Acts 10:9. the housetop to pray: cf. 2 Kings 23:12; Jeremiah 19:13; Daniel 6:10. sixth hour: an hour of prayer (cf. Acts 2:15). No food was ordinarily eaten by the Jews before midday.
Acts 10:10. Peter is in a house where there are people to prepare his meal. a trance: cf. Genesis 15:12; 2 Corinthians 12:2.
Acts 10:11. The oldest Fathers and VSS differ much as to what Peter saw coming down to him. According to the Perpignan Latin it was a great box suspended from heaven at the corners.
Acts 10:12. beasts: as in Genesis 1:24; on clean and unclean beasts, see Leviticus 11. The coney, the pig, and the hare were forbidden to the Jew for food, with many inhabitants of the water and of the air. This made the Jews peculiar in the ancient world; with what tenacity they stuck to the dietary rules the example of Daniel tells us (Daniel 1:8 ff.), and many others are known, e.g. 1Ma_1:62 f., Tob_1:10-12, Jdt_12:1 f., Ad. Est. 14:17.
Acts 10:13. The voice tells Peter that the food rules he has observed are to be cast aside, that he may eat what Gentiles eat and join them at their meals. His objection is put aside as not according to God's will; the distinctions he wishes to keep up about clean and unclean foods are not from God but upheld by men against God. The threefold repetition removes all doubt as to the lesson; the vessel is withdrawn, the lesson is taught.
Acts 10:17. before the gate: the house has a gateway leading into the inner court, from which the rooms were entered.