Acts 27:33

Monday, 20 May 2024

And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing. Acts 27:33

More literally, it reads, “And until it was about to be day, Paul urged all to take food, saying, ‘Anticipating today, the fourteenth day, you continue undernourished, having taken nothing.’” (CG).

The previous verse noted the soldiers cutting away the skiff. At some point later, in the very early morning, Luke next records, “And until it was about to be day.”

This indicates the time between midnight and morning, not specifically the dawn itself. It is at some point very early in the day when the dawning is the next anticipated event in the daily progression of time. It is at this very early time that, “Paul urged all to take food.”

His advice for those gathered to eat surely wasn’t just as a means of strengthening the people, but it also would have served that great purpose of once again uniting the soldiers and sailors after what just happened.

Paul had a keen understanding of human nature, and he knew that there would certainly need to be a united effort on the part of both parties to ensure that everyone would be safe during the coming hours. A meal would bring a state of harmony which had been lacking through the long ordeal, and which could only have gotten worse with the cutting away of the skiff. Because of this tense state, Paul continued, “saying, ‘Anticipating today, the fourteenth day, you continue undernourished, having taken nothing.’”

The need to stop and eat a good meal begins to be evident first from the words “the fourteenth day.” They were anticipating the completion of two full weeks of constant battering by the wind and water. It would have been a harrowing ordeal for even the most seasoned sailor, but those fourteen days were, as he says, in an undernourished state.

The Greek word is not the usual word for “fasting” where one goes completely without eating. Rather, the word is asitos, an adjective that is only used here in Scripture. It is from the negative particle a along with the word sitos, signifying wheat or grain. Ellicott notes that they had taken “nothing beyond what was absolutely necessary to keep body and soul together.”

Life application: When people go without food, there are various ways they will handle it. Very few people will be unaffected by extended times of food deprivation. Some quickly get hangry (hungry combined with angry) while others just lay around lethargically, etc.

The point for most is that without food, things will not go as intended for the human physique. In Scripture, God’s word is equated to food, such as in Deuteronomy 8:3 –

“So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

Even Job understood this –

“I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food.” Job 23:12

If we can have immediate and negative reactions to a lack of food for our physical bodies, shouldn’t we expect that without taking in God’s word, we can have immediate and negative reactions in our spiritual lives? Without coming to the word frequently, our minds are quickly diverted to contemplate the things of the world. In this, God becomes almost an afterthought. Eventually, He disappears from our thoughts altogether.

Let us consider this and choose to voluntarily feed ourselves on His word at least daily, and preferably more often than that. We eat two or three times a day. Shouldn’t we be feasting on the word equally as often? Stay in proper spiritual shape by tasting and seeing the Lord through His word!

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!
There is no want to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” Psalm 34:8-10

Lord God, may we fill our lives daily with the nourishment that can only come from You through Your word. Help us to responsibly feed ourselves on what You have presented to us for our guidance, protection, and life. Yes, Lord, help us in this and be with us as we dine daily in this wonderful treasure. Amen.