(23) And Jesus walked in the temple . . .--Better, and Jesus was walking. The scene is remembered and pictured as it took place.
In Solomon's porch.--The place is mentioned again in Acts 3:11; Acts 5:12. It was rather a cloister or arcade than what we usually call a porch. It is said to have been on the east of the Temple, and to have been a relic of the original building which had survived all destructions and restorations, and had brought down its founder's name from its founder's time. (Comp. Jos. Ant. xx. 9, ? 7.) It does not seem clear, however, that Josephus calls anything more than the eastern wall by the name of Solomon, and he calls the cloister above it simply the "Eastern cloister." It is more likely that the true position of "Solomon's porch" is to be found in one of the subterranean structures which existed in the time of our Lord, and exist now as they did in the time of Solomon. Caspari would identify the corridor under El-Aksa with "Solomon's porch," and thus connect the place where our Lord walked at this feast with the Holy Church of Zion, and the place of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. (Chron. and Geogr., Introd., Append. ? 22; Eng. Trans., pp. 297-9. Comp. Note on refs. in Acts.) The place as mentioned here is another instance of the writer's remembrance of topographical details connected with the Temple. (Comp. John 8:20.) The fact that it was winter, and the fact that He was walking in this covered cloister or crypt, explain each other.
Verse 23. - And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. He walked in Solomon's portico - that part of the temple of Herod which the apostles afterwards adopted as the scene of some of their most explicit assertions of the gospel (Acts 3:11; Acts 5:12). It was associated with the grandest events in their national history; for it was reared on the substructions of Solomon's temple, which even to the present day are intact (Robinson's 'Palestine,' 1:289; Palestine Exploration Society's Reports; 'Recovery of Jerusalem,' frontispiece, pp. 17, 226, 309-319). The Lord walked there because it was winter, and wintry weather. This reveals a little touch of the hand of an eye-witness. We need not ask for any more transcendental explanation. The note of time, moreover, implies that two months had elapsed since the Feast of Tabernacles. Wieseler calculates that the Feast of Tabernacles closed on October 19, and the Feast of Dedication began on December 20, and, if so, time is left for a portion of the Galilaean ministry cited in Luke 10. - 13. Ezra 10:9-13 shows that the time referred to was after a period of heavy rain, and may account for Jesus walking in the shelter of the portico.
10:22-30 All who have any thing to say to Christ, may find him in the temple. Christ would make us to believe; we make ourselves doubt. The Jews understood his meaning, but could not form his words into a full charge against him. He described the gracious disposition and happy state of his sheep; they heard and believed his word, followed him as his faithful disciples, and none of them should perish; for the Son and the Father were one. Thus he was able to defend his sheep against all their enemies, which proves that he claimed Divine power and perfection equally with the Father.
And Jesus walked in the temple,.... To keep himself warm, and to secure him the better from the inclemency of the weather:
in Solomon's porch; which was covered over, and the outside of it was enclosed with a wall, which made it very convenient for such a purpose: this was on the outside of the temple eastward, and was a very magnificent structure: the account Josephus (n) gives of it is this;
"there was a porch without the temple, overlooking a deep valley, supported by walls of four hundred cubits, made of four square stone, very white; the length of each stone was twenty cubits, and the breadth six; the work of king Solomon, who first founded the whole temple.''
Now, though this was not the porch that was built by Solomon, yet as it was built on the same spot, and in imitation of it, it bore his name; mention is made of it in Acts 3:11.
In Solomon's porch.--The place is mentioned again in Acts 3:11; Acts 5:12. It was rather a cloister or arcade than what we usually call a porch. It is said to have been on the east of the Temple, and to have been a relic of the original building which had survived all destructions and restorations, and had brought down its founder's name from its founder's time. (Comp. Jos. Ant. xx. 9, ? 7.) It does not seem clear, however, that Josephus calls anything more than the eastern wall by the name of Solomon, and he calls the cloister above it simply the "Eastern cloister." It is more likely that the true position of "Solomon's porch" is to be found in one of the subterranean structures which existed in the time of our Lord, and exist now as they did in the time of Solomon. Caspari would identify the corridor under El-Aksa with "Solomon's porch," and thus connect the place where our Lord walked at this feast with the Holy Church of Zion, and the place of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. (Chron. and Geogr., Introd., Append. ? 22; Eng. Trans., pp. 297-9. Comp. Note on refs. in Acts.) The place as mentioned here is another instance of the writer's remembrance of topographical details connected with the Temple. (Comp. John 8:20.) The fact that it was winter, and the fact that He was walking in this covered cloister or crypt, explain each other.
in Solomon's porch; which was covered over, and the outside of it was enclosed with a wall, which made it very convenient for such a purpose: this was on the outside of the temple eastward, and was a very magnificent structure: the account Josephus (n) gives of it is this;
"there was a porch without the temple, overlooking a deep valley, supported by walls of four hundred cubits, made of four square stone, very white; the length of each stone was twenty cubits, and the breadth six; the work of king Solomon, who first founded the whole temple.''
Now, though this was not the porch that was built by Solomon, yet as it was built on the same spot, and in imitation of it, it bore his name; mention is made of it in Acts 3:11.
(n) Antiqu. l. 20. c. 8. sect. 7.