The passengers, soldiers, and crew depart the Fair Havens and push ahead and encounter a terrible storm from the east: Euroclydon!
By W. D. Penfield. Originally published on Substack, December 27, 2021.
Euroclydon!
Paul and company have been transferred from an Adramyttium ship, a picture of the Byzantine family of Bible manuscripts, and are now sailing in a ship of Alexandria, a picture of the Alexandrian family of texts. They’ve reached the Fair Havens. They’ve also reached the end of the fast, which is a reference to Yom Kippur, the opportunity for atonement. That’s a picture of our current age drawing to a close.
Paul urged everyone to take advantage of the opportunity and disembark at the Fair Havens rather than risk sailing into perilous times ahead.
9 Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,
10 And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.
11 Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.
This is a picture of Paul urging them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and get saved now. If they would believe, they would be translated out with the rest of believers at the end of our current age and spare themselves the peril of the Tribulation.
But they trusted the master and the owner of the Alexandrian ship—their denominational authorities, leaders, scholars, commentators, Bible publishers, copyright owners, and caretakers and proponents of the Alexandrian text family—more than the words of Paul himself. They put off a decision to believe, and pressed on into what scripture warns is a dangerous time ahead.
12 And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.
13 And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.
They didn’t think the Fair Havens were all that great. In a picture, they considered getting saved at that time an inconvenience, not “commodious.” “No one else is doing it right now. I’d feel like an oddball. I like hanging with my friends. They’d think I got religion and would be uncomfortable around me. I like the way things are now. I don’t want to make any big lifestyle changes.” Perhaps they thought there were better options than simply believing on Jesus, or “we can always make a decision later.” So they pushed on.
At first it seemed like they made a good choice. Things started out pretty well. The south wind blew softly.
But things changed:
14 But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.
Euroclydon means a storm from the east.
from Euros (the east wind)
And kludon, which is from kluzo (to billow or dash over); a surge of the sea (literally or figuratively): raging, wave.
Lots of symbolism in the Bible does double duty, with two meanings or applications (and sometimes more than two).
In this case, first a strong easterly wind causes stormy times. That gives us a hint as to where, from what geographic region, this destabilizing influence will emanate.
Then there’s the hint from the name itself—“Euro”—that Europe is going to be stormy.
The Bible likens social turbulence and upheaval to stormy seas and weather. From Isaiah 17:
12 ¶ Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
How stormy will those times be? Very stormy! The Bible describes the Tribulation as so stormy that unless it’s shortened, no one will survive it! (Matthew 24:22, Mark 13:20)
Back to the account in Acts 27. How well does the ship of Alexandria weather the storm? We’re about to find out:
15 And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.
16 And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat:
17 Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.
18 And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;
19 And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.
We can imagine the creaking and groaning of the ship and its stretched rigging, the violent tossing by the churning waves, the howling winds relentlessly pushing and driving them.
The Alexandrian ship is under terrible assault. And there’s not a Byzantine vessel anywhere in sight to transfer to for comfort and rescue. They’re stuck with the ship of Alexandria.
What will happen to all the King James Bibles?
I don’t have the figures, but despite the decline in the popularity of the KJV, it’s likely there’s at least one King James Bible—or at least a King James New Testament—in millions of American homes. And millions of people have access to the KJV text online and on their personal devices. The KJV is in the public domain and the text is freely available.
So where will all those King James Bibles go? How is it even possible the KJV will become so scarce?
World events, some prophesied in the Bible, may have a lot to do with it.
It’s way beyond the scope of these articles to give details here, but America is not going to be a factor in end times events. When America’s influence ends, so go those millions of copies of the King James Bible. And America’s Protestant influence on world Christianity will end too.
And that leaves England as the last significant repository of King James Bibles. England has left the European Union, so its influence might be minor when it comes to distributing Byzantine text family Bibles, and when it comes to preserving English as the world’s lingua franca.
The remainder of Europe is largely Roman Catholic. The Catholic church favors Alexandrian text Bibles. A Eurocentric world will have few Byzantine text Bibles. As far as which language may become the most spoken in Europe, a few candidates can be found here. English is already down to number six on the list.
Active measures could be employed to eliminate Byzantine text Bibles. They could be banned at some point, and a mass movement could be turned against them and encouraged to burn them. (Which might not even be necessary—copies could already be scarce and generally unavailable.) Copies on the “cloud” and personal devices could be detected and mass deleted with the click of a mouse button. Changes to the internet and connectivity could make Byzantine text Bibles much less accessible.
However it happens, it’s apparent something or several somethings are going to happen to make Byzantine text Bibles scarce. After Paul was transferred to an Alexandrian ship in Acts 27, there follows no more mention of any Adramyttium ship. And there’s this from Amos chapter 8:
11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
So here they are in Acts 27 with no option but to try to ride things out with a ship of Alexandria.
And that ship couldn’t bear up against the tempestuous wind. It took “much work” and required additional “helps”—supplementary resources and materials—to undergird it and support it and help them hold onto their faith. They feared being swallowed up in quicksands, the mire of debates and arguments.
They had to strike (lower) the sail instead of trying to make any headway against the social wave, and instead accept being driven by the wind and make do as best they could. The ship was “exceedingly tossed.” And they began to jettison even some important things to try to keep themselves afloat. They pitched overboard everything but the essentials.
You can have all the faith in the world, but if you’re relying on a flawed Bible translated from unreliable, inaccurate texts to support and defend your faith, you’re going to have a tough time when that Bible comes under serious assault. You might find yourself withdrawing and hunkering down and just trying to hang on and cling to hope that what you first believed is true.
And by the way, Hitchcock’s Bible Names says the meaning of “Clauda,” the name of the island they ran under, is “a lamentable voice.”
They reached a moment of despair!
20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.
They had been looking earnestly for the sun and stars to appear. That pictures the Lord’s return with ten thousands of His saints (Deuteronomy 33:2, Jude 1:14). But He had not yet returned. The storm of the Tribulation was relentless.
But then, at this dark moment, this happened:
21 But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.
Why did Paul refrain from speaking for so long?
Because he hadn’t been consulted!
Before then they still believed the master and owner of the ship more than Paul. So Paul’s own words had been pushed aside.
But now there was no denying that they were in the Tribulation, and in great peril. They finally looked to see what Paul himself had to say.
I’m sure they winced with regret when his words first reminded them that if they had listened to him earlier and believed on Jesus during the time of the Fair Havens—our current age—they could have avoided all of this.
But then he gave them some comforting words of encouragement and assurance:
22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.
That was joyful news for the passengers and crew!
But it was not good news for the Alexandrian ship.
That’s it for this article. Up next: How can Paul claim none will be lost?
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