Acts 20:9

Acts 20:9. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. ‘The place was an upper room, with a recess or balcony projecting over the street or the court. The night was dark: three weeks had not elapsed since the Passover, and the moon only appeared as a faint crescent in the early part of the night. Many lamps were burning in the room where the congregation was assembled. The place was hot and crowded. St. Paul, with the feeling strongly impressed upon his mind that the next day was the day of his departure, and that souls might be lost by delay, was continuing in earnest discourse, and prolonging it even till midnight, when an occurrence suddenly took place which filled the assembly with alarm, though it was afterwards converted into an occasion of joy and thanksgiving. A young listener, whose name was Eutychus, was overcome by exhaustion, heat, and weariness, and sank into a deep slumber. He was seated or leaning in the balcony, and falling down in his sleep, was dashed upon the pavement below, and was taken up dead' (Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul). It should be remembered that in the East the windows, which were usually closed only by lattice-work, are large, and mostly reach down to the floor, resembling rather a door than a window. This window was, doubtless on account of the heat, wide open. In the high, narrow streets of eastern towns, the upper storey is often used for social purposes, partly as removed from the noise of the street, partly as being more open to the air. Nothing further is known of this Eutychus; the name was by no means an uncommon one.

And was taken up dead. The words here are perfectly plain, and positively do not admit of any ‘watering down.' The facts related are perfectly simple, and admit of no explanation but one. The young man fell from the great height of a third storey on to the hard ground, or more probably pavement, below, and was killed by the fall. The words of the apostle in the next (10th) verse, ‘Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him,' may well be compared to the words of Paul's Master, when He raised from the dead the little daughter of Jairus, of whose death no expositor has ever doubted: ‘Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth' (Luke 8:52). To the Lord her death, though real, was yet but as a sleep, out of which He was come to awaken her; and the servant, in this case , was conscious of possessing for a moment the same strange power which belonged to his Divine Master.