1. Actes 3:2 (NEG79)
  2. Explication du texte

Why did the man beg outside the temple courts?

Actes 3:2 (NEG79)

2 Il y avait un homme boiteux de naissance, qu'on portait et qu'on plaçait tous les jours à la porte du temple appelée la Belle, pour qu'il demande l'aumône à ceux qui entraient dans le temple.

Old covenant law prohibited those who were cripple from entering the temple courts. This meant the man had to beg outside the gate as people went in. At the time many Jews probably understood his disability to be the result of a grave sin for which God had punished him (see John 9:1–2). Even so, giving alms to help the poor was one of the main ways of showing kindness and seen as a major expression of devotion to God (Exodus 22:21–27; Deuteronomy 10:18–20; Deuteronomy 24:17–18; Deuteronomy 27:19).1