of Baronius, says: "And on these solemn 'festival-days they used not to eat or drink any thing till high-noon."-Horce Hebraica. This custom furnished a ready answer from Peter to the charge of drunkenness.

826.-TIME FOR BURIAL.

V, 6. The young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

It was usual in Palestine to bury a corpse on the day of death. The heat of the climate, doubtless, had much to do with this custom; besides which, so far as the Jews were concerned, their law made any one unclean for seven days who touched a dead body, or who was even in a house where a dead body lay. See Num. xix, 11, 14. Lazarus was probably buried on the day of his death. See Jolin xi, 17, 39. Sapphira, the wife of Ananias, was, like her husband, buried immediately after death. See Acts v, 10.

827.-READING ALOUD.

VIII, 28. Sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.

From verse thirty it is evident that the eunuch was reading aloud. It is still a common custom of the "Orientals generally to read aloud, even when they do it for their own instruction only, and without any intention of being heard by others. They swing the head, and even the entire upper part of the body, from one side to the other as they perform the act, and utter the words with a tone which comes nearer to singing or cantillation than to our unimpassioned mode of reading."-HACKETT'S Illustrations of Scripture, p. 224.

828.-COMPLIMENTARY NAMES.

IX, 36. There was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas.

Dorcas means antelope, or gazelle. This beautiful animal is much admired in the East, and it is a common compliment to tell a woman that she has the eyes of an antelope. It is also no uncommon thing among Eastern nations to name their girls after various animals noted for beauty.

X, 9.

829.-PRAYER ON THE HOUSETOP.

Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the

sixth hour.

The housetop was used, not only as a place of idolatrous worship, (see note on Lev. xxvi, 30,) but also for the worship of the true God. To us this would seem to be a singular place for prayer, unless one wished to indulge in Pharisaic ostentation; but the battlement around the flat roof of an Oriental dwelling (see note on Deut. xxii, 8) might readily be used as

a screen from public observation. It may be that one reason why the Jews prayed upon the housetop was that they might more readily look in the direction of the temple in Jerusalem. See note on Dan. vi, 10.

830.-THE MILITARY NIGHT-WATCH.

XII, 4. When he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him.

The usual number of a Roman military night-watch was four, and the watch was changed every three hours. Thus during the twelve hours of night there would be four of these watches or "quaternions." Of these two were in the prison, (see verse 6,) and two were sentinels before the door. See verse 10, and the latter part of verse 6.

831.-PRISONERS CHAINED.

XII, 6. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains.

Among the Romans the prisoner was bound to the soldier who had charge of him by means of a chain, which joined the prisoner's right wrist to the left wrist of the soldier. Sometimes, for greater security, the prisoner was chained to two soldiers, one on each side of him. This was the case with Peter. Paul was at one time bound in a similar way. xxi, 33. At another time he was fastened to a single soldier. xxviii, 16, 20.

832.-SANDALS.

See Acts See Acts

XII, 8. The angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals.

The sandal consists of a wooden or leathern sole, which is fastened to the foot by thongs or latchets. The Bedawin of Mount Sinai wear sandals

161. SANDAL.

made of "fish-skin," or rather of the hide of a species of Dugong obtained from the Red Sea, near Sherm. See PALMER'S Desert of the Exodus, p. 81. The leathern thongs which are used to keep the sandals on the feet are referred to in Mark i, 7, and in Luke iii, 16.

833.-KNOCKER-STREET-DOOR.

XII, 18. As Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda.

1. The door of an Eastern house usually has au iron knocker, consisting of a thick ring.

2. "The door of the gate" is the outer or street door; the door of the porch, or entrance way to the house. This outer door or gate sometimes has a smaller door cut into it, which can be more readily opened, and is more frequently used than the large door of which it forms a part. Some writers think that a door of this description is referred to in the text.

834.-THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS-RULERS OF THE

SYNAGOGUE.

XIII, 15. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them.

1. The custom of reading the law publicly was very ancient. The "prophets" are said to have been added in a singular way. "When Antiochus Epiphanes burnt the book of the law, and forbade the reading of it, the Jews, in the room of it, selected some passages out of the prophets which they thought came nearest in words and sense to the sections of the law, and read them in their stead; but when the law was restored again they still continued the reading of the prophetic sections."-STEHELIN'S Traditions of the Jews, cited by BURDER, Oriental Customs, No. 1160. Hence the expression "the law and the prophets" was used to denote the portion of Scripture that was read in the synagogue, and, by synecdoche, the whole of the Jewish Scriptures. See Matt. v, 17; Luke xvi, 29. As a matter of fact, however, the Hagiographa, or "Holy Writings," which composed the third part of the Jewish Scriptures, (see note on Luke xxiv, 44,) was not read in the synagogue.

2. The "ruler of the synagogue" occupied a very important position. In the temple synagogue he was the third officer in rank; the first officer being the high priest, and the second the chief of the priests. In provincial synagogues the "ruler" was supreme. No one was eligible to this office until he had a certificate from the Great Sanhedrim that he possessed the requisite qualifications. His election, however, was by the members of the synagogue. It was his duty to supervise all matters connected with worship. Sometimes this office is mentioned in the singular number, as if there were but one ruler to the synagogue. See Mark v, 35, 36, 38; Luke viii, 49; xiii, 14. At other times the plural form is used, as in the text. See Mark v, 22. The idea of plurality is also implied in the expression, "a ruler of the synagogue," (Luke viii, 41,) and in the words "chief ruler." Acts xviii, 8, 17. Neander suggests that "we must make the limitation, that in smaller places an individual, as in larger towns a plurality, stood at the head of the synagogue. It is most probable that, although all presbyters were called úpxiovváywyoɩ, yet one who acted as president was distinguished by the title of åpxíovvúywyos; as primus inter pares.”—Planting and Training, (Edition, Bohn,) vol. i, p. 36, note. Thus the "rulers" would be the same as