ἀνέβη Πέτρος ἐπὶ τὸ δῶμα, went up upon the housetop. With the flat roofs of houses, to which access could be obtained from outside without passing through the rooms of the building, the housetop formed a convenient place for retirement. It was the place chosen by Samuel (1 Samuel 9:25-26) for his conference with Saul before he anointed him king. Cp. also 2 Samuel 11:2.

προσεύξασθαι, to pray. We find that the housetop was used as a place for religious observances (Jeremiah 19:13; Jeremiah 32:29; Zephaniah 1:5). These are instances of worship paid to false gods; and we find a similar example of altars on the top of the roofs of a part of the Jewish temple (2 Kings 23:12) LXX., τὰ θυσιαστήρια τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος τοῦ ὑπερῴου Ἄχαζ, but in Nehemiah (Acts 8:16) at the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles we read καὶ ἐποίησαν ἑαυτοῖς σκηνὰς�. So that these places were not used only for purposes of idolatrous worship, though in the O.T. they are noticed most frequently in that connexion.

περὶ ὥραν ἕκτην, about the sixth hour, i.e. midday, and the second of the Jewish stated hours of prayer. We see from Acts 10:23-24 that the journey from Joppa to Caesarea occupied more than one day, so that the vision of Cornelius took place on the day before the trance of St Peter, and the messengers had time almost to accomplish their journey before the Apostle, by his vision, was prepared to receive them. The distance between the two places was 30 Roman miles.

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Old Testament