Acts 9:43

he tarried many days On the indefinite nature of the time indicated here see above, Acts 9:23, note.

with one Simon a tanner The trade of a tanner was held as abominable by the Jews. A wife, it is said, could claim a divorce from a husband who became a tanner (Mishna Khethubothvii. 10, where is recorded the following story): "It happened at Sidon that a tanner died, and left a brother who was also a tanner. The sages held that his (childless) widow had a right to plead, Thy brother I could bear but I cannot bear thee," and so in this case the woman might refuse to marry her husband's brother.

It is a sign that in the mind of St Peter some usages and prejudices of the Jews were already becoming of small account, when he makes his abode at the house of Simon a tanner. Such a step prepares us for the history of the next chapter, where he is instructed to go and preach to and baptize the Gentile Cornelius.