Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 3:2

"And a certain man that was lame from his mother`s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;" — Acts 3:2 (ASV)

A certain man lame from his mother’s womb.—The careful record of the duration of his suffering is more or less characteristic of St. Luke (Luke 9:33; Luke 14:8). The minuteness in this narrative suggests the thought that St. Luke’s informant may have been the cripple himself.

Was carried.—Better, was being carried.

The gate of the temple which is called Beautiful.—Literally, door, though “gate” is used in Acts 3:10. No gate of this name is mentioned by other writers, but it was probably identical with either:

1. The gate of Nicanor (so called, according to one tradition, because the hand of the great enemy of Judah had been nailed to it as a trophy), which was the main eastern entrance of the inner court (Stanley’s Jewish Church, iii. p. 323); or
2. The Susa gate, also on the eastern side, and named in memory of the old historical connection between Judah and Persia, leading into the outer court of the women. The latter was of fine Corinthian brass, so massive that twenty men were required to open or shut it (Jos. Wars, v. 5, § 3).

To ask alms of those who entered into the temple.—The approaches of the Temple, like those of modern mosques, were commonly thronged with the blind, lame, and other mendicants. (Compare John 9:8.) The practice was common at Constantinople in the time of Chrysostom, and has prevailed largely throughout Christendom.