Acts 3:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 3:2
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;
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — genitive singular neuter
entered
εἰσπορευομένωνeisporeuomenōn
G1531
to enter (literally or figuratively) · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, genitive plural masculine
into
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
temple
ἱερόν.hi'eron
G2411
a sacred place · noun — accusative singular neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:
John 9:8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
Luke 16:20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
Luke 18:35 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:
Acts 10:31 And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
John 1:9-30 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Acts 4:22 For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.
Acts 10:4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a mem…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 3:1-11
We were told in general (Act 2:43) that many signs and wonders were done by the apostles, which are not written in this book; but here we have one given us for an instance. As they wrought miracles, not upon every body as every body had occasion for them, but as the Holy Spirit gave direction, so as to answer the end of their commission; so all the miracles they did work are not written in this book, but such only are recorded as the Holy Ghost thought fit, to answer the end of this sacred history.
I. The persons by whose ministry this miracle was wrought were Peter and John, two principal men among the apostles; they were so in Christ's time, one speaker of the house for the most part, the…
a certain man lame from his mother's womb--and now "above forty years old" (Act 4:22).
was carried--was wont to be carried.
Adam Clarke on Acts 3:2
A - man lame from his mother's womb - The case of this man must have been well known:
1. from the long standing of his infirmity:
2. from his being daily exposed in a place so public.
It appears that he had no power to walk, and was what we term a cripple, for he was carried to the gate of the temple, and laid there in order to excite compassion. These circumstances are all marked by St. Luke, the more fully to show the greatness and incontestable nature of the miracle.
The gate - which is called Beautiful - There are different opinions concerning this gate. Josephus observes, Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 5, sect. 3, that the temple had nine gates, which were on every side covered with gold and s…
And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb,.... He was born so; his lameness came not through any disease or fall, or any external hurt, but from a defect in nature, in one of his limbs, or more; which made the after miracle the more extraordinary: and he was so lame that he
was carried; he could not walk of himself, or go, being led, but they were obliged to carry him:
whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple; it had been a common usage, it may be, for years past, to bring him every day, at prayer time, and lay him at the gate of the temple where the people went in; hence he was well known by the people, and to have been of a long time lame, even ever since he was born; so that…
The Church Fathers
And a certain man, who was lame from his mother's womb, was carried. For the people of Israel were rebellious not only to the Incarnate Lord, but from the very first times of the given law, as if lame from the mother's womb. This is well figured by Jacob wrestling with the angel, blessed indeed, but limping (Gen. XXXII), because the same people, prevailing in the passion of the Lord, were in some ways blessed through faith, but in others lame through disbelief.
The man was in the act of being carried at that instant. "Whom they laid daily:" just when people went into the temple. And that you may not suppose that they carried him for some other purpose, but that it was in order that he might receive alms, hear what the writer says: "so that he might receive alms of those entering into the temple." And this is the reason why he also makes mention of the places, to give evidence of what he relates.
The feeble man is laid at the Beautiful Gate. The poor man is not strong enough to go farther or to touch the threshold of the gate. His guilt denies him entrance. Who are those accustomed to carry Israel, lame in its heart, and who strive to bring it to the gate [called] beautiful, which signifies Jesus by its name? Isaiah, Daniel, and those like them who proclaim with prophetic voice in obscure [words] the manifest miracles of Christ; and he who has the name of the gate thus himself warns, "I am the gate for you; he who refuses to enter through me will be a guilty thief."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Alms — Not found in the Old Testament, but repeatedly in the New. The Mosaic legislation (Lev. 25:35; Deut. 15:7) tended to promote a spirit of charity, and to prevent the occurrence of destitution among…
Apostle — A person sent by another; a messenger; envoy. This word is once used as a descriptive designation of Jesus Christ, the Sent of the Father (Heb. 3:1; John 20:21). It is, however, generally used as…
Beautiful gate — The name of one of the gates of the temple (Acts 3:2). It is supposed to have been the door which led from the court of the Gentiles to the court of the women. It was of massive structure, and…
Beg — That the poor existed among the Hebrews we have abundant evidence (Ex. 23:11; Deut. 15:11), but there is no mention of beggars properly so called in the Old Testament. The poor were provided for by…
Beggar, Begging — The poor among the Hebrews were much favored. They were allowed to glean in the fields, and to gather whatever the land produced in the year in which it was not tilled (Leviticus 19:10; 25:5,6;…
Gate — (1.) Of cities, as of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:13; Neh. 1:3; 2:3; 3:3), of Sodom (Gen. 19:1), of Gaza (Judg. 16:3). (2.) Of royal palaces (Neh. 2:8). (3.) Of the temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6:34, 35; 2…
Peter — Originally called Simon (=Simeon, i.e., “hearing”), a very common Jewish name in the New Testament. He was the son of Jona (Matt. 16:17). His mother is nowhere named in Scripture. He had a younger…
Acts 3:1-11
1. Now, [or almost at that time,] Peter and John went up together into the temple, about the ninth hour of prayer. 2. Furthermore, a certain man, which was lame from his mother's womb, was carried; whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, that he might ask alms of those which entered into the temple. 3. When he saw Peter and John draw near to the temple, he asked an alms. 4. And Peter, beholding him earnestly with John, said, Look on us. 5. And he gave heed unto them, thinking that he should receive somewhat of them. 6. And Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have, give I:thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise an…
Jesus’ promise that his disciples would do even greater works than he had done (John 14:12; see Mark 16:20) was fulfilled in the signs, wonders, and mighty works of the apostles (Acts 2:43; 5:12; 8:4-8). Here, Peter clearly exercised the power to heal in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene (3:6, 16). The cure was instant and undeniable (3:8), resulting in the man’s praising God (3:8-9; cp. 2:47; 16:25; Luke 2:20; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). This is the first of many demonstrations of divine power given to disciples in Acts (Acts 4:24-31; 5:12; 6:8; 8:6; 9:33-42; 28:8).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
