Acts 9:43
And it came to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner.
And it came to pass,.... Or so it was;
that he tarried many days in Joppa; conversing with the saints, confirming the disciples, and preaching the Gospel, to the conversion of sinners; and his abode
was with one Simon a tanner; it seems as if persons of this trade used to dwell in towns near the sea, as fit for their business; so we read of some at Sidon, a city on the sea coast, as Joppa was;
"it happened at Sidon that a certain yorwb, "tanner", (the same word here used, adopted into the Hebrew language,) died, and he had a brother a tanner, &c. {r}''
where the Gemara {s} distinguishes between a great tanner and a little tanner; the latter, the gloss says, is one that is poor and has but few skins: which of these Simon was, cannot be said. This business was very contemptible with the Jews; they say {t},
"woe to him whose trade is a tanner:''
and further observe {u} that they never make one a king, nor a high priest: but their doctors many of them were of as mean trades, as shoemakers, skinners, &c. See Gill on "Mark 6:3" and Simon the Athenian philosopher was skutotomov "a leather cutter" {w}; and according to the Ethiopic version, this our Simon was a shoemaker; with him Peter chose to abide, and not with Dorcas.
{r} Misn. Cetubot, c. 7. sect. 10.
{s} T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 77. 1.
{t} T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 82. 2. & Bava Bathra, fol. 16. 2.
{u} Kiddush, fol. 82. 1.
{w} Laert. in Vit. Simon