*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
He lodgeth - He remains as a guest at his house. See Acts 9:43.
By the sea-side - Joppa was a seaport on the Mediterranean. Tanneries are erected on the margin of streams or of any body of water to convey away the filth produced in the operation of dressing skins.
Simon a tanner - See the note on Acts 9:43.
What thou oughtest to do - From this it appears that matters of great moment had occupied the mind of Cornelius. He was not satisfied with the state of his own soul, nor with the degree he possessed of religious knowledge; and he set apart a particular time for extraordinary fasting and prayer, that God might farther reveal to him the knowledge of his will. Perhaps he had heard of Jesus, and had been perplexed with the different opinions that prevailed concerning him, and now prayed to God that he might know what part he should take; and the answer to this prayer is, "Send to Joppa for Simon Peter, he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do." This clause, so explanatory, is wanting in almost every MS. and version of note. Griesbach and some others have left it out of the text. But see Acts 11:14, where it stands in substance.
He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, &c. Simon the tanner was his host; this man very probably was a good man, and one that lodged strangers; of his trade; see Gill on Acts 9:43.
whose house is by the sea side; Joppa was a sea port, 2-Chronicles 2:16 Jonah 1:3 hence we read of , "the sea of Joppa" (x); and also of , "the port of Joppa" (y); now Simon's house was in the outer part of the city, and by the sea side, as well for convenience for his business, as because such trades might not be exercised within a city; being nauseous and disagreeable, because of their skins and manner of dressing them, and the dead carcasses from whence they often took them off; hence that rule of the Jews (z),
"they place dead carcasses, graves, , "and a tanner's workshop", (in which he dresses his skins,) fifty cubits from the city; nor do they make a tanner's workshop, but at the eastern part of the city. R. Abika says, it may be made at every part excepting the west.''
The reason of that, as given by the (a) commentators, is, because prayer was made towards the west, where the temple stood, and the divine presence was. The Ethiopic version very wrongly renders it, "and the house of Cornelius is near the sea"; for not his, but Simon's is meant:
he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do; he was to tell him words, or to deliver doctrines to him, by which he and his family would be better instructed in the way of salvation, and arrive to a greater degree of knowledge of Christ, and faith in him, and be brought to a submission to his commands and ordinances; see Acts 10:22, this clause is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and in some others, and in the Syriac and Arabic versions.
(x) Ezra iii. 7. Targum in 2 Chron. ii. 16. (y) T. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 41. 1. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect. 1. & 13. 9. 1 Maccab. xiv. 5. 1. Esdr. v. 55. (z) Misn. Bava Bathra, c. 2. sect. 9. (a) Maimou. & Bartenora in ib.
Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea-side. See notes on Acts 9:43. Tanners were required, by the ancient sanitary laws, to live outside city walls, and had to be near plenty of water (Hackett).
Tell thee what thou oughtest to do. As the angel says that his prayer was heard, he had surely prayed that he might know what to do.
*More commentary available at chapter level.