9 And on the morrow, as these are proceeding on the way, and are drawing nigh to the city, Peter went up upon the house-top to pray, about the sixth hour, 10 and he became very hungry, and wished to eat; and they making ready, there fell upon him a trance, 11 and he doth behold the heaven opened, and descending unto him a certain vessel, as a great sheet, bound at the four corners, and let down upon the earth, 12 in which were all the four-footed beasts of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the heaven, 13 and there came a voice unto him: 'Having risen, Peter, slay and eat.' 14 And Peter said, 'Not so, Lord; because at no time did I eat anything common or unclean;' 15 and 'there is' a voice again a second time unto him: 'What God did cleanse, thou, declare not thou common;' 16 and this was done thrice, and again was the vessel received up to the heaven.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Acts 10:9-16
Commentary on Acts 10:9-18
(Read Acts 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.