Gate

VIEW:31 DATA:01-04-2020

GATE.—See City, Fortification and Siegecraft § 5, Jerusalem, Temple.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

The oriental resort for business, converse, bargaining, and news (Gen_19:1; Gen_23:10; Psa_69:12), for addresses and reading the law (2Ch_32:6; Neh_8:1; Neh_8:3; Pro_1:21; Jer_17:19), or administering justice (Jos_20:4; Rth_4:1; Deu_16:18; Deu_21:19). Pro_22:22, "neither oppress the afflicted in the gate," i.e. in the place of justice, in lawsuits. Psa_69:12, "they that sit in the gate speak against Me (Messiah), and I was the song of the drunkards," i.e., not only among drunken revelers, but in the grave deliberations of the judges in the place of justice I was an object of obloquy. Amo_5:12, "they turn aside the poor in the gate," i.e. they refuse them their right in the place of justice; (Amo_5:10) "they hate him that rebuketh in the gate," namely, the judge who condemns them (Zec_8:16).
Isa_29:21, "they lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate," i.e., they try by bribes and misrepresentations to ensnare into a false decision the judge who would in public court reprove them for their iniquity, or to ensnare the prophet who publicly reproves them (Jer_7:2). "The Sublime Porte," the title for the Sultan of Turkey, is derived from the eastern usage of dispensing law in the gateway. The king's or chief's place of audience (1Ki_22:10; 2Sa_19:8; Job_29:7; Lam_5:14). The object of a foe's attack and therefore strengthened especially (Jdg_5:8; Psa_147:18), shut at nightfall (Deu_3:5; Jos_2:5; Jos_2:7; 1Sa_23:7). The market place for country produce (2Ki_7:1; Neh_13:16-19). The open spaces near the gates were used for pagan sacrifices (Act_14:13; 2Ki_23:8).
Josiah defiled "the high places of the gates in the entering in of the gate." The larger gates had two valves, and were plated with metal and secured with locks and bars. Those without iron plating were easily set on fire (Jdg_9:52). Sentences of the law were inscribed on and above them, to which allusion occurs Deu_6:9; an usage followed by Muslims in modern times. Some gates were of solid stones (Rev_21:21; Isa_54:12). Massive stone doors are found in ancient houses of Syria, single slabs, several inches thick, 10 ft. high, turning on stone pivots above and below. The king's principal gate at Ispahan afforded sanctuary to criminals (Chardin, 7:368). In Esther's time "none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth" (Est_4:2). "The Beautiful Gate" of Herod's temple (Act_3:2) was the outer one, made of Corinthian brass, surpassing in costliness even nine others of the outer court, which were covered with gold and silver.
It was so heavy that twenty men were required to close it, but it was found open unexpectedly shortly before the overthrow of Jerusalem (Josephus, B. J., 5:5, sec. 3; 6: 5, sec. 3; contra Apion, 2:9). The doorway consisted of lintel, threshold, and side-posts (Exo_12:7; Exo_12:22). In Gen_22:17, "thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies," the sense is, shall sit in judgment on them, as in the Assyrian sculptures the king is represented sitting in judgment upon prisoners. Thus the Persian satrap in the Lycian Xanthus monument sits at the gate dictating terms to the Greek ambassadors, and Sennacherib, at his tent door, gives judgment on the Jews taken at Lachish (British Museum, 59). In front of the larger edifices in the remains at Persepolis and Nineveh (Khorsabad) are propylaea, or "porches," like that "for Solomon's throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment, covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other" (1Ki_7:7).
The threshold in the Assyrian palaces is one slab of gypsum with cuneatic inscriptions; human-headed bulls with eagles' wings guard the portals, like and probably borrowed from the cherubim which guarded the gate of Eden; besides there are holes 12 in. square, lined round with tiles, with a brick to cover them above and containing small baked clay idols with lynx head and human body, or human head and lion's body, probably like the teraphim, from Arabic tarf "a boundary," and akin to the Persian "telifin" talismans. (See TERAPHIM.) Thus the place of going out and coming in was guarded, as especially sacred, from all evil by the inscriptions, the compound figured gods outside, and the hidden teraphim. Daniel "sat in" such a "gate" before the palace of Babylon as "ruler over the whole province of Babylon" (Dan_2:48-49) The courtiers of Ahasuerus attended him "in the gate" similarly (Est_3:2).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Gate. The gate and gateways of eastern cities anciently held and still hold an important part, not only in the defence, but in the public economy of the place. They are thus sometimes taken as representing the city itself. Gen_22:17; Gen_24:60; Deu_12:12; Jdg_5:8; Rth_4:10; Psa_87:2; Psa_122:2. Among the special purposes for which they were used may be mentioned.
1. As places of public resort. Gen_19:1; Gen_23:10; Gen_34:20; Gen_34:24; 1Sa_4:18, etc.
2. Places for public deliberation, administration of Justice, or of audience for kings and rulers or ambassadors. Deu_16:18; Deu_21:19; Deu_25:7; Jos_20:4; Jdg_9:35, etc.
3. Public markets. 2Ki_7:1. In heathen towns, the open spaces near the gates appear to have been sometimes used as places for sacrifice. Act_14:13. Compare 2Ki_23:8. Regarded, therefore, as positions of great importance, the gates of cities were carefully guarded, and closed at nightfall. Deu_3:5; Jos_2:5; Jos_2:7; Jdg_9:40; Jdg_9:44. They contained chambers over the gateway. 2Sa_18:24. The doors themselves of the larger gates mentioned in Scripture were two leaved, plated with metal, closed with locks and fastened with metal bars. Deu_3:6; Psa_107:16; Isa_46:1-2.
Gates not defended by iron were, of course, liable to be set on fire by an enemy. Jdg_9:52. The gateways of royal palaces and even of private houses were often richly ornamented. Sentences from the law were inscribed on and above the gates. Deu_6:9; Isa_64:12; Rev_21:21. The gates of Solomon's Temple were very massive and costly, being overlaid with gold and carving. 1Ki_6:34-35; 2Ki_18:16. Those of the Holy Place were of olive wood, two-leaved and overlaid with gold; those of the Temple of fir. 1Ki_6:31-32; 1Ki_6:34; Eze_41:23-24.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

is often used in Scripture to denote a place of public assembly, where justice was administered, Deu_17:5; Deu_17:8; Deu_21:19; Deu_22:15; Deu_25:6-7, &c. One instance of these judgments appears in that given at the gate of Bethlehem, between Boaz and a relation of Naomi, on the subject of Ruth, Rth_4:2; another in Abraham's purchase of a field to bury Sarah, Gen_23:10; Gen_23:18. The gate of judgment is a term still common to the Arabians to express a court of justice, and even introduced by the Saracens into Spain. “I had several times,” says Jacob, “visited the Alhambra, the ancient palace and fortress of the Moorish kings: it is situated on the top of a hill, overlooking the city, and is surrounded by a wall of great height and thickness. The entrance is through an archway, over which is carved a key, the symbol of the Mohammedan monarchs. This gate, called the gate of judgment, according to eastern forms, was the place where the kings administered justice.” In Morocco, the gate is still the place where judgment is held. “All complaints,” says Host, “are brought, in the first instance, to the cadi, or governor, who, for that purpose, passes certain hours of the day in the gate of the city, partly for the sake of the fresh air, and partly to see all those who go out; and, lastly, to observe a custom which has long prevailed, of holding judgment there. The gate is contrived accordingly, being built like a square chamber, with two doors, which are not directly opposite to each other, but on two adjoining sides, with seats on the other sides. In this manner David sat between two gates,” 2Sa_18:24. Gate sometimes signifies power, dominion, almost in the same sense as the Turkish emperor's palace is called the Porte. God promises Abraham that his posterity shall possess the gates of their enemies, their towns, their fortresses, Gen_22:17.
Jesus Christ says to Peter, “Thou art Peter; and on this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” Mat_16:18. This may mean either the powers of hell, or invisible spirits; or simply death,—the church shall be replenished by living members from generation to generation, so that death shall never annihilate it.
Solomon says, “He that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction.” The Arabs are accustomed to ride into the houses of those they design to harass. To prevent this, Thevenot tells us that the door of the house in which the French merchants live at Rama was not three feet high, and that all the doors of that town are equally low. Agreeably to this account, the Abbe Mariti, speaking of his admission into a monastery near Jerusalem, says, “The passage is so low, that it will scarcely admit a horse; and it is shut by a gate of iron, strongly secured in the inside. As soon as we entered, it was again made fast with various bolts and bars of iron: a precaution extremely necessary in a desert place, exposed to the incursions, and insolent attacks of the Arabs.” Mr. Drummond says, that in the country about Roudge, in Syria, “the poor miserable Arabs are under the necessity of hewing their houses out of the rock, and cutting very small doors or openings to them, that they may not be made stables for the Turkish horse, as they pass and repass.” And thus, long before him, Sandys, at Gaza, in Palestine: “We lodged under an arch in a little court, together with our asses; the door exceeding low, as are all that belong unto Christians, to withstand the sudden entrance of the insolent Turks.” “To exalt the gate,” would consequently be to court destruction. Morier says, “A poor man's door is scarcely three feet in height; and this is a precautionary measure to hinder the servants of the great from entering it on horseback; which, when any act of oppression is intended, they would make no scruple to do. But the habitation of a man in power is known by his gate, which is generally elevated in proportion to the vanity of its owner. A lofty gate is one of the insignia of royalty: such is the Allan Capi, at Ispahan, and Bob Homayan, or the Sublime Porte, at Constantinople. It must have been the same in ancient days; the gates of Jerusalem, Zion, &c, are often mentioned in the Scripture, with the same notion of grandeur annexed to them.”
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

gāt (Hebrew normally (over 300 times) שׁער, sha‛ar; occasionally דּלת, deleth, properly, ?gateway? (but compare Deu_3:5); elsewhere the gateway is פתח, pethaḥ (compare especially Gen_19:6); Aramaic תּרע, tera‛; Greek πυλών, pulō̇n, πύλη, púlē; the English Revised Version and the King James Version add סף, ṣaph, ?threshold,? in 1Ch_9:19, 1Ch_9:22; and the King James Version adds דּלתים, delāthayim, ?double-door,? in Isa_45:1; θύρα, thúra, ?door,? Act_3:2):
(1) The usual gateway was provided with double doors, swung on projections that fitted into sockets in the sill and lintel. Ordinarily the material was wood (Neh_2:3, Neh_2:17), but greater strength and protection against fire was given by plating with metal (Psa_107:16; Isa_45:2). Josephus (BJ, V, v, 3) speaks of the solid metal doors of the Beautiful Gate (Act_3:2) as a very exceptional thing. Some doors were solid slabs of stone, from which the imagery of single jewels (Isa_54:12; Rev_21:21) was derived. When closed, the doors were secured with a bar (usually of wood, Nah_3:13, but sometimes of metal, 1Ki_4:13; Psa_107:16; Isa_45:2), which fitted into clamps on the doors and sockets in the post, uniting the whole firmly (Jdg_16:3). Sometimes, perhaps, a portcullis was used, but Psa_24:7 refers to the enlargement or enrichment of the gates. As the gate was especially subject to attack (Eze_21:15, Eze_21:22), and as to ?possess the gate? was to possess the city (Gen_22:17; Gen_24:60), it was protected by a tower (2Sa_18:24, 2Sa_18:33; 2Ch_14:7; 2Ch_26:9), often, doubtless, overhanging and with flanking projections. Sometimes an inner gate was added (2Sa_18:24). Unfortunately, Palestine gives us little monumental detail.
(2) As even farm laborers slept in the cities, most of the men passed through the gate every day, and the gate was the place for meeting others (Rth_4:1; 2Sa_15:2) and for assemblages. For the latter purpose ?broad? or open places (distinguished from the ?streets? in Pro_7:12) were provided (1Ki_22:10; Neh_8:1), and these were the centers of the public life. Here the markets were held (2Ki_7:1), and the special commodities in these gave names to the gates (Neh_3:1, Neh_3:3, Neh_3:18). In particular, the ?gate? was the place of the legal tribunals (Deu_16:18; Deu_21:19; Deu_25:7, etc.), so that a seat ?among the elders in the gates? (Pro_31:23) was a high honor, while ?oppression in the gates? was a synonym for judicial corruption (Job_31:21; Pro_22:22; Isa_29:21; Amo_5:10). The king, in especial, held public audiences in the gate (2Sa_19:8; 1Ki_22:10; Jer_38:7; compare Jer_39:3), and even yet ?Sublime Porte? (the French translation of the Turkish for ?high gate?) is the title of the Court of Constantinople. To the gates, as the place of throngs, prophets and teachers went with their message (1Ki_22:10; Jer_17:19; Pro_1:21; Pro_8:3; Pro_31:31), while on the other hand the gates were the resort of the town good-for-nothings (Psa_69:12).
(3) ?Gates? can be used figuratively for the glory of a city (Isa_3:26; Isa_14:31; Jer_14:2; Lam_1:4; contrast Psa_87:2), but whether the military force, the rulers or the people is in mind cannot be determined. In Mat_16:18 ?gates of Hades? (not ?hell?) may refer to the hosts (or princes) of Satan, but a more likely translation is 'the gates of the grave (which keep the dead from returning) shall not be stronger than it.' The meaning in Jdg_5:8, Jdg_5:11 is very uncertain, and the text may be corrupt. See CITY; JERUSALEM; TABERNACLE; TEMPLE.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

There were thirteen gates to Jerusalem. Twelve of them are described in Nehemiah and the thirteenth, called the "new gate," is found in Jer_26:10.

They are listed as follows:

Valley Gate Neh_2:13 (c) This gate portrays the humbleness of heart and mind which is essential before one can be saved. We must accept GOD's judgment against ourselves.

Fountain Gate Neh_2:14 (c) This represents the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness whereby the sinner may be saved through the shed Blood of JESUS.

Sheep Gate Neh_3:1 (c) We are assured here that having been humbled and washed in the fountain, we now are His sheep. We are His sheep by the new birth.

Fish Gate Neh_3:3 (c) This gate represents fruitfulness. Those who are saved go after others for CHRIST.

Old Gate Neh_3:6 (c) We are warned here against new-fangled religions and the Christian is encouraged to stay by the old Book and the old path.

Dung Gate Neh_3:14 (c) There are always things to be removed from the life. We should make provision to keep ourselves clean for GOD.

Water Gate Neh_3:26 (c) There is living water to drink (the Holy Spirit), and there is water for cleansing (the water of His Word).

Horse Gate Neh_3:28 (c) The Christian here is called to the service of the King and to hard work for Him in His vineyard. Horses are types of work and power.

East Gate Neh_3:29 (c) The Son of Righteousness will arise. CHRIST is coming back again. We shall hail His return.

Miphkad Gate Neh_3:31 (c) The word means "registry." GOD has registered the believer's name in the Book of Life and will look after all who are listed there.

Ephraim Gate Neh_8:16 (c) Ephraim is the name applied to Israel when she was in a backslidden state. This is the gate by which the backslider may return to GOD. What an encouragement for us to go after those who have drifted away from GOD's fellowship.

Prison Gate Neh_12:39 (c) This reminds us that there is a rebel within each of us, who is to be kept down under lest he injure and harm the work of GOD.

New Gate Jer_26:10 (c) The Christian is to be constantly entering into new experiences of GOD's grace and new fields in GOD's service. We are to "enter into His gates with thanksgiving." There are many of them, so that one may be sure to get in and none need be shut out.

Gen_22:17 (a) Since the gate is the entrance to the walled city, the possession of the gate indicates victory over the enemy and the conquering of his city. (See also Gen_24:60).

Rth_4:1, Rth_4:11 (a) The gate in this place is a type of the principal place of business in various cities, but especially in the land of Israel. Here business was transacted, contracts were made, and judgment was executed. (See also Deu_21:19; Deu_22:24).

Psa_24:7, Psa_24:9 (a) This type is used to express the glorious entrance into Heaven of our wonderful Saviour when He returned from Calvary to glory. It is a figure to describe the triumphal entry of the Lord JESUS into His Father's presence and the palace of the King.

Psa_100:4 (b) By this expression we understand that we come in prayer and praise by faith before GOD to worship and to adore Him.

Psa_118:20 (b) Here we find a picture of the Lord JESUS through whom we enter into the courts of GOD and by whom we reach the palace of the King. He is the gate and the door. (See Gen_28:17).

Pro_8:34 (b) By this type we understand GOD's thoughts about the portals of Heaven, the entrance into GOD's presence. The Christian waits before the Lord on his knees, and watches before the Lord as he reads the Scriptures and enjoys a sweet tryst with Him.

Pro_17:19 (b) This type is used to express self-exaltation, personal emulation, and egotistic assumption, of power, authority and position.

Son_7:4 (b) This gate is the entrance to Heshbon. Just beside that gate were two beautiful pools. These pools are compared to the two eyes of the lover, clear, sparkling, beautiful, attractive.

Isa_3:26 (a) This represents the utter desolation of Jerusalem. She was to, be destroyed by her enemies and the gates burned with fire.

Isa_14:31 (a) By this figure GOD is revealing to us the terrible sorrow and pain which will fill the hearts of His people when the country of Palestine is destroyed.

Isa_24:12 (a) Here again we find a description of the terrible destruction of Jerusalem. Her gates will be destroyed so that there is no defense against the enemy.

Isa_26:2 (a) This is probably a millennial scene in which Jerusalem having been rebuilt will welcome all nations who fear GOD. (See also Isa_60:11; Isa_62:10).

Isa_45:1-2 (c) It may be that the gates in this passage represent both Judah and Israel, both of whom were to be conquered by the invading army. GOD often chose heathen kings as His instruments for whipping Israel. The brass indicates strength and judgments.

Isa_54:12 (c) Probably this type represents the glory of Jerusalem after it is rebuilt by our Lord and becomes again the head of the nations.

Lam_5:14 (b) This picture reveals the fact that the fine leaders of Israel had ceased to serve and to judge so that a state of chaos existed in the city.

Nah_2:6 (b) Probably this refers to the control of the rivers. It may be noted that on several occasions rivers were diverted or changed in order to accomplish certain purposes.

Mat_7:13 (b) The strait gate is the way of salvation by the Cross. It is GOD's only way. It is too narrow to admit both the sinner and his opinions or the sinner and his merits. It is just wide enough for the sinner himself to enter naked, empty, bankrupt and guilty.

