Acts 10:1 ¶ There was a
certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the
Italian band, 2 A devout man,
and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people,
and prayed to God alway. 3 He saw in a
vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to
him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. 4
And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord?
And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial
before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa,
and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: 6 He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose
house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. 7 And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius
was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of
them that waited on him continually; 8
And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them
to Joppa.
Cornelius was a centurion, an officer of eighty to a hundred men
(think century for centurion), in a cohort or band of six hundred men, and that
the title Italian Band suggests they were all native Romans. They would
have been dedicated to serve under the Roman governor in a place where the
subject nation was contentious and disorderly waiting for a messiah who would
throw off the Roman yoke and lead them back into their former glory. It was not
a preferred military posting you can be certain of that.
Caesarea Maritima was built by Herod the Great to be a major port.
It was the administrative center of the Roman Empire’s province of Judea. It is
on the coast of the Mediterranean south of Haifa in present-day Israel.
Caesarea is often called Caesarea Maritima or Caesarea Palaestinae to
differentiate it from Caesarea Philippi on the Jordan River. Joppa, also known
as Jaffa, was a little over 30 miles from Caesarea. The servants must have left
immediately that afternoon and arrived the following day around noon so it is likely
they traveled by cart and didn’t stop.
Cornelius was clearly a Jewish proselyte doing good deeds in the
distribution of alms to the poor and honoring the God of Israel. God blessed
him by giving him a vision and speaking to him. He did as he was ordered and
sent men to Joppa to bring Peter to him as ordered. One thing that is
interesting to note is that there were devout Roman soldiers like Cornelius and
he was not alone in his faith.
It would be very hard to be
a Roman soldier and a Jew considering the heavy use of pork in their diets and
the imperial cult where one had to pay homage to the emperor as a god. But it
would not be impossible if one walked a little on both sides of the fence as
many so-called conservative Christians do today honoring the cult of the state,
paying homage to the gods of the age like entertainment and mammon, and yet
going faithfully to church every Sunday. Cornelius was, however, devout and another
devout soldier is mentioned.
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