Acts 28:3 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. There came a viper out of the heat - We may naturally suppose that there had been fuel laid before on the fire, and that the viper was in this fuel, and that it had been revived by the heat; and, when St. Paul laid his bundle on the fire, the viper was then in a state to lay hold on his hand.