Mat_7:13 (b) The wide gate represents the way of the world. It includes all the many human religions that entice men to enter and promise them eternal life. It leads to destruction.

Mat_16:18 (a) No doubt this figure is used to describe the power of Satan and of sin, the power and influence of every kind of evil. No influence from hell and no drawing power of the wicked one can affect the Church of GOD.

Heb_13:12 (a) As in the Old Testament the sacrifices for sin were carried outside the camp, away from the sanctuary of GOD so the Lord JESUS, when He was made sin for us, and became an offering for us, suffered outside Jerusalem on the hill of Calvary. He fulfilled fully the types in the Old Testament.

Rev_21:12, 21, 25 (c) These gates are no doubt poetic figures to represent the fact that only through Israel in the Old Testament as twelve tribes, and the disciples in the New Testament, as twelve men, does any person have any opportunity of entering into GOD's Kingdom. Through the Jews we receive our Bible, our Saviour, and all the revelations of spiritual truths. Through the twelve disciples or apostles we receive all knowledge of our Lord JESUS, and His way of salvation, except as typically described in the Old Testament. It is through the ministry and the teaching of these twenty-four men that we have our information, our knowledge of GOD, and learn the way to GOD.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Gate
(prop. שִׁעִר, shalar, πὑλη; which are also used [espec. the Heb. word] for DOOR SEE DOOR [q.v.], although this latter is more properly designated by פֶּתִח, pe'thach, an opening, of which דֶּלֶת, de'leth, was the valve, Gr. θύρα; there also occur סִ, saph, 1Ch_9:19; 1Ch_9:21, a vestibule or "threshold," as usually elsewhere rendered; and the Chald. תּרִע, tera' an entrance, only in Ezra and Dan.), the entrance to inclosed grounds, buildings, dwelling-houses, towns, etc. (see Thomson, Land and Book, 1:29 sq.). Thus we find mentioned. Gates of Cities, as of Jerusalem, its sheep-gate, fishgate, etc. (Jer_37:13; Neh_1:3; Neh_2:3; Neh_5:3); of Sodom (Gen_19:1); of Gaza (Jdg_16:3).
2. Gates of royal palaces (Neh_3:8).
3. Gates of the Temple. The temple of Ezekiel had two gates, one towards the north, the other towards the east; the latter closed (Eze_44:1-2), the other must have been open. The gates of Solomon's Temple were very massive and costly, being overlaid with gold and carvings (1Ki_6:34-35; 2Ki_18:16). Those of the Holy Place were of olive-wood, two-leaved. and overlaid with gold; those of the Temple of fir (1Ki_6:31-32; 1Ki_6:34; Eze_41:23-24). Of the gates of the outer courts of Heroid's temple, nine were covered with gold and silver, as.well as the posts and lintels; but the middle one, the Beautifil Gate (Act_3:2), was made entirely of Corinthian brass, and was considered to surpass the others far in costliness (Joseph. War, 5:5, 3). This gate, which was so heavy as to require twenty men to close it, was unexpectedly found open on one occasion shortly before the close of the siege (Joseph. War, 6:5,3; Rev_2:9).
4. Gates of tombs (Mat_27:60).
5. Gates of prisons. In Act_12:10, mention is made of the iron gate of Peter's prison (Act_16:27). Prudentius (Peristephanon, 5:346) speaks of gate-keepers of prisons.
6. Gates of caverns (1Ki_19:13).
7. Gates of camps (Exo_32:26-27; see Heb_13:12). The camps of the Romans generally had four gates, of which the first was called porta praetoria, the second decumana, the third principalis, the fourth quintana (Rosin. Antiq. Rom_10:12). The camp of the Trojans is also described as having had gates (Virgil, AEn. 9:724). The camp of the Israelites in the desert appears to have been closed by gates (Exo_32:27). We do not know of what materials the enclosures and gates of the temporary camps of the Hebrews were formed. In Egyptian monuments such enclosures are indicated by lines of upright shields, with gates apparently of wicker, defended by a strong guard. In later Egyptian times, the gates of the temples seem to have been intended as places of defence, if not the principal fortifications (Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 1:409, abridgm.). The gateways of Assyrian cities were arched or squareheaded entrances in the wall; sometimes flanked by towers (Layard, Nineveh 2:388, 395; Nin. and Bab. page 231; Mon. of Nin. part 2; ch. 49; see also Assyrian bas-reliefs in Brit. Mus. Nos. 49, 25, 26). The entrances to their own royal mansions were a simple passage between two colossal human-headed bulls or lions. SEE PALACE.
As the gates, of towns served the ancients as places of security SEE FORTIFICATION, a durable material was required for them, and accordingly we find mentioned —
