And he became very hungry - Prom the connection, where it is said that they were making ready, that is, preparing a meal, it would seem that this was the customary hour of dining. The Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, however, had but two meals, and the first was usually taken about ten or eleven o'clock. This meal usually consisted of fruit, milk, cheese, etc. Their principal meal was about six or seven in the afternoon, at which time they observed their feasts. See Jahn's Bible. Archaeol. section 145.

He fell into a trance - Greek: an ecstasy, ἔκστασις ekstasis, fell upon him. In Acts 11:5, Peter says that in a trance he saw a vision. The word "trance, or ecstasy," denotes "a state of mind when the attention is absorbed in a particular train of thought, so that the external senses are partially or entirely suspended." It is a high species of abstraction from external objects, when the mind becomes forgetful of surrounding things, and is fixed solely on its own thoughts, so that appeals to the external senses do not readily rouse it. The soul seems to have passed out of the body, and to be conversant only with spiritual essences. Thus, Balaam is said to have seen the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance Numbers 24:4, Numbers 24:16; thus Paul, in praying in the temple, fell into a trance Acts 22:17; and perhaps a similar state is described in 2 Corinthians 12:2. This effect seems to be caused by so intense and absorbing a train of thought as to overcome the senses of the body, or wholly to withdraw the mind from their influence, and to fix it on the unseen object that engrosses it. It is often a high state of reverie, or absence of mind, which Dr. Rush describes as "induced by the stimulus of ideas of absent subjects, being so powerful as to destroy the perception of present objects" (Diseases of the Mind, p. 310, ed. Philadelphia, 1812). In the case of Peter, however, there was a supernatural influence that drew his attention away from present objects.

He became very hungry - It seems that this happened about dinner-time; for it appears that they were making ready, παρασκευαζοντων, dressing the victuals for the family. The dinner among the ancients was a very slight meal; and they had no breakfast: their supper was their principal meal. And, in very ancient times, they ate only once in the day. Supper was the meal at which they saw their friends, the business of the day being then finished.

He fell into a trance - Επεπεσεν επ' αυτον εκϚασις, An ecstasy fell upon him. A person may be said to be in an ecstasy when transported with joy or admiration, so that he is insensible to every object but that on which he is engaged. Peter's ecstasy is easily accounted for: he went up to the house-top to pray: at first he felt keen hunger; but, being earnestly engaged with God, all natural appetites became absorbed in the intense application of his soul to his Maker. While every passion and appetite was under this Divine influence, and the soul, without let or hinderance, freely conversing with God, then the visionary and symbolical representation mentioned here took place.

And he became very hungry,.... It being in the middle of the day, when it was usual to eat; and perhaps he had ate nothing that day, for those were reckoned the most religious persons, who eat nothing before the Minchah:

and would have eaten; though the Jews say (e), a man ought not to eat near the Minchah, not even the least, lest he should continue at it, and so neglect his prayers:

but while they made ready, while Simon's family were getting dinner ready, preparing the food for it:

he fell into a trance; or an ecstasy, or an ecstasy fell upon him; it was what was supernatural, and came from above, and did not arise from any natural cause in him; he was as it were out of the body, and entirely in the spirit; all the bodily organs and senses were shut up, and all sensible objects removed from him; and he was wholly intent on what was proposed to him in the vision, which filled him with wonder and astonishment.

(e) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Sabbat. ib.

Very hungry (πρόσπεινος)

Only here in New Testament.

Would have eaten (ἤθελε γεύσασθαι)

Rev., correctly, desired to eat. Γευέσθαι is rendered both to eat and to taste, more frequently the latter. See Matthew 27:34; John 2:9; 1 Peter 2:3; and compare Acts 20:11.

He fell into a trance (ἐπέπεσεν ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔκστασις)

Lit., an ecstasy fell upon him. The best texts, however, read ἐγένετο, came upon him, or happened to him. See on astonishment, Mark 5:42. Luke alone employs the word in this sense of ecstasy or trance.

And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a {f} trance,

(f) For though Peter does not stand amazed as one that is tongue tied, but talks with God and is instructed in his mysteries, yet his mind was far from being as it normally was; shortly, however, it returned to its normal state.

10:10 Fell into a trance. A rapt condition, when he was transported out of himself into a mental condition that fitted him to see divine things. See 2Co 12:2 Re 1:10.

10:10 And he became very hungry - At the usual meal time. The symbols in visions and trances, it is easy to observe, are generally suited to the state of the natural faculties.

10. a trance-differing from the "vision" of Cornelius, in so far as the things seen had not the same objective reality, though both were supernatural.

10:9-18 The prejudices of Peter against the Gentiles, would have prevented his going to Cornelius, unless the Lord had prepared him for this service. To tell a Jew that God had directed those animals to be reckoned clean which were hitherto deemed unclean, was in effect saying, that the law of Moses was done away. Peter was soon made to know the meaning of it. God knows what services are before us, and how to prepare us; and we know the meaning of what he has taught us, when we find what occasion we have to make use of it.