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Writer's pictureGene Benjamin II

Peter’s Vision – Acts 10 & 11

All Scriptures taken from the Son Of Man Bible, SOMB.bblx e-Sword Bible program module. Original work at www.door43.org. Son Of Man Bible e-Sword module (SOMB.bblx and SOMB.bbli), The Word module (SOMB.ont), and MySword module (SOMB.bbl.mybible), were created and edited by Gene Benjamin II. These Bible modules are available for download on PC, Apple, Android, and other Linux devices from www.biblesupport.com and www.wordmodules.com. On biblesupport.com do a search for “Unlocked Literal Bible 9” then scroll down, and on wordmodules.com do a search for “Son Of Man Bible” then scroll down.


A couple days ago, my wife and I made and uploaded a video to youtube regarding Peter’s vision of the unclean animals in Acts 10. Here’s the link to that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPJR9pWBqyA

The video was uploaded on June 25, 2019. If you want to hear just my part on Acts 10, move the video slider to 13:30 to begin; I believe I speak for 15 minutes from that point.

I apologize, but I do not have a transcript of that video. We did that video before I found the terribly mistranslated pronoun “What” that should have been translated as “Whom” in Acts 10:15 and 11:9. We will discuss this topic below. 

Here’s the video link for this post: https://youtu.be/SztMsVIZPYw

Luke’s documentary account

Acts 10 – No More Racism

Acts 10:9-35 Now on the next day at about 12 pm, as they were on their journey and were approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray. 10He then became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the people were cooking some food, he was given a vision, 11and he saw the sky open and a certain container descending, something like a large sheet coming down to the earth, let down by its four corners. 12In it were all kinds of four-footed mammals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky. 13Then a voice spoke to him: “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” 14But Peter said, “Not so, Sovereign; for I have never eaten anything that was defiled and unclean.” 15But the voice came to him again a second time: “Whom (G3739) YHWH has cleansed, do not call defiled.” 16This happened three times; then the container was immediately taken back up into the sky. 17Now while Peter was very confused about what the vision that he had seen could mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius stood before the gate, after they had asked their way to Simon’s house. 18And they called out and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there. 19While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Ruach said to him, “See, three men are looking for you. 20Arise and go down and go with them. Do not hesitate to go with them, because I have sent them.” 21So Peter went down to the men sent from Cornelius, and said, “I am he whom you are seeking. What is the reason why have you come?” 22They said, “A centurion named Cornelius, a righteous man and one who worships YHWH, and is well spoken of by all the nation of the Jews, was told by a set-apart angel of YHWH to send for you to come to his house, so he could listen to a message from you.” 23So Peter invited them to come in and stay with him. On the next morning he rose up and went with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 24On the following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them; he had called together his relatives and his close friends. 25It came about that when Peter entered, Cornelius met him and bowed down at his feet to worship him. 26But Peter helped him up, saying, “Stand up! I too am a human.” 27While Peter was talking with him, he went in and found many people gathered together. 28He said to them, “You yourselves know that it is not lawful for a Jewish person to associate with or to visit someone from a foreign nation. But YHWH has shown me that I should not call any human defiled or unclean. 29That is why I came without arguing, when I was sent for. So I ask you why you sent for me?” 30Cornelius said, “Four days ago I was fasting until this very hour. I was praying at 3 pm in my house; and see, a man stood before me in bright clothing. 31He said, ’Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have reminded YHWH about you. 32So send someone to Joppa, and call to you a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying in the house of a tanner named Simon, by the seaside. When he comes, he will preach to you.’ 33So at once I sent for you. You are kind to have come. Now then, we are all here present in the sight of YHWH, to hear everything that you have been instructed by YHWH to say.” 34Then Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly, I perceive that YHWH does not take anyone’s side. 35Instead, in every ethno-linguistic nation anyone who fears YHWH and does righteous deeds is acceptable to him.

