When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand.
What a great variety of places and circumstances do we find Paul in! He was a planet, and not a fixed star. Here we have him in an island to which, in all probability, he had never come if he had not been thrown upon it by a storm; and yet it seems God has work for him to do here.
Commenting on Acts 28:1-10
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks,.... Had picked up some sticks, and put them in a bundle fit for the fire, as everyone was busy to assist in this extremity; nor did the apostle think such an action below him, who in all things was a man of great humility and condescension: and laid them on the fire; to increase it: there...
Verse 3. Had gathered a bundle of sticks. For the purpose of making a fire. There came a viper. A poisonous serpent. . The viper was, doubtless, in the bundle of sticks or limbs of trees which Paul had gathered, but was concealed, and was torpid.