What does Acts 27:43 mean?
Perhaps a month before, Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, received orders to take prisoners from Caesarea Maritima to Rome. He loaded them on a coastal vessel that brought them to Myra, a port in southwest modern-day Turkey. Then, they boarded an Alexandrian ship headed to Rome (Acts 27:1–6). He and his soldiers likely gained a second commission as guards for the cargo.After meeting contrary winds, the ship found shelter at Fair Havens, a port on the southern coast of Crete. One of the prisoners, Paul, warned the crew that if they left Fair Havens they would lose the ship, the cargo, and their lives. The ship's owner and pilot agreed they needed to find a safe harbor to spend the winter. But the port at Fair Havens was not sufficient. Slightly farther west, the town of Phoenix had two harbors perfectly sheltered from the coming storms (Acts 27:8–10, 12). Julius sided with the owner and pilot (Acts 27:11).
A few hours after they set sail, the winds shifted. The passengers and crew held on for dear life as a typhoon-grade storm tossed them about, hid the stars and sun, and made it impossible to even eat. Long after everyone had lost hope of rescue, Paul stood up again. He proclaimed that his God promised he would get to Rome. Further, the Lord would let everyone else on the ship live, as well. This time, Julius listened to Paul (Acts 27:13–25).
Two weeks after they entered the storm, the sailors realized they were coming fast upon an island. It was too dark to bring the ship in close. The crew lowered the aft anchors to stop the ship's movement. Then they went to the front of the ship. There, they should have been lowering the fore anchors to keep the waves from spinning the ship around. At least, that is what Julius thought they were doing. Paul pointed out they had lowered the lifeboat and were preparing to climb in. Julius ordered the soldiers to cut the lines (Acts 27:27–32).
The next morning, Paul encouraged everyone to eat. This gave them enough energy to throw the remaining grain overboard to raise the ship, and to sail into the nearby harbor, hoping to run aground on the beach. Instead, the bow is now stuck on a clay reef and the waves are tearing apart the stern. The soldiers have a problem. If they'd landed the ship on the beach, they could have monitored the prisoners to make sure no one escaped. As things stand, the ship is still quite a ways from the shore, and they can't guard everyone. But they can't lose any prisoners, either, or else they could be executed. They decide to just kill the prisoners, instead (Acts 27:33–42).
They didn't account for their centurion. He will not let Paul die. He orders the soldiers to stand down and the prisoners to swim if they can. The rest will make their way on the broken-off bits of the ship that still float. Everyone will make it out alive (Acts 27:44).