Notice in verse 14 that Peter was still a Kosher eating Jew after Yeshua’s ascension and after Pentecost of 30 AD. Why didn’t he magically become a pig-eater? Is it possible he knew the Torah, still practiced the Torah, and still honored the Word of YHWH, even as a believer in Yeshua?

I finally fixed verse 15 of Acts 10, correcting the mistranslation of the pronoun hos as “Whom.” Peter was not confused about the vision, until Ruach said “Whom,” a term signifying humans, not animals. YHWH simply shocked Peter’s senses with the vision of unclean animals. He knew that would instantly grab Peter’s attention. Peter’s reaction to the unclean animals was instant and Kosher, “By no means”, “No way”, “Never would I eat them!!” Why didn’t Peter just simply obey what most Christians would say was a command from the Father? Is it possible he knew, practiced, and honored the Torah of his heavenly Father? Why don’t Christians know, practice, and honor the Father’s Torah?

Verse 16 says the vision occurred three times. Do you think the Ruach told Peter three times to eat unclean animals? It’s possible, and it’s possible that Peter refused the so-called command three times! Ruach interpreted the vision to Peter right away in verse 19. Peter’s confusion was short-lived.

By verse 23 Peter understood that these three men were not unclean, and he could be in their presence. In verses 28-29, Peter himself interprets his understanding of the three-time vision. People are never to be considered as common, unclean, or defiled. We can minister the Gospel to any human, anytime, anywhere. Verses 34-35 reveal Peter’s understanding that YHWH is impartial in regards to all humans. YHWH does not discriminate, he is not racist. We should be like him.

Peter’s eyewitness account

Acts 11 – No More Rascism

After our first video on Acts 10, I just kept reading in Acts and came to Acts 11, in which Peter relates his chapter 10 three-time vision again, in front of the folks and messianic leaders in Jerusalem.

Acts 11:2-18 When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, they who belonged to the circumcision group criticized him; 3they said, “You associated with uncircumcised men and ate with them!” 4But Peter started to explain the matter to them in chronological detail; he said, 5I was praying in the city of Joppa, and I had a vision of a container coming down, like a large sheet let down from heaven by its four corners. It descended to me. 6I gazed at it, and I thought about it. I saw the four-legged mammals of earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky. 7Then I heard a voice say to me, “Stand up, Peter; kill and eat!” 8I said, “Not so, Sovereign: For nothing defiled or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.” 9But the voice answered again from heaven, “Whom (G3739) YHWH has cleansed, do not call defiled.” 10This happened three times, and then everything was taken back up into heaven again. 11Behold, right away there were three men standing in front of the house where we were; they had been sent from Caesarea to me. 12The Ruach commanded me to go with them, and that I should make no distinction regarding them. These six brothers went with me, and we went into the man’s house. 13He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send men to Joppa and bring back Simon who is called Peter. 14He will preach to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.” 15As I began to speak to them, Ruach ha’Kodesh came on them, just as on us in the beginning. 16I remembered the words of Yeshua, how he said, “John indeed immersed with water; but you shall be immersed in Ruach ha’Kodesh.” 17Then if YHWH gave to them the same gift as he gave to us when we believed on Sovereign Yeshua Messiah, who was I, that I could oppose YHWH?” 18When they heard these things, they said nothing in response, but they praised YHWH and said, “Then YHWH has given repentance unto life to the ethno-linguistic nations also.”

The pronoun written in Acts 10:15 and 11:9, “Whom”, Strong’s # G3739, Greek word “hos” or “os,” which virtually all English translations render as “What” in these two identical passages; this word is a relative pronoun. It’s first and primary meaning listed in Strong’s and Thayer’s dictionaries is: who(m), not what; “what” is the third meaning. This pronoun is first used in the Renewed Covenant’s first book written, in Mark 1:2, regarding the prophesied forerunner, John the Immerser, a human, not an unclean animal.

