'And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called
Melita. 2. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for
they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present
rain, and because of the cold. 3. And when Paul had gathered a bundle
of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the
heat, and fastened on his hand. 4. And when the barbarians saw the
venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt
this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet
vengeance suffereth not to live. 5. And he shook off the beast into the
fire, and felt no harm. 6. Howbeit they looked when he should have
swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a
great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and
said that he was a god. 7. In the same quarters were possessions of the
chief man of the island, whose name was Publius: who received us, and
lodged us three days courteously. 8. And it came to pass, that the
father of Publius lay sick of a fever, and of a bloody flux: to whom
Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.
9. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the
island, came, and were healed: 10. Who also honoured us with many
honours: and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were
necessary. 11. And after three months we departed in a ship of
Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and
Pollux. 12. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. 13.
And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after
one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli; 14.
Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven
days: and so we went toward Rome. 15. And from thence, when the
brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and
The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took
courage. 16. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the
prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell
by himself with a soldier that kept him.'--ACTS xxviii. 1-16.
'They _all_ escaped safe to land,' says Luke with emphasis, pointing to
the verification of Paul's assurance that there should be no loss of
life. That two hundred and seventy-six men on a wreck should all be
saved was very improbable, but the angel had promised, and Paul had
believed that it should be 'even so as it had been spoken unto him.'
Therefore the improbable came to pass, and every man of the ship's
company stood safe on the shore. Faith which grasps God's promise
'laughs at impossibilities' and brings them into the region of facts.
Wet, cold, weary, and anxious, the rescued men huddled together on the
shore in the early morning, and no doubt they were doubtful what
reception they would have from the islanders who had been attracted to
the beach. Their first question was, 'Where are we?' so completely had
they lost their reckoning. Some of the inhabitants could speak Greek or
Latin, and could tell them that they were on Melita, but the most part
of the crowd that came round them could only speak in a tongue strange
to Luke, and are therefore called by him 'barbarians,' not as being
uncivilised, but as not speaking Greek. But they could speak the
eloquent language of kindness and pity. They were heathens, but they
were men. They had not come down to the wreck for plunder, as might
have been feared, but to help the unfortunates who were shivering on
the beach in the downpour of rain, and chilled to the bone by exposure.
As always, Paul fills Luke's canvas; the other two hundred and
seventy-five were ciphers. Two incidents, in which the Apostle appears
as protected by God from danger, and as a fountain of healing for
others, are all that is told of the three months' stay in Malta. Taken
together, these cover the whole ground of the Christian's place in the
world; he is an object of divine care, he is a medium of divine
blessing. In the former one, we see in Paul's activity in gathering his
bundle of brushwood an example of how he took the humblest duties on
himself, and was not hindered either by the false sense of dignity
which keeps smaller men from doing small things, as Chinese gentlemen
pride themselves on long nails as a token that they do no work, or by
the helplessness in practical matters which is sometimes natural to,
and often affected by, men of genius, from taking his share in common
duties.
The shipwreck took place in November probably, and the 'viper' had
curled itself up for its winter sleep, and had been lifted with the
twigs by Paul's hasty hand. Roused by the warmth, it darted at Paul's
hand before it could be withdrawn, and fixed its fangs. The sight of it
dangling there excited suspicions in the mind of the natives, who would
know that Paul was a prisoner, and so jumped to the conclusion that he
was a murderer pursued by the Goddess of Justice. These rude islanders
had consciences, which bore witness to a divine law of retribution.
However mistaken may be heathens' conceptions of what constitutes right
and wrong, they all know that it is wrong to do wrong, and the dim
anticipation of God-inflicted punishment is in their hearts. The swift
change of opinion about Paul is like, though it is the reverse of, what
the people of Lystra thought of him. _They_ first took him for a god,
and then for a criminal, worshipping him to-day and stoning him
to-morrow. This teaches us how unworthy the heathen conception of a
deity is, and how lightly the name was given. It may teach us too how
fickle and easily led popular judgments are, and how they are ever
prone to rush from one extreme to another, so that the people's idol of
one week is their abhorrence the next, and the applause and execration
are equally undeserved. These Maltese critics did what many of us are
doing with less excuse--arguing as to men's merits from their
calamities or successes. A good man may be stung by a serpent in the
act of doing a good thing; that does not prove him to be a monster. He
may be unhurt by what seems fatal; that does not prove him to be a god
or a saint.
