The Book of Acts

 

Paul Sails for Rome

Acts 27:1-12 _NLT

“When the time came, we set sail for Italy. Paul and several other prisoners were placed in the custody of a Roman officer named Julius, a captain of the Imperial Regiment. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was also with us. We left on a ship whose home port was Adramyttium on the northwest coast of the province of Asia; it was scheduled to make several stops at ports along the coast of the province.”

            Paul was taken on a ship with Luke (as evidenced by his use of “we” in the text) and Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The entire trip from Caesarea to Rome was a little under 2,100 miles. They were sailing at a dangerous time of the year due to the strong winds that came upon the area in the fall. They set sail sometime in October. The most dangerous time to sail was November when sailing would have been impossible. September and October were months where sailing was doable yet doubtful to be safe. There were no compasses at this time in history, therefore captains used the stars at night. If it were overcast sailing was made nearly impossible and very dangerous.

                  Paul was placed under the charge of Julius, a centurion who was a captain in the Imperial Guard *. It was his responsibility to be near Paul at all times. After spending some time with the apostle and knowing he was a Roman citizen, he was somewhat lenient with him. When they stopped in the port of Sidon Julius allowed Paul to go ashore to visit friends where they could tend to his needs. This was obviously far different than his missionary journeys as he was now a prisoner of Rome.

                  Since there had been sailing into a strong headwind, progress was very slow. When the ship stopped in Lycia, Julius, who began to doubt they would make it to Rome before winter set in, found an Egyptian ship heading to Italy and asked the captain if he would take his passengers on board to complete the trip. He said ‘yes’ and the three men switched ships.

                  The ship struggled along the coast, stopping in the port of Fair Haven on the southwest portion of the isle of Crete. Since it was not an ideal place to stop for the winter, Paul sensed calamity ahead, for the sailors wanted to go up the coast to the port of Phoenix for the winter. This was because it was better protected from the winds. Julius was no longer in charge of Paul since he stayed on the vessel he began the trip on and the new officer in charge was heeding the captain’s voice rather than Paul’s. So they set sail for Phoenix. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His name & for His glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Resources: The Life Application Study Bible; Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

* "The Imperial Regiment." - The soldiers who performed the police and escort services in Paul's day were ... a special body of imperial guards who ... did not belong to any division of a Roman army legion; instead, they formed a special unit of their own.