Acts 27:33-38 33And as day was about to come, Paul urged everyone to eat food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day waiting, you have continued without food, having taken nothing. 34Therefore, I urge you to take some food; for this will be your salvation, for none of you will lose a hair from your head.” 35And after saying these things and taking bread, he gave thanks to God before everyone, and breaking it, he began to eat. 36Then, being all encouraged, they ate some food themselves. 37And we were, in all, 276 persons in the ship. 38And when they were filled with food, they lightened the ship by throwing out the wheat into the sea.
At the peak of desperation and discouragement, Paul once again stepped into the situation as a pastor and prophet. No one had eaten much during the two weeks of storm and struggle. Paul had mentioned once before about the lack of food and energy, but apparently, the situation had gotten worse, and people were beginning to grow weak from hunger and exhaustion. Worry and stress can cause many physical problems and keep a person from eating. The crew and passengers may not have had any opportunity to eat if the ship was being tossed back and forth. Paul urged everyone to refresh themselves with the strength of food because they would need it.
Paul used the word salvation (), which often has a spiritual nuance in the New Testament. Taking the food would be an initial and important step for everyone to experience God’s salvation through Paul’s witness about Jesus. Food was not just for their physical bodies, however important that was, but also for their spirits to be encouraged and open to other miracles God would do in their lives. The idiom about not losing even a hair from their heads is found in other parts of the Bible and used by the author of Acts in Luke 12:7 and 21:18. The meaning is an overstatement, implying that no one would lose their lives on this journey.
Paul then gave thanks for the food in front of everyone, which watered the seed of hope he had just planted. Everyone saw Paul’s thanks in the midst of the storm. Paul’s sequence was typical of how Jews ate and was adopted by Christians. It became symbolic of how Christians remembered the Lord’s Supper: they took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and ate (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 11:23-26). Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:4 about the significance of being thankful for our food: “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
Paul’s words and example encouraged all 276 people on board. With their stomachs full, spirits inspired, and bodies strengthened, they turned back to logic and reason. If the ship were about to run aground, it would be best to lighten the load. The ship was carrying both passengers and cargo. The cargo was not as important as the people, so it was decided to get rid of the wheat, which was a costly decision for the ship owner and crew. They deserve credit for considering human life, including their own, as more important. Casting off the cargo also showed some degree of trust in Paul’s words, even if ever so slightly. God was using Paul to save lives and save souls.