J.J. Blunt's Undesigned Scriptural Coincidences
AN ARGUMENT FOR THE VERACITY OF THE HOLY BIBLE
Introduction
Part One:
The Books of Moses
Part Two:
The Historical Scriptures
Part Three:
The Prophetical Scripture
Part Four:
The Gospels and Acts
Appendix:
The Gospels, Acts
and Josephus

XLII. “A SHIP OF ALEXANDRIA”

Acts 27:5.—“And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy.”

10.—“Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading (tou fortou) and ship, but also of our lives.”

38.—“And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat (ton siton) into the sea.”

It has been remarked, I think with justice, that the circumstantial details contained in this chapter of the shipwreck cannot be read without a conviction of their truth. I have never seen, however, the following coincidence in some of these particulars taken notice of in the manner it deserves. In my opinion it is very satisfactory, and when combined with a paragraph on the same subject, which will be found in the Appendix, (No. XXII.) establishes the fact of St. Paul’s voyage beyond all reasonable doubt.

The ship into which the centurion removed Paul and the other prisoners at Myra, was a ship of Alexandria that was sailing into Italy. It was evidently a merchant-vessel, for mention is made of its lading. The nature of the lading, however, is not directly stated. It was capable of receiving Julius and his company, and was bound right for them. This was enough, and this was all that St. Luke cares to tell. Yet, in verse 38, we find, but most casually, of what its cargo consisted. The furniture of the ship, or its “tackling,” as it is called, was thrown overboard in the early part of the storm; but the freight was naturally enough kept till it could be kept no longer, and then we discover, for the first time, that it was wheat—“the wheat was cast into the sea.”

Now it is a notorious fact that Rome was in a great measure supplied with corn from Alexandria—that in times of scarcity the vessels coming from that port were watched with intense anxiety as they approached the coast of Italy [See Sueton. Nero. § 45.] —that they were of a size not inferior to our line of battle ships [See Wetstein, Acts 27:6.] , a thing by no means usual in the vessels of that day—and accordingly, that such an one might well accommodate the centurion and his numerous party, in addition to its own crew and lading.

There is a very singular air of truth in all this. The several detached verses at the head of this Number tell a continuous story, but it is not perceived till they are brought together. The circumstances drop out one by one at intervals in the course of the narrative, unarranged, unpremeditated, thoroughly incidental; so that the chapter might be read twenty times, and their agreement with one another and with contemporary history be still overlooked. I confess, it seems to me the most unlikely thing in the world, that a mere inventor of St. Paul’s voyage should have been able to arrange it all, try how he would. It is possible that he might have affected some circumstantial detail, and so have made St. Paul and his companions change their ship at Myra; he might have said that it was a ship of Alexandria bound for Italy; but that he should have added, some thirty verses afterwards, and then quite incidentally, that its cargo was wheat, a fact so curiously agreeing with his former assertion that the vessel was Alexandrian, and was sailing to Italy, argues a subtlety of invention quite incredible. But if the account of the voyage, as far as relates to the change of ship, the tempest, the disastrous consequences, &c.; is found, on being tried by a test which the writer of the Acts could never have contemplated, to be an unquestionable fact, how can the rest, which does not admit of the same scrutiny, be set aside as unworthy of credit?—for instance, that Paul actually foretold the danger—that again, in the midst of it, he foretold the final escape, and that an angel had declared to him God’s pleasure, that for his sake not a soul should perish? I see no alternative but to receive all this, nothing doubting; unless we consider St. Luke to have mixed up fact and fiction in a manner the most artful and insidious. Yet who can read the Acts of the Apostles and come to such a conclusion?