And when we had escaped, then we knew that the island was called Melita. But the barbarians shewed us no small courtesy.
και διασωθεντες τοτε επεγνωσαν οτι μελιτη η νησος καλειται
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Do you see what good came from the storm? Therefore the storm did not come because God had abandoned them. See how Paul's companions, during such a long voyage, put in at no city, but only at the island where they spent the whole winter. This happened, as I have said, so that they might turn to the faith.
The circumstances of the disastrous voyage were meant to draw Paul's companions' attention to him. The event on the island of Malta was meant to dispose the local inhabitants favorably toward him. The harmless bite of the serpent and the healing of many sick people, including the father of the chief man of the island, Publius, during the three-month stay on Malta, were a preparatory means of Providence for the conversion of the island's inhabitants.
When those who were saved had landed, they learned that they were on the island of Melita, or Malta. The inhabitants of this island treated the saved men humanely. They kindled a fire and warmed them, for the weather was rainy and cold. At this time a miraculous event occurred, which made a strong impression on the islanders, who were pagans. When the Apostle Paul had gathered much brushwood and was laying it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. The pagans thought that this most venomous serpent would cause the apostle certain death. But he shook it off into the fire and suffered no harm. This so astonished the pagans that they came to think Paul was God.
Somehow they all crossed over to the deserted shore. There, beside a fire hastily built by common effort, the shipwrecked men warmed their chilled limbs, soaked through, frozen, and hungry. Smoke from the fire drew the native inhabitants, who explained that this was the island of Melita, now Malta. Thus the hurricane had carried them about nine hundred versts beyond the harbor of Phoenix. Because of the ship’s final destruction, they had to winter, of necessity, on this very island of the Mediterranean Sea.
At that time the island of Melita was dependent on Sicily and was governed by an official mentioned in inscriptions with the very title given him in Saint Luke’s account of the shipwreck, namely protos (Acts 28:7). Because of its advantageous position in the Mediterranean Sea and its convenient harbors, Melita always had importance in trade and war. At first it was simply a Phoenician colony, and its inhabitants continued to speak a corrupted Phoenician language even in the Apostle Paul’s time. After the Punic War, the island passed from the Carthaginians to the Romans. It was famed for its honey and fruits, its cotton products, its excellent building stone, and a special breed of dogs highly valued by Roman aristocrats. Not long before the Apostle Paul’s involuntary visit, it had become a permanent refuge for Cilician pirates, who ravaged merchant ships. This circumstance alone sufficiently proves that the island was sparsely populated and abounded in forests.
They learned, of course, from the island’s inhabitants, who had probably gathered in sufficient number on the shore when they saw the distressed ship drawing near, as happens in coastal settlements, that the island was called Melita. There is a small island of the same name in the so-called Adriatic Sea, near the shores of Dalmatia, not far from Ragusa, now called Meleda. Some ancient interpreters thought this was the island onto which Paul and his companions were cast. But this opinion rests only on taking the expression in verse 27, “we were driven in the Adriatic Sea,” in a narrow sense. Much that is important in the narrative itself stands against it. First, such stormy sailing would hardly be possible in the Adriatic Sea.
Second, from Crete the ship was driven by a stormy northeast wind, and therefore in a southwesterly direction from Crete. Thus it could not have reached Dalmatian Melita; see the note on Acts 27:13-17. Third, the nearest route from Dalmatian Melita to Rome was not through Sicily, verse 12, but through some harbor on the eastern shore of Italy, and then by land. Therefore recent investigators almost unanimously acknowledge that the island onto which Paul and his companions were cast was present-day Malta, ancient Melita. It lies about fifteen geographical miles, or about one hundred versts, south of Sicily, and about fifty geographical miles from the African coast. They could truly have been carried there from Crete by the northeast wind after a stormy voyage. From there the direct route to Rome was indeed through Sicily and along the western coast of southern Italy, as described below, verses 12-13. Moreover, on Malta there remains to this day a tradition of the apostle’s stay there, closely connected with the further account in Acts; see below, the note on verses 3-6.
The stay of the Apostle Paul with his fellow disciples on the island of Melita was also marked by many noteworthy and miraculous events. This was done, of course, for a new instruction of his companions and also for the conversion of the Melitans. “Recent investigators almost unanimously acknowledge that the island onto which Paul and his companions were cast was present-day Malta, ancient Melita. It lies about fifteen geographical miles, or one hundred versts, south of Sicily, and about sixty miles from the African coast. The settlers of Malta were, in all probability, of Punic origin, Phoenician-Parthian, and spoke a Punic dialect. The writer of Acts calls them barbarians, not because of any roughness of morals, which the further account of their humanity contradicts.
He speaks from the standpoint of Greeks and Romans, who called all who did not speak Greek or Roman barbarians.” The strangers showed the most necessary humanity. “Since there was no other means of salvation, for the cold threatened the travelers with death, they kindled a fire.”
So too, by the simplest services, we can save the lives of many, if we hasten to timely and urgently necessary help. We should do with our own hands much that is so easy and convenient. We should make no distinction in the worthiness of those who need our immediate help. The natural feeling of common humanity ought to rouse each person to help the suffering, and to leave inquiry into their guilt until their circumstances have changed to a tolerable state of life.
“And they shall fly in foreign ships, and together they shall plunder the sea” (Is 11:14). For it was necessary that, while going among the nations, they should also travel by sea. As though flying with all possible speed, they made their way over the sea, so that in a short time they might proclaim the Gospel to most of the nations. At one time they went on foot, and at another they traveled by sea, using not Jewish pilots, but those who had already received the Word of Christ. At the same time they were “plundering the sea.” In the same way, according to the testimony of the Word, they enlightened the islands by which they passed. You may learn the result of this preaching from one example. The Apostle Paul, being one of those of whom this prophecy speaks, was traveling to Rome by sea. When he came to the island of Melita, he showed the inhabitants an unprecedented miracle. By healing those sick in body, he so astonished those who saw it that he “plundered” many and took them captive by saving doctrine.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 9 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS