23–24 παρίσταμαι, “stand by,” is a technical term in epiphanies; ἐκολάσθην ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ πολλὰ [κ]αὶ ὀνείροις μοι παρεστάθη καὶ ἐπενποδών … (“I was chastened by God often, and he
stood by me both in dreams and before my eyes”). The word order θεοῦ ἄγγελος, “an angel of the God,” is Lukan. The
motif of a rescue from distress at sea by the intervention of a god (Isis,
Serapis, Dioscuri) is widespread (Lucian Navig.
9). Moreover, special divine protection in danger is a θεῖος ἀνήρ, “divine man,” motif. (Hans
Conzelmann, Acts of the Apostles: A
Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles [trans. James Limburg, A. Thomas
Kraabel, and Donald H. Juel; Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on
the Bible (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987], 219)