1. Gates of iron and brass (Psa_107:16; Isa_14:2; Act_12:10). It is probable that gates thus described were, in fact, only sheeted with plates of copper or iron (Faber, Archaeol. page 297), and it is probably in this sense that we are to interpret the hundred brazen gates ascribed to the ancient Babylon. Thevenot (Voyage, page 283) describes the six gates of Jerusalem as covered with iron, which is probably still the case with the four gates now open. Other iron-covered gates are mentioned by travelers, such as some of the town gates of Algiers (Pitt's Letter, 8:10), and of the towers of the so-called iron bridge at Antioch (Pococke, volume 2, part 1, page 172). Gates of iron also mentioned by Hesiod (Theog. 732), by Virgil (AEnaid, 1:482; 7:609), and by Ovid (Metamorpheses, 7:126).
2. Gates of stone, and of pearls, are mentioned in Isa_54:12, and Romans 21:12, wheich, it has justly bees supposed, refer to such doors, cut out of a single slab, as are occasionally discovered in ancient countries (Shaw, page 210; Burckhardt, Syria, page 58, 74; Portar, Damsc. 2:22, 192; Ray, Coll. of Trav. 2:429). At Ensswan (Syene), in Upper Egypt, there is a granite gateway bearing the name of Alexander, the son of Alexander the Great (Wilkinson, 3:403). The doors leading to the several chambers of the so-called "Tombs of the Kings," near Jerusalem, were each formed of a single stone seven inches thick, sculptured so as to resemble four panels: the stiles, muntins, and other parts were cut with great art, and exactly resembled those of a door made by a carpenter at the present day — the whole being completely smooth and polished, and most accurate in its proportions. The doors turned on pivots, of the same stone of which the rest of them were composed, which were inserted in corresponding sockets above and below, the lower tenon being of course short. This is one of the modes in which heavy doors of wood are now hung in the East. One of these doors was still hanging in Maundrell's time, and "did not touch its lintel by at least three inches." But all these doors are now thrown down and broken (Monconys, p. 308; Thevenot, page 261; Pococke, 2:21; Maundrell, sub Mar. 28; Wilde, 2:299; Robinson, 1:530). Similar doors are described by Dr. Clarke (Travels, pt. ii, vol. i, p. 252) in the remarkable excavated sepulchres at Telmessus, on the southern coast of Asia Minor; and others were noticed by Irby and Mangles (Travels, page 302) in the sepulchres, near Bysan (Bethshabs). There are stone doors to the houses in the Hauran beyond the Jordan (Burckhacdt, page 58); and in the north of Persia the street doors of superior houses are often composed of a single slab of a kind of slate. In the ancient sepulcher recently discovered, as described by Dr. Wilde (Narrative, 2:343), the outer door is formed by a single slab, and moves on horizontal pivots that run into sockets cut in the pilasters at the top, in the manner of 47 swinging hinge.
3. Gates of wood. Of this kind were probably the gates of Gaza (Jdg_16:3). They had generally two valves, which, according to Faber's description (Arch. page 300), had sometimes smaller doors, or wickets, to afford a passage when the principal gate was closed — a fact which he applies to the illustration of Mat_7:13.
The parts of the doorway were the threshold ( סִ Jdg_19:27; Sept. πρόθυρον, Vulg. limen), the side-posts (מְזוּזת; σγαθμοί; uterque postis), and the lintel (מִשְׁקו; φλιά, superliminare, Exo_12:7). It was on the lintel and side-posts that the blood of the Passover lamb was sprinkled (Exo_12:7; Exo_12:22). A trace of some similar practice in Assyrian worship seems to have been discovered at Nineveh (Layard, Nin. 2:256). Gates were generally protected by some works against the surprises of enemies (Jer_39:4). Sometimes two gates were constructed one behind another, an outer and inner one, or there were turrets on both sides (2Sa_18:24; 2Sa_18:33; see Faber's Archaeology, page 301). The gates of the ancients were generally secured emitlstrong, heavy bolts and locks of brass or iron (Deu_3:5; 1Sa_23:7; 1Ki_4:13; 2Ch_8:5; Jer_45:2; Jer_49:31; Psa_147:13). This was probably done with a view to the safety of the town, and to prevent hostile inroads (Harmer's Observations, 1:188). The keys of gates, as well as of doors, were generally of wood; and Thevenot observes that gates might 1be opened even with the finger put into the keyhole from which Harmer elucidates the passage in the Son_5:4. The doors themselves of the larger gates mentioned in Scripture were two-leaved, plated with metal (Jdg_16:3; Neh_3:3-15; Psa_107:16; Isa_45:1-2). Gates not defended by iron were of course liable to be set on fire by an enemy (Jdg_9:52).
