In effect:
[T]he idea is that the owner-merchant captain of a ship (= the people of Athens c. 430 - 400 BC) was blind and could not navigate or steer the ship. Members of the crew (= political leaders and pundits who got that city into the ruinous Peloponnesian war) then tried to befuddle him, and clamoured to gain control of the helm through having popular support; even though they plainly lacked character and competence. Meanwhile, away in a corner was a disdained, “useless” stargazer – the skilled navigator. The fate of such a “ship” was sadly predictable; a grim warning on how democracies can fail.
Now, too, "[i]n Paul’s day, this parable would have been part of the mental furniture of any educated person of the Roman Empire." So it is unsurprising to see how Luke subtly reflects on the parable in his account of Paul's shipwreck on his way to Rome as an appeals prisoner, c. 59 AD. Here is how I reflected on this at new year's 2013:
[A]t this stage, I think things are going to have to crash so badly and some elites are going to have to be so discredited by the associated spreading failure, that media propaganda tactics cannot cover it up anymore.
My model for that comes from one of the red-flag sources that will give some of the objectors [to the design theory movement in science] the vapours.
Acts 27.
What, how dare you cite that, that . . . that . . . textbook for theocratic tyranny by the ignorant, insane, stupid and/or wicked followers of that bronze age misogynistic homophobic genocidal racist war god!
(Do you hear how your agit-prop talking points are enmeshing you in the classic trap of believing your own propaganda?)
Let’s start with, Paul of Tarsus, c. AD 59, was not in the Bronze Age but was an appellate prisoner in chains on early Imperial era grain ships having a hard time making way from the Levant and Asia Minor to Rome, in the second case ending up in a bay on Crete. What followed is a classic exercise in the follies of manipulated democracy, a case study that will well repay study in our time.
It was late in the sailing season, and the merchant-owner was worried about his ship in an open bay at Fair Havens, given what winter storms can do.
The passengers were not too impressed by the nearby settlements as a wintering place. (Sailing stopped in Autumn and opened back up in Spring.)
The key technico, the kubernetes — steersman, more or less like a pilot of an airliner — knew where his bread was buttered, and by whom.
In the middle was a Centurion of the elite messenger corps.
We are at ship’s council, and Paul, in chains, is suggesting that the suggestion to venture our with a favourable wind to try to make it to a more commodious port down-coast was excessively risky not only to boat but life.
The financial and technical talking heads and the appeal of comfort allowed him to be easily marginalised and dismissed.
Then we saw a gentle south breeze, that would have allowed a reach down the coast. (The technicos probably knew this could be a precursor to a storm, but were not going to cut across the dominant view.)
They sailed out.
Bang, an early winter noreaster hit them and sprang the boat’s timbers (why they tried to hold together with ropes [--> called frapping]) so the ship was in a sinking condition from the beginning.
Caught in the storm (Source)
Worse, they were heading for sandbars off the coast of today’s Libya.
For two weeks all they could do was use a sea anchor to control drift and try to steer vaguely WNW.
Forget, eating.
That is when Paul stood forth as a good man in a storm, and encouraged them with a vision from God. By this time, hope was to be shipwrecked on a coast. (Turned out, [probably] north coast of Malta [possibly, east end].)
While the ship was at risk of being driven aground and set out four anchors by the stern from midnight on, the sailors tried to abandon the passengers on a ruse, spotted by Paul and/or Luke his travelling companion.
By this time, the Centurion knew who to take seriously and the ship’s boat was cut away. He then took the decision to save Paul and refused the soldiers’ request to kill the prisoners to prevent escape (for which their lives would have been forfeit).
So, they made it to a beach on Malta, having lost the ship in any case AND nearly their own lives.
All of which is full of lessons from history for us in our own decaying democratic polities today, and in the face of polarised voices and all sorts of hidden agenda, half- truth- at- best counsels.
It is going to take a noreaster to sort out the mess, and there is going to be a lot of serious loss to those beguiled by the bewitching counsels of those inclined to tickle itching ears with what they calculate we want to hear.
Sorry if that does not sound upbeat for a new year day, but frankly things are beyond that stage with our civilisation.
Our job now is to be the voice of sense before the storm, and to prepare ourselves to be good men or women in a storm.
We need to ponder very carefully indeed on whether we are making shipwreck of democracy in our day. END
PS: My thoughts seem to parallel those of some thinkers concerned with the ongoing unravelling of the American Experiment. See here.
