1Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple. 3Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive gifts for the needy. 4Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, “Look at us.” 5He listened to them, expecting to receive something from them. 6But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” 7He took him by the right hand and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength. 8Leaping up, he stood and began to walk. He entered with them into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God. 9All the people saw him walking and praising God. 10They recognized him, that it was he who used to sit begging for gifts for the needy at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.
12When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? 13The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 14But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 16By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
17“Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
19“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, 20and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before, 21whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets. 22For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you. 23It will be that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 24Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, also told of these days. 25You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘All the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.’ 26God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”
While John and Peter were going into the temple, they healed a “lame” man at the “gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful.”
There have been three two gates proposed for the Beautiful Gate. The first, mentioned by Josephus, is the Nicanor Gate. Josephus reports that the Nicanor Gate was large and lavishly decorated.[1] He also says the gate “opened on the east over against the gate of the holy house itself…”[2] The gate gave access from the court of women to the court of men and was, therefore, within the temple complex.[3] This gate was likely destroyed when the Romans besieged the city in A.D. 70. The major argument in support of the Nicanor Gate is the Codex Bezae (D) that reads, “But when Peter and John were going out he went with them, and they, astonished, stood in the portico called Solomon’s,” identifying the Beautiful Gate as the Nicanor Gate.
The second proposed Beautiful Gate is the Golden Gate, also called Shushan.[4] The Golden Gate was in the east wall of the temple complex, directly opposite the Mount of Olives. Because of this, it was associated with Christ’s triumphant entry into the city on Palm Sunday, and the healing of the lame man.[5] Although the gate existing today was likely built during the Crusader era, there is a persistent legend that Suleiman the Magnificent caused the Golden Gate to be filled in, apparently in an effort to thwart the idea that Jesus would return again through this gate.[6] Scholars also suggest that the Greek word for “beautiful,” (ὡραῖος) resembles the Latin aurea, meaning golden, giving rise to the gate being called “Porta Aurea,” i.e. Golden Gate. Another argument in favor of the Golden Gate is the text of Acts itself. Luke records that Peter and John were going “up together to the temple (ἱερὸν)” Usually, the word “ἱερὸν” refers to the temple complex, as opposed to “ναός” which refers to the sanctuary itself. If the Apostles had healed the man in the Nicanor Gate, Luke likely would have used ναόςinstead of ἱερὸν. Moreover, Luke says that the crowds gathered around the Apostles in Solomon’s Porch. Aside from Codex Bezae, in order for the chronology of the story to fit together, the Apostles would have healed the man, gone through the Golden Gate, and entered Solomon’s Porch.[7]If they would have already entered the temple complex, healed the man in Nicanor Gate, entered the court of men, then come back out to Solomon’s Porch, Luke’s account would be much more convoluted than is his normal, careful style. Also, since the reading in Codex Bezae seems to be the variant one, it is likely not the original.
The last proposal is for the Double Gate at the southern wall of the Temple Mount complex, sharing the argument of the Golden Gate regarding the complex versus the sanctuary. These two gates were entrances and exits for the southern portion of the temple mount, and each one measured about five meters wide. This was probably the main entrance for pilgrims since it was located at the very large stairway leading up to the gates (64 meters long). This was an ideal location for begging, and his illness may have prohibited him from entrance onto the Temple Mount. Leen Ritmeyer believes this to be the most likely choice since the text reads that upon receiving his healing, the man attended the apostles into the temple courts “walking and jumping, and praising God” (Acts 3.2, 10).[8]
[1]Josephus, Wars 5.3 (Whiston, 5.205).
[2] Josephus, Wars 5.3 (Whiston, 5.204).
[3] Finegan, Jack, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.) 210.
[4] Finegan says the Golden Gate had a depiction of the Persian Palace of Shushan to “commemorate the permission granted by the kings of Persia for the rebuilding of the Temple.” (The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992, 209).
[5] Gonzalo Baez-Camargo, Archaeological Commentary on the Bible, (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1984) 237.
[6] Finegan, Jack, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.) 210.
[7] This is not to say this reading is definitive. Metzger says this is the “least unacceptable” text. Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, (New York: United Bible Societies, 2002, c. 1971) 269.
[8] Leen Ritmeyer, The Beautiful Gate of the Temple in Jerusalem, The Quest, p. 74.]
See Randall Price and H. Wayne House, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, pp. 295-298.