After the men had eaten their fill, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
38. And when they had eaten enough. This circumstance doth show that they were at length moved with Paul’s words. It was not yet light, that they could know whether there were any haven near. And yet they cast out into the sea the wheat which remained, that they might lighten the ship. They would not have done this unless Paul’s authority had prevailed more with them now than before.
We have here the issue of the distress of Paul and his fellow-travellers; they escaped with their lives and that was all, and that was for Paul's sake. We are here told (Act 27:37) what number there were on board - mariners, merchants, soldiers, prisoners, and other passengers, in all two hundred and seventy-six souls; this is taken notice of to make us the more...
Commenting on Acts 27:21-44
And when it was day they knew not the land,.... What place it was, or the name of it: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore; a gulf or bay, with a shore near it; the Ethiopic version explains it, an arm of the sea, where was a port, where they thought they could secure themselves, or get ashore: into which they were...