''Petros: Tarry here and minister to my circumcised!''
''Paulos: Go to the outer court and bring them in to be circumcised!''
"Ioannou Markos: Thrust out the outer court and measure it not!"
I think it's interesting to consider that there was never a Court of Gentiles in the original tabernacle. For it was not just Gentiles - but even other everyday Hebrews included. The area known as the “Court of the Gentiles” was open to all, Jews and Gentiles, males or females, people of any class. Both Jews and Gentiles would congregate there - with the only exception being women during their menstrual period. Many activities went on in there, including the selling of sacrificial animals, teaching, bathing for purification, and even the ability to sleep.
For a brief excerpt:
Officially, there was no such thing as the “Court of the Gentiles”. That’s right, nowhere in the ancient literature, be it the Bible, the New Testament, the writing of Josephus or in Talmud does one find such a term. Instead, what one finds is an area called the “Outer Court”, by far the largest section of the Temple complex. Although there’s disagreement between scholars on the exact location of various Temple boundaries, this Outer Court was within the Temple grounds, but wasn’t within the Temple area reserved for Jews, which was surrounded by a very low wall/balustrade (sorek) that was only four feet high (so one could see over it), with large openings guarded by Levites. This court was not just for the Gentiles, however – it was open to anyone. On the other hand, the inner Temple precincts were relatively small and could not contain all the visiting Jews at once (especially during high holy days), so most Jewish worshipers probably ended up in the Outer Court anyway. The sole reason it is known today as the “Court of the Gentiles” was simply because Gentiles could go no farther than this area, while Jews, provided they were ritually pure, could proceed across the balustrade to the next level.
..............The various walls (soreks) that divided the various courts in the Temple were not the so called spiritual “wall of hostility” spoken of by Paul in Ephesians 2:14. Were that the case, one may also claim the High Priest was hostile against his fellow priests and Levites, priests were set against the Israelites, and male Israelites were hostile against Jewish women. Instead, the divisions in the Temple simply signified the different levels of holiness. Israelites could not go into the area where priests worked, and priests could not enter the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest could enter, but no one was intrinsically better than his or her fellow
Of course, on the same token, the original tabernacle set up in Exodus and later the Temple designed by David/made by Solomon did not seem to have type of Court for Gentiles. Yeshua had a lot of problems with others who'd take what was meant to help others pray - and turn it into a house for profit ( more shared
here and here in #
61 ).
And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: “‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations‘? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Mark 11:17)
As said best elsewhere, "Jesus was angry that the holiness of the Temple was being violated by unscrupulousness money dealings, cheating and usury. Worshipers would come to the Temple with “pagan” money (i.e. money with images of pagan gods/emperors) to exchange it for the Temple currency which they could then present as a gift to G-d. And even though the Court of the Gentiles was very large, the Gentiles who came to worship G-d and to get a glimpse of the activities that went on in the Temple would find themselves crowded out by the various shops and tables of sellers peddling various items to visitors."
And the Lord universalized a lot of things later to make clear His heart. Acts 7 comes to mind.
Stephen refutes the final charge, that he has spoken imroperly against the Temple (Acts 6:13-14), by showing that it was the people, not God, who wanted a dwelling place or house more substantial than the Tent of Witness or "Tabernacle" originally authorized in the
Torah. The concept of the temple came into more view under the life of David---as seen in 2 Samuel 7:1-3 and 2 Samuel 7 ( 1 Chronicles 22:4-6 and 1 Chronicles 24-26 )- --- when it came to his desire for a physical temple for God. The Lord conceded....and of course, the centralized location of Temple had its benefits---especially as it concerned management. There were many benefits to having a mobile place of God's dwelling....a church that's based on the concept that church is not a building as much as the people/God's prescence within us.
In regards to Acts 7, Stephen seems to make the case that the Temple (as the Jews knew of it) was inferior to the Tabernacle..as seen in the case in Acts 7.
The Temple didn't have as much significance in the NT church with Hebraic Christians as it did with those in mainline Judaism. For we read that they met in homes, sure, but they also had a “third” place they seemed to frequent on a daily basis – the temple courts (Acts 2:46). While they may have been there to engage in actual temple worship on a daily basis ( Acts 3:1), it is more likely they turned the temple courtyard into the equivalent of a first-century "Starbucks" in order to gather as a community (e.g., Acts 5:12)...in honor of what God did in making them His new temple.
For others in the camp have noted, the first dwelling place God designed for Himself was a mobile home (a tabernacle) because He wanted to be on the move with His people. ....and as we see today, whenever we become focused solely on buildings rather than relationship, we end up not being able to do as Jesus did when he went to bring his message to places that others wouldn't go because they wouldn't go but to the Temple in Jerusalem. ...and the same mess also occurred with the Jews who had the OUTER symbolism of the Temple and yet they didn't have God's prescence..
John 4:19-26
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
2 Corinthians 6:16
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
1 Corinthians 6:18-20
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.