John 10:23

And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. AND JESUS WALKED IN THE TEMPLE, IN SOLOMON'S PORCH - for shelter. This portico was on the east side of the temple, and Josephus says it was part of the original structure of Solomon (Ant. 20: 9. 7)....

23._And Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. _The Evangelist gives to _Solomon’s porch _the designation of_the temple_; not that it was the sanctuary, but only an appendage to_the temple _Nor does he mean the ancient _porch _which was built by _Solomon_, which had been altogether destroyed by the Chaldeans, but that which the Jews — perhaps immediately after their return from the Babylonish captivity — built after the pattern of the ancient _porch_, and gave it the same name, that it might be more highly honored; and Herod afterwards built a new temple....

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....

Verse 23. _SOLOMON'S PORCH._] By what we find in Josephus, Ant. b. xx. c. 8, s. 7, a portico built by Solomon, on the east side of the outer court of the temple, was left standing by Herod, when he rebuilt the temple. This portico was four hundred cubits long, and was left standing, probably, because of its grandeur and beauty. But when Agrippa came to Jerusalem, a few years before the destruction of the city by the Romans, and about eighty years after Herod had begun his building, (till which time what Herod had begun was not completed,) the Jews solicited Agrippa to repair this portico at his own expense, using for argument, not only that the building was growing ruinous, but that otherwise _eighteen_ _thousand_ workmen, who had all of them, until then, been employed in carrying on the works of the temple, would be all at once deprived of a livelihood....

SOLOMON’S PORCH - The porch or covered way on the east of the temple. See the notes at Matthew 21:12....

EXPOSITION JOHN 10:1 5. _Christ the Shepherd of the flock of God_._ _The discourse which now follows was the Lord's parabolic or allegoric reply to the conduct of the Pharisaic malignants. These men, claiming to be infallible guides of the ignorant, to be veritable shepherds of the flock of God, had ignored the advent of the true and good Shepherd, had opposed the Divine call and supreme claim of the Messiah, had set themselves to disturb and dislocate the relations between him and those who saw his glory and found in him the Consolation of Israel. They had excommunicated the adoring disciple who had passed out of lifelong darkness into marvelous light. They had exaggerated the faint glimmer of light which had broken upon their own blindness into true vision. They had said, "We see," and thus shown themselves to be willfully

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. n

John 10:1. _Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber._ The positiveness of our Lord's teaching is noteworthy. Whatever may be said about dogmatical teaching now, it is certain that his teaching is of that character. He does not raise questions, but he solves them. He does not suggest probabilities, but he declares certainties. This might be taken as the key-word to all the Saviour's teaching, «Verily, verily.» He makes a strong asseveration; he speaks as one having authority, not as the scribes who only claimed to have authority, but as the Sent One of the Father who really has it: «Verily, verily, I say unto you.» Whatever comes to us with the imprimatur of the «Verily, verily,» of the Son of God is not to be questioned or doubted by us for a single moment. «He that entereth not

CHAPTER 10 _ 1. The Shepherd of the Sheep. (John 10:1 .)_ 2. The Good Shepherd, His Sheep and His Work. (John 10:6 .) 3. At the Feast of Dedication; the Repeated Testimony. (John 10:22 .) 4. Accused of Blasphemy and His Answer. (John 10:31 .) 5. Beyond Jordan; and Many Believed on Him. (John 10:40 .) The teaching of this chapter is closely linked with the preceding event. It has become evident that the true sheep of Christ, belonging to His flock, would be cast out of the Jewish fold. The healed man cast out had become one of

THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION._ Mg.,_ At that time suggests a closer connexion with what precedes than the old reading And. But in any case the notes of time are not precise. The Feast of the Dedication (p. 104) was instituted to commemorate the restoration (p. 607) of the Temple services in 165 by the Maccabees after its desecration for three years by Antiochus Epiphanes (1Ma_4:36-59, 2Ma_10:1-8, Josephus, _Ant._ XII. vii. 7). It lasted for eight days from December 25, and according to Josephus was called Lights, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us. According to 2Ma_1:9 it was called the Tabernacles of the month Chisleu, many of the customs of Tabernacles being reproduced at it. For the Porch of Solomon, _cf._ Acts 3:11 *. The Jews, either incited to hope by Jesus-' teaching, or wishing to discredit Him with the crowd, demand a clear pronouncement of His Messianic cla