Acts 10:9
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The next day at about the sixth hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
upon the housetop--the flat roof, the chosen place in the East for cool retirement. the sixth hour--noon.
Open source ↗Cornelius had received positive orders from heaven to send for Peter, whom otherwise he had not heard of, or at least not heeded; but here is another difficulty that lies in the way of bringing them together - the question is whether Peter will come to Cornelius when he is sent for; not as if he thought it below him to come at a beck, or as if he were afraid to preach his doctrine to a polite man as Cornelius was: but it sticks at a point of conscience. Cornelius is a very worthy man, and has many good qualities, but he is a Gentile, he is not circumcised; and, because God in his law had forbidden his people to associate with idolatrous nations, they would not keep company with any but those of their own religion, though they were ever so deserving, and they carried the matter so far that they made even the involuntary touch of a Gentile to contract a ceremonial pollution, Joh 18:28. Peter had not got over this stingy bigoted notion of his countrymen, and therefore will be shy of coming to Cornelius. Now, to remove this difficulty, he has a vision here, to prepare him to receive the message sent him by Cornelius, as Ananias had to prepare him to go to Paul. The scriptures of the Old Testament had spoken plainly of the bringing in of the Gentiles into the church. Christ had given plain intimations of it when he ordered them to teach all nations; and yet even Peter himself, who knew so much of his Master's mind, could not understand it, till it was here revealed by vision, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, Eph 3:6. Now here observe, I. The circumstances of this vision. 1. It was when the messengers sent from Cornelius were now nigh the city, Act 10:9. Peter knew nothing of their approach, and they knew nothing of his praying; but he that knew both him and them was…
Open source ↗10:9-16 Peter received the same vision three times to confirm its truthfulness (see Gen 41:32; 2 Cor 13:1).
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom,
Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.
Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
and will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come in, set it on fire, and burn it, along with the houses of those who provoked Me to anger by burning incense to Baal on their rooftops and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like that place, Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”
So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.
And after they had come down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof of his house.
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and slipped out to a solitary place to pray.