And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.

People's New Testament

27:35,36 He took bread, and gave thanks. As Paul was wont to do before eating; as Christ himself did (Mt 14:19 Joh 6:11).

Began to eat. To encourage them by his example. It had its effect, for they were all of good cheer, and they also took meat (Ac 27:36).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

35. when he had thus spoken he took bread-assuming the lead.

and gave thanks to God in presence of them all-an impressive act in such circumstances, and fitted to plant a testimony for the God he served in the breasts of all.

when he had broken it, he began to eat-not understood by the Christians in the ship as a love-feast, or celebration of the Lord's Supper, as some think, but a meal to recruit exhausted nature, which Paul shows them by his own example how a Christian partakes of.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.