Why were Peter and John going to the temple at three in the afternoon?
Acts 3:1
ESV - 1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
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Asked December 04 2017
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robert fowler
Supporter
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Tim Maas
Supporter
Acts 3:1 describes the ninth hour of the day (that is, three o'clock in the afternoon) as "the hour of prayer". I could find no Old Testament command for prayer at that specific time, although Daniel 6:10 speaks of Daniel making it a practice while in exile in Babylon to pray and give thanks to God three times a day, while facing toward Jerusalem. However, I did find a Wikipedia reference to a Jewish practice mentioned in the Talmud called "Mincha" or "Minkhah" (meaning "present"), which was a term related to a prayer associated with the meal offering that accompanied each sacrifice in the Temple, and that took place specifically in the afternoon. The first use of this term was associated with the offerings that Cain and Abel presented to God in Genesis 4:3-4. However, the actual practice was said to have originated with Isaac, in connection with his meditation in the field described in Genesis 24:63. (Further information on this practice is contained in the Wikipedia article on Mincha at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincha.)
STANLEY S. DRANE
Supporter
I'm glad you asked. We see in Acts 3:1 (Matthew Henry Concise Commentary), the apostles and the first believers attended the temple worship at the hours of prayer. Peter and John seem to have been led by a Divine direction, to work a miracle on a man above forty years old, who had been a cripple from his birth. Peter, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, bade him to rise up and walk. Thus, if we would attempt to good purpose the healing of men's souls, we must go forth in the name and power of Jesus Christ, calling on helpless sinners to arise and walk in the way of holiness, by faith in Him.
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