Acts 10:9. 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 Leviticus 26:30) 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. 22:8, #201) 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 Daniel 6:10 (#595).