XXVII. τ.
bo
XXVII. 1.1 ‘QE δὲ ἐκρίθη τοῦ ἀποπλεῖν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν,
παρεδίδουν τόν τε Παῦλον καί τινας ἑτέρους δεσµώτας ἑκατοντάρχῃ,
1 With Flor., Gig., Syr. H. mg., Blass reconstructs the β text: ουτως ουν ο ηγεμων πεµπεσθαι αντον Καισαρι εκρινεν, και TY επαυριον προσκαλεσαμενος εκατονταρχην τινα σπειρης Σεβαστης ονοµατι Ίουλιον, παρεδωκεν αυτῳ τον ΓΠαυλον συν τοις λοιποις δεσµωταις, so Hilgenfeld, 1899.
such declarations in his favour, might find himself compelled to appeal to
Czsar. Had he acted otherwise, and if release had followed upon the verdict of his innocence, he was
sure that sooner or later the implacable Jews would make him their victim. McGiffert, u. 5., p. 356, observes that even if both Agrippa and Festus were convinced of the Apostle’s innocence, this would not prevent Festus from seeing in kim a dangerous person, who would stir up trouble and cause a riot wherever he went; such a man could not have been set at liberty by Festus as a faithful Roman official; but see above on xxv. 12. On the whole narrative see Zéckler, Ῥ. 311; Bethge, p. 260 (for phraseology). Zéckler supposes as a foundation for the narrative a written account by Luke himseit, perhaps an eyewitness, at an early period after the events. Wendt (1δοο) also takes the view that the writer of the narrative had probably been in the personal company of St. Paul at Czsarea beiore the start on the ‘ourney for Rome, xxvii. 1, and that the reason that he does not employ the first person in the nar- rative of xxv., xxvi., is because the facts narrated in these two chapters did not immediately concern him, although he was in Cesarea during their process. In referring to the account of St. Paul’s conversion as given in ch. xxvi. it is note- worthy that McGiffert, p. 120, speaks of it as occurring “in a setting whose vividness and verisimilitude are unsur- passed’.
CHAPTER XXVII.—Ver. |. Blass at the outset speaks of this and the next chapter as “‘clarissimam descriptionem ”’ of St. Paul’s voyage, and he adds that this description has been estimated by a man skilled in nautical matters as ‘‘ monu- mentum omnium pretiosissimum, que rei navalis ex tota antiquitate nobis relicta sint’”’. He refers to Die Nautik der Alten by Breusing, formerly Director of the School of Navigation in Bremen, 1886; a book which should be read side by side with J. Smith’s well-known Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, 4th edit., 1880 (cf. also J. Vars, L’Art Nau- tique, 1887, and see also Introd., p. 8).—
ὡς: particula temporalis, often so used by St. Luke in Gospel and Acts, and more frequently than by the other Evan- gelists; in St. Matthew not at all, in St. Mark once ; often in O.T., Apoc., and especially in 1 Macc.—éxp{@y τοῦ ἄποπ.: common construction in LXX with kindred words, ¢.g., βουλεύομαι, but no other instances of the genitive with in- finitive after κρίνω (except 1 Cor. ii. 2, T.R.) in N.T., Lumby; see also Burton, Ῥ. 159. ἀποπ.: St. Luke stands alone amongst N.T. writers in the number of compcunds of πλεῖν which he employs, no less than nine, J. Smith, w.s., p. 28, 6τ.--ἡμᾶς: “with this section we tread the firm ground of history, for here at Acts xxvii. 1 the personal record of the book again enters, and that in its longest and fullest part ” (Weizsacker): see also on ἡμᾶς, as intimating by its recurrence the narrative of an eyewitness, Hilgen- feld, Zw. Th., iv., p. 549 (1896), Wendt (1899), p. 402, note. The ἡμᾶς included Paul, Luke, Aristarchus; Ramsay, δέ. Paul, p. 315, maintains that both Luke and Aristarchus must have accompanied Paul as his slaves, and that they would not have been permitted to go as his friends, but see Gilbert, Student’s Life of Paul, p. 201; and Wendt (1899) in reply to Ramsay points out that as the ship was not sailing as a transport vessel with the prisoners direct to Rome, but that a vessel engaged in private enterprise and commerce was employed, it is quite pos- sible that Paul’s friends may have travelled on the same ship with him as independent passengers. But see further Ramsay, p. 323. So far as Luke is concerned, it is possible that he may have travelled in his protessional capacity as a medical man, Lekebusch, Apostelgeschichte, p. 393.— παρεδίδουν: assimilated to form of con- tracted verbs, so most certainly in Acts, cf. iii. 2, iv. 33, 35, Simcox, Language of the N.T., p.37. Winer-Schmiedel, p. 121.---δεσµώτας, see below, p. 516.— That Paul commanded respect is implied by the whole narrative: some of the other prisoners may also have been sent to Rome on the ground of an appeal, cf. Josephus, Vita, 3, but. others may have been already condemned, Ramsay, p.