3:1-10

A LAME MAN HEALED

Many wonders and signs were done through the apostles” (2:43). The healing of cripples was commonplace in the ministry of Jesus; more than once it was to mark the ministry of the apostles also (compare 14:8-20). The instance now recorded was probably selected by Luke because of its sequel.

Peter is the leading figure in the first part of Acts. When John appears, he does so as Peter’s silent companion (compare 8:14-25). The apostles continued to be practising Jews; otherwise they would not so readily have enjoyed “favour with all the people” (2:47). Attendance at the Temple daily at “the ninth hour” (around 3 pm), the time of the evening offering (compare 1 Kings 18:29, 36), was a mark of piety. The sacrifice of a lamb (compare Exodus 29:38-42) was accompanied by a service of prayer and praise.

As male Jews, the apostles passed through the outer court of the Temple (the court of the Gentiles), up the steps into the court of women (the first of the inner courts) and through it into the court of Israel. The sacrificial ceremony was carried out in the inmost court (the court of the priests), which laymen were not normally permitted to enter. The inner courts, on a higher level than the outer court, were surrounded by barricades to which were fixed notices in Greek and Latin warning Gentiles not to proceed farther on pain of death (compare 21:28, 29). The “Beautiful Gate” probably pierced this barricade at the top of the steps leading from the outer court into the court of women. It is commonly identified with the “Gate of Nicanor”, made of Corinthian bronze, but of such exquisite workmanship, says Josephus, that it exceeded in value those which were plated with silver and set in gold.

The lame man had chosen a strategic position, for practically all Jewish worshippers would pass through that gateway