What was Solomon's Porch?

Some porch or colonnade attached to the temple built by Herod. The Lord 'walked' therein, where there was room for the Jews to gather round Him. John 10:23. When Peter and John had cured the lame man, the people congregated in the same place, and Peter addressed them. It was probably an unfrequented part of the outer temple, for the believers met there in the earliest days of the church. Acts 3:11; Acts 5:12.

The healing of so well-known a character as the lame beggar soon drew together a multitude in Solomon's porch. This was a covered walk with pillars, much frequented by visitors to the temple. It was here that the Jews told out their unbelief so painfully in the days of the Lord Jesus, when they said: "How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." When He did declare plainly the truth as to His person they forthwith attempted His life (John 10:22-29).

The crowd which gathered round Peter and John furnished the opportunity for the second recorded Christian sermon (Acts 3:12-26). It was remarkable in various ways. First, Peter sought to divert attention from himself and his companions by insisting that it was not by their own power or holiness they had made the man to walk; but that instead the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had wrought for the glory of His servant Jesus, whom the Jewish people had so recently denied and slain. The apostle put their guilty deed in the strongest form when he said: "Ye denied the holy One, and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince (or Author) of life, whom God has raised from the dead." They had deliberately preferred a taker of life, in the person of Barabbas, to the divine Author of life — the Son of God! Now it was His name, through faith in His name, which had given the poor cripple perfect soundness in the presence of them all. What an awful position for men to find themselves in! God was publicly honouring the name of the One they had murdered! God and man were thus at open variance concerning Jesus. The position has not altered to this hour. The world has not changed its mind as to the Crucified; were it otherwise, it would cease to be "the world." The world ever despises and hates Him whom God loves and magnifies.

Wonder and amazement filled the people when they saw the man walking, and they ran together unto the Apostles in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering (v.11). This porch, or portico, was a relic, it is said, of Solomon's work, which had escaped destruction till then. [13] In this same porch the Lord was walking when questioned by the Jews as to whether He was the Christ (John 10:23 ). In this same place, evidently one of concourse, the Apostles were found later on (Acts 5:12 ), before they were beaten by order of the Sanhedrin. To the assembled crowd Peter now addressed himself. In the previous chapter his audience of course was a mixed one, composed not only of native but of many foreign Jews speaking various languages, because collected from different countries upon earth. On this occasion, the feast of Pentecost being over, we may conclude that the foreign element, of which there was always some in Jerusalem (6:9), was reduced to its normal proportions. "Ye men of Israel ," he began, "why marvel ye at this" (referring probably to that which is stated in v.9); "or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness [rather, godliness] we had made this man to walk?" ( 3:12 ). No credit would they take to themselves, nor allow the people for one moment to think of them as something extraordinary. How different was this from Simon Magus, who, exercising Satanic power, gave himself out to be some great one (8:9). The natural man loves to exalt himself. The Apostles would give all the glory to God, and to His servant Christ Jesus. The miracle was undoubted. Peter distinctly admits it. But the power by which it had been accomplished was Divine.

Three striking events in the New Testament connect themselves with this porch. They are recorded in John 10, and Acts 3, 5. Although still named “Solomon’s,” the porch had by this time been considerably enlarged each way, but remained so far on the massive foundation laid for it by him.

Three striking events in the New Testament connect themselves with this porch. They are recorded in John 10, and Acts 3, 5. Although still named "Solomon's," the porch had by this time been considerably enlarged each way, but remained so far on the massive foundation laid for it by him.

Four centuries later, Herod, to win the support of the Jews and foster his own vanity, built a new temple which took 46 years to erect. The building did not follow the pattern of the original. It was sought to eclipse its grandeur and magnitude. The front, composed of white polished marble, was specially beautiful. The enclosure, over 200 yards square, was surrounded by a wall of huge stones on the verge of a precipice over the valley 600 ft. deep. At the top of the precipice were wonderful galleries supported by marble pillars. Solomon's porch, called "Beautiful," was at the East Gate. The gates were 50 ft. by 25 ft. The roof, covered with gold, had a glorious appearance in the sunshine. That was the temple when the Lord came in lowly grace. It existed less than 70 years, serving as a fort in the famous siege by the Romans, when to the great sorrow of Titus, the Roman General and contrary to his command, it was accidentally burned by one of his own soldiers. Two subsequent attempts to rebuild the temple ended disastrously. These were in defiance of the words of the One greater than the Temple Who said, "there shall not be left here one stone upon another." Could anyone gainsay that dictum? A Moslem mosque now occupies the position of the former Holy Place!

[13] To this porch Josephus refers. "These," he writes, [eastern] "cloisters belonged to the outer court, and were situated in a deep valley, and had walls that reached four hundred cubits [in length], and were built of square and very white stones, the length of each of which stones was twenty cubits, and their height six cubits. This was the work of King Solomon, who first of all built the entire Temple." (Josephus, Ant ., XX. ix. 7).

We are specially referred to Solomon's porch. It was the common place of assembly in the temple. Was His being there a proof He was a substitute under a curse? All the apostles were afterwards with one accord in Solomon's porch. Were they all substitutes under a curse? I will speak of the doctrine. I speak now of the ridiculous absurdity of such reasoning.

In Solomon's Porch.* — Again was the Lord found at Jerusalem. It was the feast of Dedication. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the Temple in Solomon's porch. The season of the year may account for that. Further, we gather, from the mention of this porch in Acts 3:11 and 5:12, that it was a place of concourse. Whilst walking there the Jews came round Him, and with a show of earnest desire addressed Him as follows: "How long dost Thou make us to doubt [or, hold us in suspense]? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly" (24). Men often charge God with being the cause of their unbelief. Their difficulties need clearer light than has been vouchsafed. Were more given, they would be convinced, and believe — a vain excuse, which will not avail at the bar of Divine judgment. So here the Jews, apparently desirous of being fully assured of the validity of the Lord's claim to be the Messiah, spoke as follows: "How long dost Thou hold us in suspense?" The hindrance, as they declared, lay with Him. Why not, then, speak plainly, and remove our uncertainty?

(3) The feast of the dedication of the temple occurred two months later than the previous narrative; the connection of it with it is, however, manifest. The dedication commemorated was not that of Solomon's, but the re-dedication by Judas Maccabaeus, after its profanation by Antiochus. Yet the Lord walking in Solomon's porch (or colonnade) is surely significant in this way, as carrying us back to that first dedication, if only by way of contrast. The massive foundations of Solomon's structure remained, but only in ruin, which, however sought to be repaired, witnessed to what had come in the way of failure and ruin. How much this second temple, again renewed with great magnificence by the bloody hands of the Edomite Herod, lacked of what the old possessed! As it stood, it was the very witness of their pretentious legalism, covering up the decay and desolation underneath. The Glory was departed, the Living Voice that had once spoken to them was silent now. The Ark and Mercy-seat, where the covering blood should have been sprinkled, the Throne of the divine Inhabitant, was gone. All went on now, not upon the old basis, but only as permitted by long-suffering patience, still pleading, still abused.