Acts 10:11

θεωρεῖ : “beholdeth,” historic present, giving vividness. ὡς ὀθόν. μεγ. Both words, ὀθόνη and ἀρχή (in this sense), are peculiar to St. Luke in N.T. the phrase ἀρχαὶ ὀθόνης is medical, so that the expression here rendered ends or corners of a sheet is really technical medical phraseology, see Hobart, p. 218, Plummer, Introd. to St. Luke, lxv., Zahn, Einleitung, ii., 436. ἀρχαί is also used in LXX, Exodus 36:24 (Exodus 39:17), ὀθόνη not at all in LXX, but both words are found in classical writers in senses approaching their meaning here; but here as elsewhere in St. Luke it is the combination which arrests attention, for ἀρχή and ἀρχαί are found again and again in medical language with ὀθόνη or ὀθόνιον. τέσσαρσιν ἀρχαῖς : “by four corners,” R.V. No article; there might have been many ends or corners. It is doubtful how far we can therefore press the imagery as referring to the four regions of the world, or that men would come from the north, south, etc., to share the kingdom.