(2) when going up for the purposes of religion, they would be more inclined to give alms than at other times and especially was this true of the Pharisees, who were particularly desirous of publicity in bestowing charity. (1) great multitudes were accustomed to enter there and, The entrance to the temple would be a favorable place for begging for: Hence, it was customary to place them at the gates of rich men Luke 16:20 and they also sat by the highway to beg where many persons would pass, Mark 10:46 Luke 18:35 John 9:1-8. It became an important matter for them to be placed where they would see many people. The poor were dependent, therefore, on the Charity of those who were in better circumstances. Among the ancients there were no hospitals for the sick, and no alms-houses for the poor. He would therefore be well known to those who were in the habit of entering the temple. Whom they laid daily - That is, his friends laid him there daily. The man had been always lame he was obliged to be carried and he was well known to the Jews. It was thirty cubits high, and fifteen broad, and was added by Herod the Great.īarnes' Notes on the BibleLame from his mother's womb - The mention of this shows that there was no deception in the case. This gate, on the east side of the temple, was made of that brass, and exceeded the other gates, as in its dimensions, so especially in its workmanship and splendour, though most of them were covered over with silver or gold. About one hundred and eighty years before this, the city of Corinth had been taken and burned by the Romans and in the burning of it multitudes of statues and images of brass, gold, and silver, being melted down and running together, made that mixture of metals, which, from that time, was called Corinthian brass, and was valued, by the ancients, above gold or silver. And a certain man - Well known, it appears, by those who frequented the temple lame from his mother’s womb, was carried - Thither by the help of others, being unable to walk, through a weakness in his ankles whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, called Beautiful - This gate, which was between the court of the Gentiles and that of Israel, and is here called Beautiful, for the richness of the metal of which it was formed, and its curious workmanship, is termed by Josephus the Corinthian gate. John 9:8.) The practice was common at Constantinople in the time of Chrysostom, and has prevailed largely throughout Christendom.īenson Commentary Acts 3:2. To ask alms of them that entered into the temple.-The approaches of the Temple, like those of modern mosques, were commonly thronged with the blind, lame, and other mendicants. The latter was of fine Corinthian brass, so massive that twenty men were required to open or shut it (Jos. 323) or (2) the Susa gate, also on the eastern side, and named in memory of the old historical connection between Judah and Persia, leading into the outer court of the women. No gate of this name is mentioned by other writers, but it was probably identical either (1) with the gate of Nicanor ( so called, according to one tradition, because the hand of the great enemy of Judah had been nailed to it as a trophy), which was the main eastern entrance of the inner court (Stanley’s Jewish Church, iii. The gate of the temple which is called Beautiful.-Literally, door, though “gate” is used in Acts 3:10. Luke’s informant may have been the cripple himself. The minuteness in this narrative suggests the thought that St. Acts tells of the early church continuing Jesus' healing ministry to the lame: Peter and John ( Acts 3:2 ) Philip ( Acts 8:7 ) Paul ( Acts 14:8-10 ).Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) A certain man lame from his mother’s womb.-The careful record of the duration of his suffering is more or less characteristic of St. By healing the lame in the Temple, Jesus restored these excluded ones to full participation in the worshiping community ( Matthew 21:14 ). In the New Testament, the healing of the lame forms an important part of Jesus' messianic work ( Matthew 11:2-6 Matthew 15:29-31 ). A proverb excluding the blind and lame from “the house” (that is, the Temple) is traced to the assault on Jerusalem ( 2 Samuel 5:8 ). The Jebusites boasted that their stronghold of Jerusalem was so impregnable that even the blind and lame would be able to turn back David's troops ( 2 Samuel 5:6 NRVS, NIV). The lame were prohibited from serving as priests though they were allowed to eat from the priests' provisions ( Leviticus 21:18 ). In the Old Testament, lame animals were not acceptable sacrifices ( Deuteronomy 15:21 Malachi 1:8 ,Malachi 1:8, 1:13 ). A physical condition in which walking is difficult or impossible.
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