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BIBLE STUDY LESSON 21

SERIES V --- JOURNEYS FOR YESHUA

SHIPWRECKED ON MALTA

PAUL IS SHIPWRECKED

From Acts 27:27-28:6

Day after day the storm raged, and the ship which carried Paul was driven before the wind. The sailors had given up all hope of being saved, but Paul had told them an angel of Adonai had promised that they would not perish. About midnight of the fourteenth night of drifting on the Adriatic Sea, the sailors felt that the ship was approaching land. When they took soundings, they found the water was one hundred and twenty feet deep. A little later, they found it was only ninety feet. They realized that the ship would soon run aground, perhaps on rocks, and thus could destroy the ship and all on board. To slow the progress of the ship, the sailors put out four anchors and longed for daybreak. At one point they tried to escape, lowering the lifeboat into the sea with the excuse that they were putting out more anchors. Paul stopped that by telling the centurion and the soldiers, [Unless those sailors stay on board, you will not be spared.] The soldiers cut the rope leading to the boat and let it drift away on the sea. In the night hours that remained, Paul encouraged everyone to eat. [This is the fourteenth day that you have been on alert without food. You must eat, for you need the strength to survive, which you will!] Paul took some bread, and while everyone watched, thanked YHVH for it, broke it, and began to eat. This encouraged the others to do the same thing. Soon all two hundred and seventy-six, the number who were on board, were eating. After they finished, the crew dumped the wheat overboard, lightening the ship further. When daylight came, they saw a coastline, but did not recognize it. However, they saw an inlet and decided to try to run the ship aground on the beach. They cut the anchors loose into the sea, loosened the ropes that had bound the rudders, hoisted the foresail to the wind, and headed for it. But at a point where the water currents met, the ship ran aground on a sandbar. The ship’s bow was anchored rigidly in the sand, while the stern shifted with the pounding of the waves. Before long, the stern broke apart. The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners so that they could not swim away and escape. But the centurion refused, for he liked Paul, and wanted to spare him. He ordered those who could swim to go overboard first and swim to land. The others would follow on planks or other objects from the ship. The plan worked, and everyone reached shore safely on what they soon learned was the island of Malta. The people of Malta were very kind to the shipwrecked men, building a fire on the beach to warm and welcome them, for it was cold and rainy. Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and was laying them on the fire when a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. [This man must be a murderer,] the people of the island said to one another. [He has been spared from the sea, but justice has caught up with him now.] But Paul calmly shook off the viper into the fire and was not hurt by it. The people of the island watched Paul, expecting him to swell up or die, but nothing happened. When they realized that he was not affected by the poisonous snakebite, they decided that Paul must be a god.

COMMENTARY

PAUL’S VOYAGE TO ROME

When Paul claimed his right of appeal to Caesar, Festus had no choice but to send him to Rome. At Caesarea he was put aboard a grain ship, accompanied by his friends Luke and Aristarchus. After stopping at Sidon, the ship sailed for Myra in Lycia. There Paul and his companions boarded a second ship bound for Italy. It was late autumn, and the winter winds made the trip very dangerous. With much difficulty they sailed as far as Crete, where a fierce storm drove the boat out to sea. With their ship wrecked off the coast of Malta, they waited out the winter weather on the island. In the spring they set sail once again on a ship named the {Castor and Pollux.} By way of Syracuse and Rhegium they finally reached Puteoli on the coast of Italy. Paul stayed a week with believers in the harbour town before making the final leg of his journey to Rome.

O Adonai YHWH, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?
Deuteronomy 3:24

The miracles that we witness on earth are only the beginning. Stay tuned through the credits. The real wonders are yet to come.

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When we live the way we are designed to live the promise from the Creator is to bless everything that we are involved with. Deuteronomy 7:13, “He will love and bless you. He will make the number of your people grow. He will bless you with children. He will bless your fields with good crops. He will give you grain, new wine and oil. He will bless your cows with calves and your sheep with lambs. This is the way it will be in the land he promised your ancestors he would give you.” (ICB)

Thought for Today: Tuesday July 25:

Did you know: Adonai Elohiym washes the eyes by tears in this world today, until they can behold the invisible land where tears shall come no more.