The gates of towns were kept open or shut according to circumstances: in time of war they were closed against the inroads of the enemy (Jos_2:5), but they were opened when the enemy had been conquered. On festive occasions they were also thrown wide open, to which Psa_24:7 alludes. This opening of the gates, as well as closing them, was done by means of keys. That near the gates towers were often constructed, serving for defense against attacks of the enemy, may be inferred from Deu_3:5; 2Sa_18:24; Jdg_9:35, comp. with 52. So Juvenal (Sat. 6:290) puts the towers of the gates for the gates themselves. Virgil (En. 6:550) represents the infernal gate as having a tower. Enemies, therefore, in besieging towns, were most anxious to obtain possession of the gates as quickly as possible (Deuteronomy 18:52; Jdg_9:40; 2 Samuel 10:8; 11:33; 1Ki_8:37; Job_5:4; Isa_22:7; Isa_28:6); and generally the town was conquered when its gates were occupied by the invading troops (Deuteronomy 38:57; Jdg_5:8). This observation is made also by several Greek and Roman authors (Herodian, Histor. 1:12, § 14; Virgil, AEn. 2:802 sq.). In or near the gates, therefore, they placed watchmen, and a sufficiently strong guard, to keep an eye on the movements of the enemy, and to defend the works in case of need (Jdg_18:16; 2Ki_7:3; Neh_13:22; see Herodian, Histor. 3:2, § 21; Virgil, AEn. 2:265 sq., 365). Regarded, therefore as positions of great importance, the gates of cities were carefully guarded and closed at nightfall (Deu_3:5; Jos_2:5; Jos_2:7; Jdg_9:40; Jdg_9:44; 1Sa_23:7; 2Sa_11:23; Jer_39:4; Jdt_1:4). They contained chambers over the gateway, and probably also chambers or recesses at the sides for the various purposes to which they were applied (2Sa_18:24; Layard, Nin. and Bab. page 57, and note). In the Temple, Levites, and in houses of wealthier classes and in palaces, persons were especially appointed to keep the gates (Jer_35:4; 2Ki_12:9; 2Ki_25:18; 1Ch_9:18-19; Est_2:21;
שֹׁעֲרַים; Sept. θυρωρό, πυλωροί; Vulg. portarii, janitores). In the A.V. these are frequently called "porters," a word which has now acquired a different meaning. The chief steward of the household in the palace of the shah of Persia was called chief of the guardians of the gate (Chardin, 7:369).
We read that some portions of the law were to be written on the gates of towns, as well as on the doors of houses (Deu_6:9; Deu_11:20); and if this is to be literally understood (comp. Isa_54:12; Rev_21:21), it receives illustration from the practice of the Moslems in painting passages of the Koran on their public and private gates (Maundrell, E.T. page 488; Lane, Mod. Eq. 1:29; Rauwolff, Travels, part 3, chapter 10; Ray, 2:278). Various artificial figures and inscriptions were engraved on their gates by the Romans (Virgil, Georg. 3:26 sq.). SEE POST.
Gates are often mentioned in Scripture as places at which were holden courts of justice, to administer the law and determine points in dispute: hence judges in the gate are spoken of (Deu_16:18; Deu_17:8; Deu_21:19; Deu_25:6-7; Jos_20:4; Rth_4:1; 2Sa_15:2; 2Sa_19:8; 1Ki_22:10; Job_29:7; Pro_22:22; Pro_24:7; Lam_5:14; Amo_5:12; Zec_8:16). The reason of this custom is apparent; for the gates being places of great concourse and resort, the courts held at them were of easy access to all the people; witnesses and auditors to all transactions were easily secured (a matter of much importance in the absence or scanty use of Written documents); and confidence in the integrity of the magistrate was insured by the publicity of the proceedings (comp. Polyb. 15:31), There was within the gate a particular place, where the judges sat on chairs, and this custom must be understood as referred to when we read that courts were held under the gates, as may be proved from 1Ki_22:10; 2Ch_18:9. Apart from the holding of courts of justice, the gate served for reading the law, and for proclaiming ordinances, etc. (2Ch_32:6; Neh_8:1; Neh_8:3). We see from Pro_31:23; Lam_5:14, that the inferior magistrates held a court in the gates, as well as the superior judges (Jer_36:10); and even kings, at least occasionally, did the same (1Ki_22:10, comp. with Psa_27:5). The gates at Jerusalem served the same purpose; but for the great number of its inhabitants, many places of justice were required. Thus we find that Nehemiah (Neh_3:32) calls a particular gate of this city the counsel-gate, or justice-gate, which seems to have had a preference, though not exclusive, since courts must have been holden in the other gates also. After the erection of the second Temple, the celebrated great Sanhedrim, indeed, assembled in the so-called conclave caesurae of the Temple; but we find that one of the Synedria of Jerusalem, consisting of twenty-three members, assembled in the east gate, leading to the court of Israel, the other in the gate leading to the Temple Mount. The same custom prevails to the present day among other Oriental nations, as in the kingdom of Morocco, where courts of justice are holden in the gate of the capital town (Dopter, Theatrum pomarum, page 9 sq.). Hence came the usage of the word "Porte" in speaking of the government of Constantinople (Early Trav. page 349). Respecting the Abyssinians and inhabitants of Hindustan, we are likewise assured that they employed their gates for courts of justice. Homer (Iliad, 1:198 sq.) states of the Trojans that their elders assembled in the gates of the town to determine causes, and Virgil (AEn. 1:509 sq.) says the same. From Juvenal (Satir. 