Matthew Poole and continuators on John 12:20

20 ¶ And there were certain Greeks among them, that came up to worship at the feast:

It is not easie to be determined what these Greeks were, whether Iews, who being scatt [illegible: 1 letter]ed in the Grecian Countrey upon the Conquests which the Grecians had made upon the Iews under Alexander the Great, and those who succeeded him; still remained in those Countries, but kept so much of the religion of their Countrey, as to come up to the Passover: or Gentiles, which are ordinarily called Greeks in contradistinction to the Iews; Acts 14.1. and 16.1. and 18.17. Rom. 1.16. 1 Cor. 1.23, 24. Gal. 3.28. But it is most probable that they were Gentiles: for th[illegible: 1 letter] some say, that the Iews would never have suffered the Gentiles to have come into the Temple to Worship; yet the contrary is plain from the instance of the Eunuch, Acts 8.27. who was an Heathen, and came to Ierusalem to worship. And Acts 17.4. We read of a great multitude of devout Greeks, in the Greek the word is [non-Latin text not transcribed], Worshipping Greeks; and it is plain from the beginning, that there was a liberty for Strangers, not of Israel, but such as came out of a far Countrey, for the Lords Name sake: And Solomon prayeth at the Dedication of the Temple, That the Lord would hear them; And there was belonging to the Temple, a Court of the Gentiles for that purpose; It is called the Court without the Temple, Rev. 11.2. What worship they there performed▪ is a greater question: some think they onely prayed; others think they offered Sacrifices in that Court; from 2 Mac. 2.35. but certain it is, that there were divers of the Gentiles devoutly disposed, that hearing of the Iewish Temple, and the solemn Worship performed there, at their solemn Feasts, came, some as Spectators at those great Conventions, others with a true design to Worship the God of the Iews.