Acts 27:37 - Exposition

We were in all , etc. From the number of persons, two hundred and seventy- six, on board the ship it is calculated that she was of more than five hundred ions burden. The ship in which Josephus was wrecked on his way to Rome, under the procuratorship of Felix ( κατὰ μέσον τὸν ἀδρίαν ) , carried six hundred souls ('Life,' sect. 3). The ship of Alexandria described by Lucian is calculated to have been of above a thousand tons. The mention of the number brings before us a striking picture of so many persons at St. Paul's bidding, in the midst of so great a danger, taking a cheerful and leisurely meal together, in dependence upon a speedy deliverance promised to them in God s Name. It also adds another vivid touch to the picture of the eye-witness of what he relates. Dean Plumptre well suggests that St. Luke very likely counted the crew on the. occasion of their being all assembled together for the first time.