The other incident recorded as occurring in Malta brings out the
Christian's relation to others as a source of healing. An interesting
incidental proof of Luke's accuracy is found in the fact that
inscriptions discovered in Malta show that the official title of the
governor was 'First of the Melitaeans.' The word here rendered 'chief'
is literally 'first.' Luke's precision is shown in another direction in
his diagnosis of the diseases of Publius's father, which are described
by technical medical terms. The healing seems to have been unasked.
Paul 'went in,' as if from a spontaneous wish to render help. There is
no record of any expectation or request from Publius.
Christians are to be 'like the dew on the grass, which waiteth not for
man,' but falls unsought. The manner of the healing brings out very
clearly its divine source, and Paul's part as being simply that of the
channel for God's power. He prays, and then lays his hands on the sick
man. There are no words assuring him of healing. God is invoked, and
then His power flows through the hands of the suppliant. So with all
our work for men in bringing the better cure with which we are
entrusted, we are but channels of the blessing, pipes through which the
water of life is brought to thirsty lips. Therefore prayer must precede
and accompany all Christian efforts to communicate the healing of the
Gospel; and the most gifted are but, like Paul, 'ministers through
whom' faith and salvation come.
The argument from silence is precarious, but the entire omission of
notice of evangelistic work in Melita is noteworthy. Probably the
Apostle as a prisoner was not free to preach Christ in any public
manner.
Ancient navigation was conducted in a leisurely fashion very strange to
us. Three months' delay in the island, rendered necessary by wintry
storms, would end about the early part of March, when the season for
safe sailing began. So the third ship which was used in this voyage set
sail. Luke notices its 'sign' as being that of the Twin Brethren, the
patrons of sailors, whose images were, no doubt, displayed on the bow,
just as to-day boats in that region often have a Madonna nailed on the
mast. Strange conjunction--Castor and Pollux on the prow, and Paul on
the deck!
Puteoli, on the bay of Naples, was the landing-place, and there, after
long confinement with uncongenial companions, the three Christians,
Paul, Aristarchus, and Luke, found brethren. We can understand the joy
of such a meeting, and can almost hear the narrative of perils which
would be poured into sympathetic ears. Observe that, according to what
seems the true reading, verse 14 says, 'We were consoled among them,
remaining seven days.' The centurion could scarcely delay his march to
please the Christians at Puteoli; and the thought that the Apostle,
whose spirit had never flagged while danger was near and effort was
needed, felt some tendency to collapse, and required cheering when the
strain was off, is as natural as it is pathetic.
So the whole company set off on their march to Rome--about a hundred
and forty miles. The week's delay in Puteoli would give time for
apprising the church in Rome of the Apostle's coming, and two parties
came out to meet him, one travelling as far as Appii Forum, about forty
Roman miles from the city; the other as far as 'The Three Taverns,'
some ten miles nearer it. The simple notice of the meeting is more
touching than many words would have been. It brings out again the
Apostle's somewhat depressed state, partly due, no doubt, to nervous
tension during the long and hazardous voyage, and partly to his
consciousness that the decisive moment was very near. But when he
grasped the hands and looked into the faces of the Roman brethren, whom
he had so long hungered to see, and to whom he had poured out his heart
in his letter, he 'thanked God, and took courage.' The most heroic
need, and are helped by, the sympathy of the humble. Luther was braced
for the Diet of Worms by the knight who clapped him on the back as he
passed in and spoke a hearty word of cheer.
There would be some old friends in the delegation of Roman Christians,
perhaps some of those who are named in Romans xvi., such as Priscilla
and Aquila, and the unnamed matron, Rufus's mother, whom Paul there
calls 'his mother and mine.' It would be an hour of love and effusion,
and the shadow of appearing before Caesar would not sensibly dim the
brightness. Paul saw God's hand in that glad meeting, as we should do
in all the sweetness of congenial intercourse. It was not only because
the welcomers were his friends that he was glad, but because they were
Christ's friends and servants. The Apostle saw in them the evidence
that the kingdom was advancing even in the world's capital, and under
the shadow of Caesar's throne, and that gladdened him and made him
forget personal anxieties. We too should be willing to sink our own
interests in the joy of seeing the spread of Christ's kingdom.
Paul turned thankfulness for the past and present into calm hope for
the future: 'He took courage.' There was much to discourage and to
excuse tremors and forebodings, but he had God and Christ with him, and
therefore he could front the uncertain future without flinching, and
leave all its possibilities in God's hands. Those who have such a past
as every Christian has should put fear far from them, and go forth to
meet any future with quiet hearts, and minds kept in perfect peace
because they are stayed on God.