by John Lowe
(Laurens SC, USA)
2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried,
“Lame from his mother's womb” means that there was no deception in this case. The man had always been lame; he was grateful to those who carried him to the gate every day, and carried him home every night; and he was well known to the Jews, since they had laid him in the same place for several years. It appears that he was unable to walk, and was what we term a cripple, since he was carried to the gate of the temple, and laid there in order to excite compassion from passersby. These circumstances are all mentioned by St. Luke, in order fully to show the greatness and incontestable nature of the miracle. Bear in mind, there were no hospitals for the sick, and no rescue missions for the poor. The poor were dependent, therefore, on the charity of those who were in better circumstances than they were. It was an important matter for them to be placed where many people would see them. For this reason, it was customary to place them at the gates of rich men—“And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate…” (Luke 16:20); and they also sat by the highway to beg where many persons would pass—“And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging” (Mark 10:46). The entrance to the temple would have been a popular place for begging, for a couple of reasons:
1. Great multitudes were accustomed to entering there.
2. When people were going to the temple for the purpose of worshipping God, they would be more inclined to give alms than at other times; this was especially true of the Pharisees, who were always looking to make a public show of bestowing charity. It is recorded that the custom prevailed among the Romans of placing the poor by the gates of the temples; and the custom was also observed for a long time by the Christian churches.
whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful,
The temple had nine gates, all of which were covered on every side with gold and silver; but there was one gate which was covered with Corinthian brass, and greatly excelled those which were only covered with gold and silver. The other gates were the same size, but the one made of Corinthian brass was much larger and had richer and thicker plates of silver and gold upon them than upon the others. This last one was probably the gate which is called here, “Beautiful;” because it was on the outside of the temple, there was easy access to it, and because it was evidently the most costly, according to the account given by Josephus; but it must be conceded that Josephus text is by no means clear. There have been two opinions with regard to this gate, one of which supposes that it was the gate commonly called Nicanor, which led from the court of the Gentiles to the court of the women, and the other that it was the gate at the eastern entrance of the temple, commonly called Shushan. It is not easy to determine which is intended; except for the fact that what is recorded here occurred near Solomon's porch according to Acts 3:11—“And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering;” therefore it seems probable that the latter was intended. This gate was probably “The gate of the temple which is called Beautiful” and it is described by the Jewish historian Josephus as a gate made of fine Corinthian brass at the temple, seventy-five feet high with huge double doors, so beautiful that it “greatly excelled those that were only covered over with silver and gold.”
The reason commonly given by the Jewish commentators for calling this particular gate “Beautiful” is this: Shushan, the metropolis of Persia, was depicted upon it which made it look very beautiful. As for why it was there is another story: when the Jews returned from captivity, the king of Persia commanded that they make a figure of the palace of Shushan upon one of the gates of the temple, so that they might fear the king, and not rebel against him; and accordingly they drew one upon the eastern gate: but some say, that the children of
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