THE SHIPWRECK
After a horrible stormy night, being blown off course, Paul had convinced everyone on the ship to eat and stay onboard until the morning after anchoring the ship down by an island. In the morning, they cut the four anchors and floated the ship in, digging into a sandbar, perhaps in St. Thomas Bay. The ship's stern started to break up by the pounding surf. Paul convinced the soldiers not to kill the prisoners onboard; but to let them swim to shore.
WELCOME TO MALTA
"When they had been brought safely through, then we found out that the island was called Malta. The natives showed us extraordinary kindness; for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all."
Acts 28:1-2 NAS
PAUL WITH HIS VISION PROBLEM DID NOT SEE THE VIPER
"But when Paul had gathered a bundled of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand."
Acts 28:3 NAS
THE MALTESE PEOPLE IDENTIFIED THE SNAKE AS VENOMOUS
"When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, "Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live." Acts 28:4 NAS
PAUL WASN'T HARMED
"However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm." Acts 28:5 NAS
THE MALTESE PEOPLE WERE AMAZED HE'S ALIVE
"But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god." Acts 28:6 NAS
CONCLUSION
Today on Malta there are non-venomous vipers: Black Whip snakes and Leopard snakes. And only the Cat snake has only the poison to kill small animals.
Skeptics today say that the Apostle Paul was bitten by the non-venomous Leopard snake. And maybe the Natives got confused and that it looked like another more venomous snake. (In the US, some people have a hard time identifying the venomous Coral snake and the harmless Scarlet King snake.)
On the other hand, the Maltese were superstitious people, and had folklore that after Paul was bitten, all the snakes on Malta became non-venomous.
Most likely there were venomous vipers dwelling on the Island and the natives were familiar with identifying venomous snakes and had experience with seeing people bitten and die.
The venomous South Italian Asp viper lives nearby in Sicily and Italy. A bite to the hand would be very painful, vision would be impaired, arm would become numb, he would have breathing problems and possibly die.
Poisonous vipers also live in Turkey, where the ship Paul boarded was from. Could the snake be a stowaway that found it's way to shore?
Snakes can give a wet bite or a dry bite. Maybe God caused the snake not to inject the venom--a dry bite. God protected the Apostle Paul from a bite from a venomous snake bite. Paul's mission was to go to Rome and proclaim the gospel.