Here’s Vine’s listing: “Who, Whom, Whose

Notes: These are usually the translations of forms of the relative pronoun hos (G3739), or of the interrogative pronoun tis (G5101); otherwise of hostis, “whoever,” usually of a more general subject than hos, e.g., Mar_15:7; Luk_23:19; Gal_2:4; hosos, “as many as,” Heb_2:15; in Act_13:7, KJV, houtos, “this (man),” is translated “who,” RV, “the same.””

Notice Vine does not say “what” at all, for neither Greek pronoun. I thought that was interesting. #3739 is used 1371 times in the Renewed Covenant. I only saw a few times where it was translated as “what.” One interesting place where it is translated as what in the King James Version is John 4:22 where “what” clearly should be translated as “Who” or “Whom”, speaking of YHWH himself!!

Notice in 11:10-11 that Peter received the understanding that the three-time vision related to three humans. That’s just the way the prophet Daniel interpreted visions and dreams in his day. That’s just the way Joseph interpreted dreams in his day. If you are open to the Ruach, you will receive the interpretation to your dreams and visions. YHWH is precise, exact, accurate.

In Acts 11:12, the word translated “make no distinction”, Strong’s # 1252, Greek diakrino, means discrimination. Peter was specifically and emphatically told not to separate from these men, not to discriminate against these men. YHWH is not a racist, and his followers should not be either. Every human holds exactly the same status before YHWH. We are all equals before our Creator. No human is above or below any other human in YHWH’s eyes. Peter received and understood this message clearly in Acts 10; so much so, that he could relate it almost verbatim again in chapter 11 when he got to Jerusalem. And Dr. Luke wrote the story with accurate understanding in both chapters. English Bible translators have done us a great disservice and have come close to blaspheming YHWH by using the English word “what” instead of “whom”, knowing full well that YHWH was speaking about the three YHWH-fearing men that came to retrieve Peter from Joppa, as Peter himself interpreted his vision in Chapters 10 and 11, and Ruach clearly showed him the correct interpretation, beginning in 10:19.

Acts 10 and 11 are not about YHWH changing his mind about unclean animals and all of a sudden magically making unclean scavenger animals clean for human consumption. He would never do that. He never has done that, and He never will do that. The Scriptures cannot be broken. YHWH designed scavenger animals to clean the earth, to help keep it a healthy environment for us to live in; they are the trash, garbage, and carrion eaters of the world. We are not meant to eat garbage or carrion. Study Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 to find out what is and what is not food. Unclean animals ARE NOT FOOD.

Peter was a racist when he went to Joppa (but not when he went to Caesarea), but he returned to Jerusalem a changed man, more like his Master Yeshua. He did stumble on this point again later on when Paul had to rebuke him in Galatians 2:11-14, “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was declared to be in the wrong. 12Before certain men came from Jacob, Cephas was eating with the ethno-linguistic nations. But when these men came, he stopped and kept away from the ethno-linguistic nations. He was afraid of those who were demanding circumcision. 13Also the rest of the Jews joined in this hypocrisy. Even Barnabas was led astray with them by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that their behavior was not following the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, “If you are a Jew but are living like a pagan and not like a Jew, how can you force the ethno-linguistic nations to live like Jews?”” I believe Peter finally made a full conversion to a non-racist, impartial apostle.

Mark 7:14-23 concerns food, but Acts 10 and 11 and Galatians 2:11-14 are not concerning food, but racism and discrimination. The Torah is very clear, we are to love our neighbor and our foreigner as ourselves. No human is to be considered common, unclean, profane, or defiled, as regards our obligation to share the Gospel of Yeshua with them. Any human that does become ritually unclean will not be allowed to enter a physical Temple, once the Jews rebuild one, or during the Millennium, unless they repent and cleanse themselves, then they may be allowed in to worship. Without the blood of Yeshua cleansing us, we would not be able to approach our heavenly Father and talk to him.

All humans are eligible to hear the Gospel message of Yeshua haMashiach. Our King shows no partiality towards humans, neither should we. Our life’s goal is to become like Yeshua; he is the ultimate goal of Torah; he is the living Torah. Ask him to save you today.

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