Acts 3:1

1. Peter and John The two pre-eminent apostolic leaders; the eldest and the youngest, probably, of the noble twelve. Together at the last supper they had consulted the Saviour as to who was his betrayer; and together at the last breakfast (John 21:18) they had received from Jesus the intimation of their respective futurities.

Into the temple The word temple, in its narrower sense, designated simply the holy house of God. This house was the residence of King Jehovah, (2 Samuel 7:6,) who dwelt by his presence in its Holy of Holies, and the courts were his enclosed grounds. In the holy front room of the house were his candlestick for light, his table and bread, and his perfumery the altar of incense. In front of the house was the grand altar on which the slain animals were roasted, which typified the food of Jehovah. But no image of him was allowed. Thus did Israel teach, in the most conspicuous and costly manner, the personal, yet incorporeal, nature of the true God.

This house was “exceeding magnifical,” “covered all over,” says Josephus, “with plates of gold of great weight, and at the first rising of the sun reflected back a very fiery splendour, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow; for, as to those parts which were not gilt, they were exceeding white. On its top it had spikes with sharp points, to prevent any pollution of it by birds sitting upon it.” (Note on Matthew 21:12.)

THE TEMPLE.

In this picture you see in the outer court, which is the Court of the Gentiles, one person. In the Court of the Women are two persons; in the inner, or Men’s Court, are three. These two courts are called collectively the Court of the Israelites. Beyond this, where you see four persons standing, is the Court of the Priests. Near the four persons is the Grand Altar of daily sacrifice. This stands just in front of the portal of the temple house, which rises with a face corresponding to cut, page 42.

But the larger and more common sense of the word temple included all the enclosures on the sacred Mount Moriah, within which, a little northwest of the centre, the edifice stood. The largest enclosure encompassed the whole, and took in the outer court, or court of the Gentiles, beyond which none but a Jew might go on pain of death. The next inner wall closed in the court of the women, so called not because exclusively for females, but because no woman, unless for sacrifice, ever went farther. The third inner wall hemmed in the court of Israel, and the fourth, the court of priests, into which no layman (unless Levite) might enter. In this court of the priests was the sacred house with the great altar, on which, twice a day, morning and evening, a lamb was offered, accompanied by the prayers of the people. (Note on John 1:29.)

Hour of prayer The Christians still attended, like good Jews, the services of the temple where the sacrifice was still offered. Even St. Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, who was most efficient in separating Christianity from Judaism, did not object to this in itself, unless the sacrifice of the lamb should be still thought necessary for forgiveness of sin, and so Christ be excluded or slighted. He maintained that while sacrifices might be attended as memorials of a Saviour already slain, they were yet unnecessary, and had been superseded by the actual death of the true victim. James and John, therefore, were not contradicting the future Paul in going to the evening sacrifice of the temple.

The ninth hour There were in “the holy city” three periods of prayer: the morning, at the third hour, or nine o’clock; the noon, at the sixth hour, or twelve o’clock; the evening, at the ninth hour, or three o’clock. This not precisely; for the Jews began the day at sunrise, and, closing it at sunset, divided the day into twelve parts or expansible hours, of a length corresponding to the length of the day.

As Peter and John came in from the east side, as if from the Mount of Olives, mounting from the brook Kidron they would pass the outermost enclosure through the gate Shushan or Lily; a gate which received its name from the capital of Persia in honor of Cyrus its king, who restored the Jews from Babylon. A picture of that city was inscribed upon the gate. Passing through this gate, our apostles came into the court of the Gentiles. This was a long, spacious area, extending along the four sides, and containing about fifteen or twenty acres. The border of this court had three rows of pillars, lining the wall, covered with a roof. This covered colonnade was called the porch or portico of Solomon, and it was the place where religious conversationists resorted; where assemblies gathered, conferences were held, and discourses delivered. Here Christ frequented, and here it was the Christians of the Acts of the Apostles held their meetings “in the temple.” From here, too, Jesus drove the money changers. (Note on John 2:14.) Crossing the breadth of this court, they mounted a flight of steps and came to a level, at which was the grand gate of Corinthian brass, from its special splendour called the Beautiful, through which they were about to pass into the court of the women. And had they continued in a straight line they would have passed through successive gates, by ascending steps at each gate, through the court of Israel into the court of the priests, to the foot of the grand altar, which stood before the door of the house of God itself.