Acts 27:1

Acts 27:1-2 . When it was determined that we should sail into Italy — The apostle having, by appeal, transferred his cause to the emperor, Festus determined to send him to Italy by sea, as being a shorter and less expensive passage to Rome; and for that purpose delivered him, with certain other persons, who were also to be judged at Rome, to one Julius, a centurion of the Italian legion. All these prisoners, with the soldiers who guarded them, went aboard a ship of Adramyttium, a seaport of Mysia, and sailed from Cesarea in the autumn of A.D. 62. From the history here, it appears that the messengers of the churches, who accompanied Paul into Judea with the collections, ( Acts 21:4 ,) were not intimidated by the evils which the Jewish rage brought upon him in Jerusalem. For, while he continued there, they remained with him; and when he was sent a prisoner to Cesarea, they followed him thither, and in both places, doubtless, ministered to him, and perhaps attended him on his trials. And when it was determined to send him to Italy, two at least of these affectionate friends went in the same ship with him; namely, Luke, the writer of this book, as appears from his style here, and Aristarchus, a Thessalonian.

Acts 27:1 . Ἐκρίθη , it was decided ) The setting out of Paul to Cæsar was already before decreed: now the time was appointed, and their route by sea. As to Paul, it was decided in the strict judicial sense of the word: his friends freely followed Paul, and among them Luke.— τοῦ ) ἐκρίθη τὸ κρίμα τοῦ ἀποπλεῖν .— ἑτέρους , other prisoners) Comp. Luke 22:37 .— σπείρης Σεβαστῆς ) the Augustan band .

And {1} when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band. (1) Paul, with many other prisoners and through the midst of many deaths, is brought to Rome, but yet by God's own hand as it were, and set forth and commended to the world with many singular testimonies.

CHAPTER 27 Ac 27:1-44. The Voyage to Italy—The Shipwreck and Safe Landing at Malta. 1. we should sail, &c.—The "we" here reintroduces the historian as one of the company. Not that he had left the apostle from the time when he last included himself (Ac 21:18), but the apostle was parted from him by his arrest and imprisonment, until now, when they met in the ship. delivered Paul and certain other prisoners—State prisoners going to be tried at Rome; of which several instances are on record. Julius—who treats the apostle throughout with such marked courtesy (Ac 27:3, 43; Ac 28:16), that it has been thought [Bengel] he was present when Paul made his defense before Agrippa (see Ac 25:23), and was impressed with his lofty bearing. a centurion of Augustus' band—the Augustan cohort, an honorary title given to more than one legion of the Roman army, implying, perhaps, that they acted as a bodyguard to the emperor or procurator, as occasion required.Acts 27:1-8 Paul is conducted in a ship toward Rome.Acts 27:9-11 He foretells the danger of the voyage, but is not credited.Acts 27:12-20 The ship setting sail against his advice is tossedwith a tempest.Acts 27:21-44 Paul comforteth his fellow travellers with assuranceof having their lives saved, but foretelleth ashipwreck; all which is verified by the event.It was determined; upon the solemn hearing of Paul’s case, it was resolved by Festus and Agrippa, with the rest that were taken by Festus to advise concerning it.

Julius; thought to have been a freed-man of the family of Julius, who thence took his name. A centurion of Augustus’ band; as Cornelius was a centurion of the Italian band: see Acts 10:1. This band, or regiment, was called Augustus’s (or the emperor’s) because (as some will) it was part of his guard.

Verse 1. - For, for into , A.V.; to a centurion named Julius of the Augustan band for unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus band , A.V. That we should sail . Observe the "we," denoting that Luke was of the party. Connecting it with the "we" of Acts 21:17 , the inference is obvious that Luke was with Paul through the whole of these two eventful years, and that it is to this presence that we owe the detailed circumstantial narrative of Acts 21 . - 28, as well as, perhaps, the composition of St. Luke's Gospel, for which the two years at Caesarea afforded an admirable opportunity. The Augustan band ; or, cohort ( σπεῖρα ); as Acts 10:1 (where see note). This σπεῖρα Σεβαστή , cohors Augusta , was probably one of the five cohorts stationed at Caesarea, consisting of auxiliary troops (though Alford does not think so). Its name "Augustan" was given, after the analogy of the Augustan legion, just as there was an "Italian band" as well as two or three "Italian legions." It has been conjectured (Kuinoel, in loc .), indeed, that the name may rather be taken flora Sebaste, Samaria, as consisting of Samaritans, seeing that Josephus ('Bell. Jud.,' 2. 12:5) actually mentions a troop of cavalry ( καλουμένην Σεβαστηνῶν ) called the troop of Sebaste. But the Greek name is Σεβαστηνῶν , not Σεβαστή , which latter designation is not supported by any similar example (Meyer). Acts 27:1

