Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore.
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 they had taken up the anchors,.... The four anchors they cast out of the stern, Act 27:29 or "when they had cut the anchors", as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; that is, had cut the cables to which the anchors were fastened: they committed themselves unto the sea; or left them, the anchors, in the sea; or committed the ship to...
Verse 39. They knew not the land. They had been driven with a tempest, without being able to make any observation; and it is probable that they were entire strangers to the coast, and to the whole island. A certain creek with a shore. Greek, A certain bosom--κολπον--or bay. By its having a shore is probably meant that it had a level shore, or one that was convenient for landing.