Snake Bite - Acts 27:1-6

Now that all the ship’s occupants are safely on the beach, they start to make arrangements for food, shelter, heat, etc. Luke tells us that there is a native “barbarous people” who “shewed us no little kindness.” When I first read this, I thought that the “no little kindness” meant that they didn’t help the stranded at all, but in fact Luke meant that not only did they show them kindness, but the amount was “no little” meaning, it was a lot. Luke gives examples of their hospitality “for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.”

Paul does what he can to help and “gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.” I wonder if at this point, Paul was just rolling his eyes, thinking, “really? A frickin snake?” The natives also had a thought when they saw that a snake had bitten Paul. Let’s remember that these people have lived on this island their whole lives, they knew the animals that were there and what impact that animal’s bite would have on a human.
I just watched a quick video last week about the effect of snake venom on human blood. Basically a drop of venom hits the blood and it congeals within seconds into one big clot. It was really gross, and I could only imagine how much damage more than one drop of venom could do to a human.
The natives must have seen countless people die from snake bites like the one Paul received, that’s why they jumped to the conclusion, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.” Surely this man is a plague on society if the universe is conspiring to kill him at every turn. They must not have be familiar with Jesus’ promise in the Doctrine and Covenants and also in Luke 10:19, which says, “behold, I give unto you power to tread of serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
The known fatality rate of this type of snake bite was so concrete that the natives assumed he would die at any moment but Paul “shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.” Interestingly, the consequences of this snake bite were so well known, the locals “looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.”
I thought about the idea that maybe the snake just didn’t release any venom in it’s bite, which I’ve heard is possible. I’m just trying to think if the people could have chalked Paul’s survival up to a coincidence. But really, between the storm, the reassurance that everyone would live if they stayed on the ship, his impeccable character, and the fact that he didn’t die of a snake bite, it gets to the point where you just have to justify too many “coincidences” for something to make sense.
It’s also obvious that this snake is not known for giving “dry bites,” based on the fact that the natives were convinced that Paul was going to die. It’s also interesting that the locals didn’t need fulfilled prophecy or anything like that to convince them of Paul’s spirituality, like the Romans did.