Acts 27:1 .[166] Τοῦ ἀποπλεῖν ἡμᾶς ] contains the aim of the ἐκρίθη . “ But when (by Festus) decision was made (to the end) that we should sail away .” The nature of the “becoming resolved” ( κρίνεσθαι ) implies that the object—the contents of the resolution—may be conceived as embraced under the form of its aim. The modes of expression: ΚΕΛΕΎΕΙΝ ἽΝΑ, ΕἸΠΕῖΝ ἽΝΑ, ΘΈΛΕΙΝ ἽΝΑ, and the like, are similar; comp. Acts 27:42 , ΒΟΥΛῊ ἘΓΈΝΕΤΟ, ἽΝΑ. See also Luke 4:10 . ἩΜᾶς ] Luke speaks as a fellow-traveller. ΠΑΡΕΔΊΔΟΥΝ ] namely, the persons who were entrusted with the execution of the ἘΚΡΊΘΗ.ἙΤΈΡΟΥς is purposely chosen (not ἌΛΛΟΥς ), to intimate that they were prisoners of another sort (not also Christians under arrest). Comp. Luke 23:32 ; Tittmann, Synon. N.T. p. 155 f.; and see on Galatians 1:7 . ἕτερος in Acts 15:35 , Acts 17:34 , also is to be similarly taken in the sense of another of two classes (in opposition to de Wette). σπείρης Σεβαστ .] cohortis Augustae , perhaps: the illustrious (the imperial) cohort . Σεβαστ . is an adjective. Comp. ΛΙΜῊΝ ΣΕΒΑΣΤ. in Joseph. Antt . xvii. 5. 1 : the imperial harbour (in Caesarea). Probably (for historical demonstration is not possible) it was that one of the five cohorts stationed at Caesarea, which was regarded as body-guard of the emperor, and was accordingly employed, as here, on special services affecting the emperor.

We have no right, considering the diversity of the names used by Luke, to hold it as identical with the σπεῖρα Ἰταλική , Acts 10:1 (so Ewald). Wieseler, Chronol . p. 351, and Beitr. z. Würdig. d. Ev . p. 325 (comp. Wetstein), finds here the cohors Augustanorum (imperial body-cohort) at Rome , consisting of Roman equites, of the so-called evocati (Tac. Ann . xiv. 15; Sueton. Nero , 25; Dio, lxi. 20, lxiii. 8), whose captain, Julius, he supposes, had been at this very time on business at Caesarea, and had taken the prisoners with him on his return. In this way the centurion would not have been under the command of Festus at all, and would have only been incidentally called into requisition, which is hardly compatible with the regulated departmental arrangements of Rome in the provinces; nor is there in the text itself, any more than in the σπεῖρα Ἰταλική , Acts 10:1 , the least intimation that we are to think of a cohort and a centurion, who did not belong at all to the military force of Caesarea . Schwarz ( de cohorte Ital. et Aug ., Altorf, 1720), with whom Kuinoel agrees, conceived that it was a cohort consisting of Sebastenes (from Sebaste , the capital of Samaria), as in fact Sebastene soldiers are actually named by Josephus among the Roman military force in Judaea ( Antt . xx. 6. 2, Bell . ii. 12. 5). But the calling a cohort by the name of a city ( the cohort of Sebaste ) is entirely without example; we should necessarily expect Σεβαστηνῶν (Joseph.

Acts 27:1-44 . Paul’s voyage and shipwreck 1 . they delivered Paul ] i.e. the soldiers who had the care of him did so, by order of Festus. a centurion ] This was generally the rank of the officers appointed to such a charge. Cp. Acts 21:32 , Acts 24:23 , &c. of Augustus’ band] Rev. Ver . “Of the Augustan band.” The word rendered “band” might be translated “cohort” as in the margin of R. V. , and it is said that in the time of Octavianus Augustus there were some legions to which the title “Augustan” (Gk. Sebastos ) was given, as being specially the Imperial troops, and that perhaps among the soldiers in Cæsarea there was a detachment of these legions. But as Cæsarea was itself called “Sebaste” it seems more likely that the soldiers were Samaritan troop belonging to Cæsarea itself! And Josephus ( Wars ii. 12. 5) makes mention of troops which had their name, Sebasteni, from this city Cæsarea Sebaste.

XXVII. (1) Paul and certain other prisoners.—The Greek for “other” implies that they were prisoners of a different class. It is probable, however, that they also had appealed to the emperor, as there would otherwise be no object in sending them to Rome. A centurion of Augustus’ band.—Literally, of the Sebaste. On the band or cohort as a subdivision of the Roman legion, see Note on Acts 10:1. Three different explanations have been given of the term translated “Augustus.” (1) The cohort may have consisted of soldiers levied in Sebaste (= Augusta) or Samaria. Josephus mentions a squadron of Sebastene cavalry (Ant. xx. 6, § 1; xix. 9, § 2), and there may have been a corresponding band of foot-soldiers. (2) Nero about this time had formed a kind of body-guard, consisting of some 3, 000 young men of the equestrian order, who accompanied him to games and spectacles, and whose chief business it was to applaud him in his speeches and recitations. To these he gave the name of Augustani (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 15; Sueton. Nero, c. 25), a term of which Sebastene would be the natural Greek equivalent. (3) A certain Julius Priscus appears in Tacit. Hist. ii. 92 as appointed by Vitellius to be one of the prefects of the Prætorian cohorts, which, as specially under the emperor’s personal command, might naturally be called by his name; and he has been conjecturally identified with the centurion here named. Of these, (2) seems the most probable, but it is not absolutely incompatible with (3).