And while the day was coming on - At daybreak. It was before they had sufficient light to discern what they should do.

To take meat - Food. The word "meat" was formerly used to denote "food" of any kind.

That ye have tarried - That you have remained or been fasting.

Having taken nothing - No regular meal. It cannot mean that they had lived entirely without food, but that they had been in so much danger, were so constantly engaged, and had been so anxious about their safety, that they had taken no regular meal, or that what they had taken had been at irregular intervals, and had been a scanty allowance. "Appian speaks of an army which for 20 days together had neither food nor sleep; by which he must mean that they neither made full meals nor slept whole nights together. The same interpretation must be given to this phrase" (Doddridge). The effect of this must have been that they would be exhausted, and little able to endure the fatigues which yet remained.

While the day was coining on - It was then apparently about day-break.

This day is the fourteenth day that ye have - continued fasting - Ye have not had one regular meal for these fourteen days past. Indeed we may take it for granted that, during the whole of the storm, very little was eaten by any man: for what appetite could men have for food, who every moment had death before their eyes?

And while the day was coming on,.... Between midnight and break of day: Paul besought them all to take meat; to sit down and eat a meal together:

saying, this day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried; or have been waiting for, or expecting; that is, as the Arabic version expresses it, a shipwreck; for fourteen days past, ever since the storm begun, they had expected nothing but shipwreck and death:

and continued fasting, having taken nothing: not that they had neither ate nor drank all that while, for without a miracle they could never have lived so long without eating something; but the meaning is, they had not eaten anyone regular meal all that while, had only caught up a bit now and then, and ate it, and that but very little.

While the day was coming on (ἄχρι δὲ οὗ ἔμελλεν ἡμέρα γίνεσθαι)

Lit., until it should become day: in the interval between midnight and morning.

{10} And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.

(10) When the world trembles, the faithful alone are not only at peace, but strengthen and encourage others by their example.

27:33 Paul besought them all to take meat. At dawn of day. He seems to have really had charge in this hour of peril. They needed the strength of the food for the work before them.

Having taken nothing. The thought is, that for fourteen days they had had no regular meals.

27:33 Ye continue fasting, having taken nothing - No regular meal, through a deep sense of their extreme danger. Let us not wonder then, if men who have a deep sense of their extreme danger of everlasting death, for a time forget even to eat their bread, or to attend to their worldly affairs. Much less let us censure that as madness, which may be the beginning of true wisdom.

33-37. while day was coming on-"until it should be day"; that is, in the interval between the cutting off of the boat and the approach of day, which all were "anxiously looking for" (Ac 27:29).

Paul-now looked up to by all the passengers as the man to direct them.

besought them all to take meat-"partake of a meal."

saying, This is the fourteenth day ye have tarried-"waited for a breathing time."

having eaten nothing-that is, taken no regular meal. The impossibility of cooking, the occupation of all hands to keep down leakage, &c., sufficiently explain this, which is indeed a common occurrence in such cases.

27:30-38 God, who appointed the end, that they should be saved, appointed the means, that they should be saved by the help of these shipmen. Duty is ours, events are God's; we do not trust God, but tempt him, when we say we put ourselves under his protection, if we do not use proper means, such as are within our power, for our safety. But how selfish are men in general, often even ready to seek their own safety by the destruction of others! Happy those who have such a one as Paul in their company, who not only had intercourse with Heaven, but was of an enlivening spirit to those about him. The sorrow of the world works death, while joy in God is life and peace in the greatest distresses and dangers. The comfort of God's promises can only be ours by believing dependence on him, to fulfil his word to us; and the salvation he reveals must be waited for in use of the means he appoints. If God has chosen us to salvation, he has also appointed that we shall obtain it by repentance, faith, prayer, and persevering obedience; it is fatal presumption to expect it in any other way. It is an encouragement to people to commit themselves to Christ as their Saviour, when those who invite them, clearly show that they do so themselves.