No, I’m not talking about going to the coffee shop to share a Frappuccino. The word frap is a nautical term meaning to bind something tightly or securely. To frap a sail is to secure it by binding it with a rope.
We don’t use the word frapping very often but it refers to wrapping or binding a vessel tightly with a rope or chain. Think about a boat under stress to the point it is about to come apart. In order to secure the vessel, there would be a need to give it additional support by wrapping it tightly with chains.
This is the exact scenario described in Acts 27:17. Here the NKJ translates a Greek word, boetheia, as cables. Other translations use helps or supports. The text says they used cables to undergird the ship. This is the idea of frapping a vessel.
In the context, Paul and the other passages on the ship are in a storm called a Euroclydon in verse 14. We sometimes refer to this as a Northeaster; it is a storm of hurricane force winds.
Having been in the storm several days, they are concerned the ship is about to break apart. They would eventually throw everything possible overboard. In an attempt to try and secure the ship and hold it together, they used cables to undergird the ship. The term, boetheia is defined as a rope or chain for frapping a vessel.
It is noteworthy that the Greek term, boetheia, is found only one other time in Scripture. As we will observe, in the other reference it has no obvious connection to a nautical idea. The Greek language was a powerfully descriptive language. We often lose great lessons in the translation process.
The term is found in Hebrews 4:16 and is translated as simply “help.”
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
This is in the context of identifying Jesus as our great High Priest. As such, He offers us mercy and grace to help in time of need. Help. Boetheia.
So in the first case, the chains were placed around the ship in order to strengthen it and prevent it from coming apart during the stress of the storm.
In the second case, the imagery is clear. Jesus is our High Priest. He is our help. He is that chain that holds us in the storm when we would come apart otherwise.
The storms of life are inevitable. It has been said there are 3 states of man: we are either in a storm, we have just emerged from one, or else we are about to enter one. Job 14:7 declares that man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.
When the storms of life occur and it appears our ship is about to come apart, let us be thankful for our Lord Who serves as our help, the chain, the frapping, during these times to hold us securely.
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I can’t tell you how this illustration has helped me today. It is pertinent to my situation. I also read that it was used often by owners of old ships who yet needed to use them as long as possible and they knew that the ship was not able to face the turbulence of the sea. They would “frap” them with strong chains, four or five times to “undergird them” to keep them afloat and get them to their destination. Ships such as these were called “floating coffins.”