Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Acts 10:9 - 10:16
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act_10:9-16
9On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; 11and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, 12and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. 13A voice came to him, "Get up, Peter, kill and eat!" 14But Peter said, "By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean." 15Again a voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." 16This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.
Act_10:9 "about the sixth hour to pray" Although rabbinical Judaism had set aside 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to pray (the times of the daily sacrifices in the Temple), the Pharisees had added noon as another appropriate time. Apparently Peter was acting in the traditions of the elders by praying at noon or maybe he was just taking a nap before lunch.
Act_10:10 "he became hungry" The setting of Peter's vision is in the context of his hunger and his view of the Mediterranean Ocean from Simon's roof.
The word for "hunger" is used only here in all of known Greek literature. Its exact connotation is impossible to know, but with the preposition pros added, it may mean "extreme hunger," but this is surprising in this context. This hapax legomenon (words used only once in the NT) must remain uncertain until more lexical information is discovered. It must remain uncertain as to why Luke chose to use this rare term, but the general sense of the context is obvious.
▣ "he fell into a trance" This is literally "out of himself" or "beside himself," often used of astonishment (cf. Mar_5:42; Mar_16:8; Luk_5:26; and several texts in LXX). We get the English term "ecstasy" from this Greek word. In this verse and Act_11:5 and Act_22:17 it means a semiconscious mental state which allows God to speak to the subconscious. This is a different word from the one used in Act_10:3 to describe Cornelius' vision.
Act_10:11
NASB "the sky opened"
NKJV, TEV "heaven opened"
NRSV "the heaven opened"
NJB "heaven thrown open"
This is a perfect passive participle, literally "the heavens having been and continued to be opened." In the OT heavens is plural. This opening of the atmosphere is an idiom for the spiritual, invisible dimension to break into physical reality (cf. Eze_1:1; Mat_3:16; Mar_1:10; Luk_3:21; Joh_1:51; Act_7:56; Act_10:11; Rev_4:1; Rev_19:11).
▣ "like a great sheet" This is the same term used for the sails on a ship.
Act_10:12 "all kinds of four footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air" This is the same threefold division of animals found in Genesis 1 and Gen_6:20. Apparently they were made up of clean and unclean animals according to the Jewish food laws of Leviticus 11.
Act_10:13 "A voice came to him" From the time of the closing of Malachi to the coming of the NT period there was no authoritative prophetic voice from God among the Jews. During this period when the Jews wanted to confirm something as being revealed from God they depended on something known as a bath kol. We see this in the NT in Mat_3:17; Mat_17:5, also in Act_9:7, and here.
Act_10:14 "By no means Lord for I have never eaten anything unholy or unclean" "By no means" is a strong Greek phrase used several times in the Septuagint to translate several Hebrew idioms. Peter was still struggling with his Jewish orthodoxy. He was basing his actions on Leviticus 11. However, Jesus seems to have specifically dealt with this issue in Mar_7:14 ff, especially Act_10:19. It is interesting to note that the Gospel of Mark is apparently the later recollections or sermons of the Apostle Peter from Rome.
Act_10:15 "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy" This is a present active imperative with a negative particle, which usually implies stop an action already in progress. God clearly states the cessation of the Mosaic food laws (i.e., Leviticus 11). They are no longer appropriate for new covenant believers. Here they are used in an analogous way to show the acceptance of all humans!
Act_10:16 "This happened three times" It is not uncommon in the Bible for important prayers, praises, or actions to be repeated three times.
1. Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (cf. Mar_14:36; Mar_14:39)
2. Jesus' discussion with Peter after the resurrection (cf. Joh_21:17)
3. Paul's "thorn in the flesh" prayer (cf. 2Co_12:8)
It was a Semitic way of emphasis (cf. Isa_6:3; Jer_7:4). In this case it specifically shows Peter's reluctance to obey this heavenly voice!
A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures In the New Testament has an incisive word at this point.
"Here is a striking illustration of obstinacy on the part of one who acknowledges the voice of God to him when the command of the Lord crosses one's preferences and prejudices. There are abundant examples today of precisely this thing. In a real sense Peter was maintaining a pose of piety beyond the will of the Lord" (p. 137).