10:9-18 The prejudices of Peter against the Gentiles, would have prevented his going to Cornelius, unless the Lord had prepared him for this service. To tell a Jew that God had directed those animals to be reckoned clean which were hitherto deemed unclean, was in effect saying, that the law of Moses was done away. Peter was soon made to know the meaning of it. God knows what services are before us, and how to prepare us; and we know the meaning of what he has taught us, when we find what occasion we have to make use of it.

Verse 10. - Hungry for very hungry, A.V.; desired to eat for would have eaten, A.V. Hungry. The word so rendered (πρόσπεινος) occurs nowhere else either in the New Testament or in any other writer. Possibly he, like Cornelius (ver. 30), had been fasting till the time of prayer. A trance (ἔκστασις) expresses a state of transition from the ordinary state into a new or different state. Applied to a man, it denotes that state in which the external senses and the volition are suspended, and all his impressions are derived from within (see Acts 11:5; Acts 22:17). It is also used to express great astonishment (Luke 5:26; Acts 3:10; Mark 5:42). In the LXX. of Genesis 2:21 it is spoken of Adam's deep sleep, and in Genesis 27:33 of Isaac's exceeding trembling, and elsewhere of strong emotions.

And he became very hungry,.... It being in the middle of the day, when it was usual to eat; and perhaps he had ate nothing that day, for those were reckoned the most religious persons, who eat nothing before the Minchah:

and would have eaten; though the Jews say (e), a man ought not to eat near the Minchah, not even the least, lest he should continue at it, and so neglect his prayers:

but while they made ready, while Simon's family were getting dinner ready, preparing the food for it:

he fell into a trance; or an ecstasy, or an ecstasy fell upon him; it was what was supernatural, and came from above, and did not arise from any natural cause in him; he was as it were out of the body, and entirely in the spirit; all the bodily organs and senses were shut up, and all sensible objects removed from him; and he was wholly intent on what was proposed to him in the vision, which filled him with wonder and astonishment.

(e) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Sabbat. ib.

10. a trance—differing from the "vision" of Cornelius, in so far as the things seen had not the same objective reality, though both were supernatural.

Acts 10:10 Parallel Commentaries

Acts 10:10 NIV
Acts 10:10 NLT
Acts 10:10 ESV
Acts 10:10 NASB
Acts 10:10 KJV

Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible