert this danger. They succeeded in doing so, and the ship was again seized by the hurricane. With wild force it rushed over the boundless sea, now in a direction entirely different from Phoenix. The whistle and roar of the hurricane violently tore at the rigging and masts. Huge, savage billows tossed the heavy wheat ship like a chip and drenched the deck with cold, foaming spray. The rending creak of the breaking beams and fastenings of the ill-fated ship was a dreadful sign of the approaching shipwreck. Soon, from the rupture of the beams, a strong leak opened. To prevent the ship's complete destruction, it became necessary somehow to bind it with ropes.
They began to use the aids ordinarily employed when a ship is in distress. They undergirded the ship, binding its sides with strong ropes and chains so that the force of the storm would not break it apart. Thus strengthened, it could more easily endure the assault of the hurricane. Fearing lest they run aground, and so forth: from the location of Cauda in relation to Cretan Lasea, they saw or could infer that a northeastern hurricane was carrying them. Therefore it was carrying them toward the African coast. For this reason they could fear that they were being driven toward the so-called Great Syrtis, or great shoal, not far east of Tripoli. The ship was Alexandrian, and the sailors probably knew the northern coast of Africa.
Because of this fear, first, they lowered the sail, that is, they took it in, so that the wind would act less upon the ship. Thus, without a sail, they were carried along. In case they struck a sandy shoal, the ship would not cut into it as violently as it would with the sail spread.
The storm on the sea arose so suddenly that the travelers, while at the island of Crete, could not enter the harbor they desired. The sea was stirred so quickly because a northeastern wind began to blow. Such a wind raises great waves with particular speed. These waves so engulfed the vessel that it gave itself entirely over to them. Then they ran toward the little island of Cauda. There the boat, probably suspended from the ship's side, began to break away. The ship itself also began to be so shaken that it had to be undergirded. Ahead there was a shoal. Fearing to run aground on it, they lowered the sail and gave themselves over to the waves. The waves tossed the ship in every direction and caused a rolling motion unbearable even to seasoned sailors.
What, then, must the Apostles have endured at this time, especially the innocent prisoner and sufferer Paul? The little island of Cauda lay southwest of Lasea and Fair Havens. Thus the northeastern wind was carrying them toward the African shores, distinguished by their great shoals. To make the impact of the ship on a sandy shoal less destructive, its rushing force had to be reduced. This they achieved by lowering the sail.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 19 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS