Notes

1. Alexander, Literary Context, 212.

2. Ibid., 214.

3. Cf. the works of Chariton of Aphrodisias, Longus, Petronius, Achilleus Tatius, Heliodorus, Xenophon of Ephesus.

4. Cf. Dennis R. MacDonald, “The Shipwrecks of Odysseus and Paul,” NTS 45 (1999): 88–107.

5. Cf. Haenchen, Acts, 710–11; recently Pervo, Acts, 647–48.

6. Marius Reiser, “Von Caesarea nach Malta: Literarischer Charakter und historische Glaubwürdigkeit von Act 27,” in Das Ende des Paulus: Historische, theologische und literaturgeschichtliche Aspekte (ed. F. W. Horn; BZNW 106; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2001), 49–74, 61.

7. Johnson, Acts, 458, surmises that Luke wants to provide his readers with “narrative space” so that they have “time to assimilate what has happened to Paul and what will happen to him”—in other words a “time of freedom” that allows the readers to comtemplate “the finality of Paul’s condition and the inexorability of his future.”

8. Cf. Michael Labahn, “Paulus—ein homo honestus et iustus: Das lukanische Paulusportrait von Act 27–28 im Lichte ausgewählter antiker Parallelen,” in Das Ende des Paulus: Historische, theologische und literaturgeschichtliche Aspekte (ed. F. W. Horn; BZNW 106; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2001), 75–106. The term homo honestus is from Cicero, Fam. 16.12, and is used by Labahn not in a technical sense.

9. Cf. Johnson, Acts, 458; Marshall, Acts, 401.

10. Cf. Peterson, Acts, 678.

11. Whether Paul’s snake bite (28:3–6) is also a miracle story, which is often assumed, depends on whether the snake was a poisonous snake whose bite infallibly killed, which is far from certain; see on 28:3.

12. Cf. Johnson, Acts, 458, who emphasizes, “Paul does not pray to have the winds silenced or the winds stilled. He is not portrayed as a theios aner (‘divine man’) whose will can bend the forces of nature to his own.”

13. Both verbs (ἐπιβαίνω, ἀνάγω; see also 27:4, 12, 21; 28:11) are used here as technical nautical terms; cf. BDAG, s.v. ἐπιβαίνω 1; s.v. ἀνάγω 4.

14. Cf. Labahn, “Paulusportrait,” 80 n. 15. Note Pliny, Ep. 3.16.7–9, for an example where the petition for companions was denied.

15. Cf. Rapske, Paul in Roman Custody, 272; see Horsley and Llewelyn, New Documents, 1:36–45; 7:58–92.

16. Hemer, Acts, 133, who comments that “such considerations at least reflect experience of the climatic conditions of this voyage.”

17. The addition is found in manuscripts 614. 2147 and in Latin and Syriac manuscripts; cf. Metzger, Textual Commentary, 440.

18. Most of Rome’s grain came from Egypt. Under Augustus, 20 million modii of grain were annually imported from Egypt to Rome (R. Sallares, “Grain Trade, Grain Import,” BNP, 5:979). Under Claudius, shipowners were granted financial privileges if they made their vessels available for the transport of grain to the city of Rome (Suetonius, Claud. 18–19). For the following comment see Josephus, J.W. 2.386.

19. Seneca, Ep. 77.1; P. Oxy. XIV 1763; IG XIV 918. Cf. Lionel Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World (orig. 1971; repr., Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1995), 297; for the following comment ibid.

20. The use of the unusual verb “to sail slowly” (βραδυπλοέω) “may reflect mounting impatience and anxiety at continuing delays if the wind force were greater than average, necessitating perhaps extensive tacking where they could not sail close enough into the wind” (Hemer, Acts, 134).

21. For sailing speeds and the difference between favorable winds (traveling east) and unfavorable winds (traveling west, as Paul’s ship did), cf. Lionel Casson, “Speed under Sail of Ancient Ships,” TAPA 82 (1951): 136–48; Casson, Ships, 291.

22. Cf. BDAG, s.v. Καλοὶ λιμένες. Archaeologists working on Crete refer to “Kaloi Limenes.”

23. The verb διαγίνομαι denotes the passing or elapse of time (BDAG).

24. According to Lev 16.29–31, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) was celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month, later called the month of Tishri (from late September to the beginning of October). Cf. Hemer, Acts, 137–38, 270.

25. Vegetius, De re militari 4.39.

26. March 5 was the date of the festival Ploeaphesia (Lat. navigium Isidis), attested from the first century AD, which opened navigation. See Apuleius, Metam. 11.8–17, who describes the celebrations in Cenchreae, where the festival seems to have been connected with the Corinthian Hybristica festival.

27. Aelius Aristides, Hieroi Logoi 2.67–68; cf. Reiser, “Von Caesarea nach Malta,” 57.

28. Cicero, Fam. 16.12; cf. Labahn, “Paulusportrait,” 84–85.

29. Thus Barrett, Acts, 1189; Fitzmyer, Acts, 775.

30. Johnson, Acts, 447.

31. The term ὕβρις often denotes “insolence, arrogance” but denotes here “damage caused by use of force, fig. hardship, disaster, damage caused by the elements” (BDAG, s.v. ὕβρις 3).

32. Casson, Ships, 316; cf. BDAG, s.v. κυβερνήτης 1, “one who is responsible for the management of a ship, shipmaster.”

33. Casson, Ships, 315 n. 67. Cf. A. L. Connolly, in Horsley and Llewelyn, New Documents, 4:116.

34. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, 261.

35. K. L. McKay, in Horsley and Llewelyn, New Documents, 4:117.

36. Hemer, Acts, 139, following Robert M. Ogilvie, “Phoenix,” JTS 9 (1958): 308–14, 308–9.

37. The expression μετ’ οὐ πολύ means “not long afterward” (BDAG, s.v. μετά B.2c).

38. Cf. BDAG, s.v. εὐρακύλων, “the northeast wind, Euraquilo, the northeaster.” The fact that the sailors feared to be blown into the Syrtis (v. 17) confirms that the wind was a Northeaster. The name of the Northeaster has been confirmed by the discovery at Thugga in proconsular Africa of a twelve-point wind rose that was 26 feet (8 m.) in diameter dating to the third century AD, incised in the pavement of the plaza between the marketplace and the temple of Mercurus; the wind rose uses only Latin names: between the north wind (septentrio) and the east wind (vulturnus) it lists the aquilo and the euroaquilo (CIL VIII 26652). In Greek wind roses, the equilavent of the euroaquilo is the καικίας.

39. Hemer, Acts, 142, who emphasizes that the island is “precisely placed, and correctly named.” The spelling of the name of the island in the sources varies. The modern name is Gaudos/Gozzo.

40. John S. Morrison and Roderick T. Williams, Greek Oared Ships, 900–322 B.C. (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1968), 294–98, followed by Casson, Ships, 91–92, 211.

41. Hemer, Acts, 143 with n. 120.

42. Hemer, Acts, 144. Cf. Virgil, Aen. 1.11, 146; Tibullus 3.4.91; Propertius 2.9.33; Strabo, Geogr. 17.3.20.

43. Hemer, Acts, 144, following James Smith, The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, with Dissertations on the Life and Writings of St. Luke, and the Ships and Navigation of the Ancients (4th ed.; orig. 1848; repr., London: Longmans & Green, 1880), 110–11.

44. Cf. Casson, Ships, 282–88, with evidence that under favorable wind conditions, ancient ships averaged between 4 and 6 knots over open water. This answers the question of Barrett, Acts, 1196, whether the sailors would have feared this danger so soon.

45. Cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, RSV, TNIV, translating as “tackle.” James Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck, 114, suggests the main yard, which was very heavy, requiring the combined efforts of crew and passengers.

46. Note the imperfect tense of the verb περιῃρεῖτο. Here λοιπόν is used adverbially of time: “finally” (BDAG, s.v. λοιπός 3aα).

47. Hemer, Acts, 145, following James Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck, 114–15.

48. Correctly Pervo, Acts, 661 with n. 184, contra Bruce, Acts, 521, who makes Paul’s remarks an issue of character (followed by Witherington, Acts, 768: Paul is not being portrayed as a perfect person; cf. Barrett, Acts, 1199: Paul’s “I-told-you-so” approach was “unlikely to win him friends,” wondering whether this is a mark of Lukan fiction).

49. The position of the relative clause between τοῦ θεοῦ and ἄγγελος gives it prominence.

50. T. Scheer, “Dioscuri I. Religion,” BNP, 4:519. The Dioscuri appear also as helpers in distress (σωτῆρες) more generally, cf. Strabo, Geogr. 5.3.5. See further on 28:11.

51. Cf. Aune, Prophecy, 266–68, who argues that the form closely conforms to Old Testament and Jewish oracles of assurance, which consisted of three elements: (1) the phrase “fear not” (or equivalent); (2) designation of the addressee; (3) reason for the admonition.

52. If the word translated as “must” (δεῖ) is interpreted in terms of God’s sovereign will, v. 26 is a prophecy.

53. James Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck, 120–28; J. Michael Gilchrist, “The Historicity of Paul’s Shipwreck,” JSNT 61 (1996): 29–51, 50.

54. BDAG, s.v. βολίζω, “to use a weighted line to determine depth, take soundings, heave the lead.” Ancient sounding leads were either cone-shaped (one exemplar is 25.5 cm high, 3.5 cm across at the top, 6 cm across at the bottom, weighing 5 kg), pyramidal (one exemplar is 21 cm high and 8 cm at the base, weighing 4.3 kg), or bell-shaped (one exemplar is 10 cm high with a diameter of 7.5 cm at the top and 20 cm at the bottom, weighing 13.4 kg); the sounding leads had a hollow at the bottom that was filled with tallow or grease for bringing up samples of the sea bottom; Casson, Ships, 246 n. 85.

55. Hemer, Acts, 147; cf. James Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck, 133–34.

56. Cf. Witherington, Acts, 772, with reference to Diogenes Laertius, Vit. phil. 2.71; Lucian, Peregr. 43–44; Johnson, Acts, 455, adds Homer, Od. 12.270–300; Lucian, Tox. 20; Epictetus, Diatr. 4.1.92; 4.1.174; Diogenes Laertius, Vit. phil. 2.130; 4.50; 6.74; 7.2; 9.68.

57. Cf. Labahn, “Paulusportrait,” 88, who points to the fact that in Greco-Roman society the elites were actively concerned about the provision of food for the masses; cf. Isocrates, Paneg. 38; Augustus, Res Gestae 5.

58. The term σωτηρία, while used by Luke in the sense of spiritual deliverance and salvation (Luke 19:9; Acts 4:12; 13:26, 47; 16:17), here has the “secular” use of rescue and preservation in the context of the shipwreck; cf. W. Foerster, “σῴζω, σωτηρία,” TDNT, 7:989; K. H. Schelkle, EDNT, 3:328.

59. Cf. 1 Sam 14:45; 2 Sam 14:11; 1 Kgs 1:52; Matt 10:30/Luke 12:7; Luke 21:18.

60. Cf. Witherington, Acts, 772–73, for a critique of the sacramental interpretation.

61. Some manuscripts give smaller numbers: A has 275, manuscript 69 and Ephraem read 270, some Coptic manuscripts read 176, manuscript 522 reads 76, and B sa read “about 76.” Cf. Metzger, Textual Commentary, 442. There is no reason to interpret the figure 276 as symbolical (276 is a triangular number, i.e., the sum of the digits from 1 to 23, written in triangular groups of dots).

62. Casson, Ships, 172 with n. 26, takes both figures at face value, suggesting that since the figure given in Acts 27:37 belongs to off-season sailing, the grain freighter carrying Paul “very likely could have accommodated more” than the 276 persons mentioned.

63. Dunn, Acts, 341.

64. The term κόλπος denotes “a part of the sea that indents a shoreline, bay” (BDAG, s.v. κόλπος 3); it occurs in this sense only here in the New Testament, but is frequent in Strabo’s Geography (over 300 references).

65. Cf. BDAG, s.v. ἐξωθέω 2, “to run or drive ashore, beach, run ashore;” the verb is used here as a technical nautical term.

66. Culy and Parsons, Acts, 528.

67. The term ζευκτηρία denotes “something used to link things (usually two) together,” i.e., “bands” or “ropes” that tied the rudder; the technical nautical term in English is “pendant” or “pennant” (BDAG). The term πηδάλιον denotes the steering paddle, rudder, or steering oars (Lat. gubernaculum). Casson, Ships, 228 n. 17, comments on the action described in the expression ἀνέντες τὰς ζευκτηρίας τῶν πηδαλίων, that the pennants “must have been brought up tight when the vessel anchored” (ibid., 228 n. 17).

68. Cf. BDAG, s.v. κατέχω 7, “hold course,” a technical nautical term.

69. The verb ἐπικέλλω, “run aground,” is a technical nautical term.

70. NJB, NLT, RSV, Barrett: “shoal”; ESV, NRSV: “reef”; NIV, TNIV, Barrett, Witherington: “sandbar”; GNB: “sandbank”; NASB: “reef where two seas meet”; NET: “a patch of crosscurrents.” The interpretation in terms of a sandbar has been popular among commentators.

71. BDAG, s.v. διθάλασσος; LSJ II defines as “between two seas, where two seas meet, as is often the case off a headland.” Cf. Richard J. Bauckham, “The Estate of Publius on Malta (Acts 28:7),” in History and Exegesis (FS E. E. Ellis; ed. S. W. Son; New York: T&T Clark, 2006), 73–87, 78: “narrow strip of land with sea on both sides.” The term “point” needs to be distinguished from “promontory” (ἀκρωτήριον), which refers to a high headland.

72. Cf. BDAG, s.v. λύω 3, “to reduce something by violence into its components, destroy.”

73. Hemer, Acts, 151; cf. James Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck, 143–44.

74. Note the intention of the jailer in Philippi to kill himself when he feared that the prisoners had escaped (16:27).

75. Others suggested identifications of Μελίτη with Mljet, called Μελίτη in antiquity (Melite Illyrica), located in the Adriatic Sea off the Dalmatian coast opposite Epidaurum and Stagnum and near Kefallinia (Cephallania), located off the west coast of Achaia in the Ionian Sea. For a critique see Brian M. Rapske, “Acts, Travel and Shipwreck,” in The Book of Acts in its Graeco-Roman Setting (ed. D. W. J. Gill and C. Gempf; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 1–47, 37–43.

76. Strabo, Geogr. 17.3.15–16. Punic inscriptions have been discovered on Malta. The early coins of Malta, minted soon after Roman occupation in 218 BC, bear a Punic legend.

77. The generic term for snakes in Greek is ὄφις.

78. Cf. Heinz Warnecke, Die tatsächliche Romfahrt des Apostels Paulus (SBS 127; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1987), 108–10.

79. Cf. Pliny, Nat. 8.85–86, who seems to share the belief that all snakes are venomous, seeking to avenge the killer of their spouses.

80. Hemer, Acts, 153. Cf. Bruce, Book of Acts, 498, who points to Ireland as an island that once had poisonous snakes but no longer does.

81. Themis is the personification of the divine order, of everything that is right and proper in nature and society.

82. P. W. van der Horst, “Dike,” DDD, 251; cf. Hesiod, Theog. 901–3, Op. 213–285; Sophocles, Aj. 1390.

83. Cf. Kauppi, Gods, 108–12.

84. Cf. Bauckham, “Estate of Publius,” 80. For the following comments see ibid., 81–86.

85. Cf. Rapske, Paul in Roman Custody, 273.

86. Paul F. Burke, “Malaria in the Greco-Roman World: A Historical and Epidemiological Survey,” ANRW II.37.3 (1996): 2252–81, 2258.

87. Hemer, Acts, 153–54, refers to the so-called “Malta fever,” whose causes were discovered in 1887, namely, an endemic microorganism called Micrococcus melitensis, which infected the milk of goats on Malta. This type of fever, if it existed in the first century, was certainly not the only kind of fever by which Maltese people could be afflicted. Craig S. Keener, “Fever and Dysentery in Acts 28:8 and Ancient Medicine,” BBR 19 (2009): 393–402, 394–95, points out that Luke’s audience would not have thought of a local Maltese disease but would have understood Luke’s description in more general terms.

88. Keener, “Fever and Dysentery,” 398, with reference to Hippocrates, Aff. 23.

89. Hippocrates, Prorrh. 2.22.

90. Aphorismata 3.11, 22; cf. De aere aquis, locis 3, 10.

91. This is the only passage in Acts where the laying on of hands is linked with prayer and healing. For the laying on of hands and healing, cf. Mark 5:23; 6:5; 8:23, 25; Acts 9:12, 17; cf. also James 5:13–14.

92. Johnson, Acts, 463, points to Luke 4:38–44; 6:17–20; 7:20–23; 9:1–11; Acts 3:12–16 for the connection between healing and the proclamation of the kingdom of God.

93. Pliny, Nat. 2.47.122; cf. Hemer, Acts, 154.

94. Colin J. Hemer, “First Person Narrative in Acts 27–28,” TynBul 36 (1985): 79–109, 94.

95. In Thebes: Amphion and Zethus; in Sparta: the Tindaridai. The names “Castor and Polydeuces” as well as their characters are thought to be of Indo-Germanic origin. The divine twins were eventually identified with the constellation of Gemini (Castor and Pollux). Cf. T. Scheer and A. Ley, “Dioscuri,” BNP, 4:518–21.

96. F. Scott Spencer, Acts (Readings; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 263.

97. Kauppi, Gods, 116.

98. Hemer, Acts, 154.

99. Cf. Casson, Ships, 284, assuming 1½ days with a speed of 5 knots.

100. Cf. N. H. Taylor, “Puteoli,” NIDB, 4:692: “The origins of this church are unrecorded, but its existence in a major trading port at an early date is unremarkable.”

101. Hemer, Acts, 156: “His guards would still have been answerable with their lives for his safety.”

102. Rapske, Paul in Roman Custody, 275–76.

103. Johnson, Acts, 464, with reference to 1:11; 13:34, 47; 27:25.

104. Cf. Schnabel, Early Christian Mission, 2:800–815.

105. Hermann W. Beyer, Die Apostelgeschichte (NTD; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1959), 157, followed by Barrett, Acts, 1232.

106. Rapske, Paul in Roman Custody, 310, 387–86.

107. Cf. Darrell L. Bock, Luke (BECNT; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995–96), 1136.

108. Fernando, Acts, 618–22, speaks, under the heading “leadership in ‘secular’ situations,” of Paul’s example in terms of being agents of hope, acting with human wisdom, giving clear and appropriate testimony, a servant’s lifestyle, and encouragement from fellow Christians.