BIBLE STUDY LESSON 20

SERIES V --- JOURNEYS FOR YESHUA

VOYAGE TO ROME

PAUL’S VOYAGE TO ROME

From Acts 27:1 -26

In his trial at Caesarea, Paul had appealed to Caesar, so not even the governor could stop that. Arrangements were made, and when the time came for Paul to sail for Rome, he was placed with some other prisoners under a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius. The group boarded a ship from Adramyttium, which would make several stops along the coast of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, accompanied Paul on the trip to help take care of him. The first stop was at Sidon, where Julius, who was very kind to Paul, allowed him to visit his friends and have them care for him. From there, the ship sailed on the sheltered side of Cyprus, for the winds were blowing fiercely. The journey took them past the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia, and then to their next stop at Myra, in the province of Lycia, where they boarded an Egyptian ship bound for Italy. During the next several days, sailing was slow and difficult against the wind. At last, they came near Cnidus, then proceeded with increasing difficulty against the wind, sailing south of Crete near Salmone. The ship struggled at last into the harbour at Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea. By this time, the sailing schedule was much delayed, and it was late in the year, a dangerous time for ships to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Paul mentioned this to the centurion. [I am quite sure that we will have great loss to the ship and its cargo if we go on now,] Paul told him. [There is also great risk to our lives.] But the centurion listened instead to the captain and the owner of the ship. Fair Havens was not a good harbour to stay for the winter, so the ship’s officers decided to make a run for Phoenix, a harbour farther west on Crete, which faced southeast and northeast, and thus had exposure only to the northwest and southwest. One day when there was only a light south wind blowing, they felt confident to leave. They set sail and ran close to the shore of Crete. Suddenly a northeaster swept upon them from the island, bringing hurricane-force winds. The ship was caught, for it was unable to sail into the wind toward Crete, so the sailors were forced to let the ship run before the wind. While passing under the shelter of a small island named Clauda, the sailors quickly brought in the lifeboat which had been trailing behind, and tied ropes around the hull of the ship to keep it from breaking apart. A new fear arose now, that the ship would be driven into the shallow water with quicksand, called Syrtis, off the northern coast of Africa. They dropped the sea anchor to slow the ship. The storm continued to be violent the next day, so the sailors began throwing cargo overboard. With no relief in sight the following day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. The storm continued for several days, with no sight of the sun or stars. At last, even the veteran sailors gave up all hope of being saved. No one had eaten for quite some time now. But Paul stood among the men to speak. [You should have listened to me, for I warned you about this,] he said. [However, cheer up, for not one person will perish, even though we will lose the ship. Tonight, an angel of the YHVH Whom I serve, and to Whom I belong, stood beside me. He told me to have no fear, that I would go before Caesar and that all of you would be spared. Cheer up, men, for I am sure that YHVH will make it happen exactly as He told me. However, you should know that we will be stranded on an island.]

COMMENTARY

CRETE

Compared to the great empires of the ancient world, Crete was only a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Its western half was wild and mountainous, covered by a great forest of Cyprus trees. Only in the east was the ground level enough to farm. But Crete had one great advantage: it lay in the centre of the ancient world like a stepping-stone between the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. Its many natural harbours made it a convenient stopping place for merchant ships crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Crete’s most prosperous cities grew up around the island’s coast, but in Roman times they were notorious centres of evil. Pirates and thieves swarmed in the harbour towns. Even though Crete was in decay by the first century, its history and myths were glorious. According to Greek mythology, Crete was the birthplace of Zeus. It was also the scene of the god’s marriage to Europa, a mortal woman. Their son, Minos, grew to be the great sea king of Crete. Although King Minos may have been a real person, there are so many legends about him that it is impossible to know what is truth and what is fiction. He is said to have ended piracy in the Aegean Sea and conquered the army of Athens. But the most famous King Minos myth tells of his building a great maze of corridors called a labyrinth. It housed the Minotaur, a man-eating monster who was half bull and half man. The period of Minoan civilization in Crete is named for this legendary king. It flourished during the days of the Egyptian pharaohs, reaching its peak about the time of Moses. The Minoans were skilled sailors who traded with many nations in the ancient world. The Egyptians knew them as {Keftiu} and the Jews named them {Caphtorim.} They were also famous as the builders of the great palace of Knossos. Visitors to this day still marvel at the remains of its numerous rooms and brilliant wall paintings. The pictures on vases and walls portray the Minoan men with bronzed skin and black hair. The women wear long, bell-shaped skirts and elaborate hairstyles. Not much is known about their daily life, but figurines show them dancing, playing musical instruments and performing acrobatics. The remains of the Minoan culture reveal their great skill as artists and craftsmen. Archaeologists have discovered beautiful Minoan jewellery and skilfully made tools. The Minoan civilization declined after a Greek tribe from the mainland invaded the island, and Crete never again reached its former level of importance. In 66 B.C. it was conquered and placed under Roman control. No one knows when the first Jews settled on Crete. One hundred fifty years before Moshiach there were already many on the island. The Book of Acts says that Jews from Crete were in Jerusalem on the Day of Shavuot. Perhaps they became the first missionaries to bring the Gospel to Crete. Paul briefly landed on the island when a winter storm forced his ship to take shelter at Fair Havens. Because he was a prisoner on his way to trial in Rome, he was not free to preach the Gospel publicly. Perhaps it was on this journey that Paul left Titus behind to work with the church in Crete. From his prison cell in Rome, the apostle sent Titus a letter encouraging him in his duties as a pastor. According to believer tradition, Titus became the first bishop on the island and the patron saint of Crete.