3:11) it appears that with the Romans the porta Capena was used for this purpose (Graevii Thesaurus Antiquit. Roman. 10:179. We may refer to J.D. Jacobi's Dissertat. de foro in portis, Leipzig, 1714, where the custom of holding courts in the gates of towns is explained at large. SEE TRIAL. 'The Egyptian and Assyrian monuments represent the king as giving an audience, especially to prisoners, at his tent-door.
In Palestine gates were, moreover, the places where, sometimes at least, the priests delivered their sacred addresses and discourses to the people; and we find that the prophets often proclaimed their warnings and prophecies in the gates (Pro_1:21; Pro_8:3; Isa_29:21; Jer_17:19-20; Jer_26:10; Jer_36:10).
Among the heathen gates were connected with sacrifices, which were offered in their immediate vicinity; in which respect the hills near the gate are mentioned (2Ki_23:8). In Act_14:13, the gates of Lyntra are referred to, near which sacrifice was offered; in which passage Camerarius, Dedien, and Heinsius take πυλῶνας to mean the town-gate. The principal gate of the royal spalace at Ispahan was in Chardin's time hald sacred, and served as a sanctuary for criminals (Chardin, 7:368, and petitions were presented to the sovereign at the gate. See Est_4:2, and Herod. 3:120, 140).
The gate was, further, a public place of meeting and conversation, where the people assembled in large numbers to learn the news of the day, and by various talk to while away the too tedious hours (Psa_69:13). It was probably with this view that Lot sat under the gate of Sodom (Gen_19:1); which is more probable than the Jewish notion that he sat there as one of the judges of the city (comp. Gen_23:10; Gen_23:18; Gen_34:20; 1Sa_4:18; 2Sa_18:24; see Shaw, Trav. page 207).
Under the gates they used to sell various merchandises, provisions, victuals, e.g., at Samaria (2Ki_7:1); and for this purpose there were generally recesses in the space under them (see Herodian, 7:6, § 6). The same is stated by Aristophanes (Eqsit. 1245, ed. Dind.) of the gates of the Greeks. But the commodities sold at the gates are almost exclusively country produce, animal or vegetable, for the supply of the city, and not manufactured goods, which are invariably sold in the bazaars in the heart of the town. The gate-markets also are only held for a few hours early in the morning. SEE BAZAAR.
On an uproar having broken out at Jerusalem, the heads of the people met under the New-gate (Jer_29:26), where they were sure to find insurgents. The town-gates were to the ancient Orientals what the coffee- houses, exchanges, markets, and courts of law are in our large towns; and such is Still the case in a great degree, although the introduction of coffee- houses has in this, and other respects caused some alteration of Eastern manners. In capital towns the quidnuncs occasionally sat with the same views near the gate of the royal palace, where also the officers and messengers of the palace lounged about; and where persons having suits to offer, favors to beg, or wishing to recommend themselves to favorable notice, would wait day after day, in the hope of attracting the notice of the prince or great man at his entrance or coming forth (Est_2:19; Est_2:21; Est_3:2).
Criminals were punished without the gates (1Ki_21:13; Act_7:59), which explains the passage in Heb_13:12. The same custom existed among the Raomans (see Plaut. Milit. Glorios. Acts 2, sc. 4:6, 7). At Rome executions took place without the Porta Metia or Esquilina. As to the gate through which Christ was led before his crucifixion, opinions differ; some taking it to have been the Dung-gate (Lamy, Apparat. Gegograph. chapter 13, § 3, page 321); others, following Hottinger (Cipp. Hebr. page 16) and Godwyn, understand it of the Gate of Judgment. But for all that concerns the gates of Jerusalem, we must refer to the article JERUSALEM SEE JERUSALEM .
Gates are put figuratively for public places of towns and palaces. The gates of a town are also put instead of the town itself (Gen_22:17; Gen_24:60; Jdg_5:8; Rth_4:10; Deu_12:12; Psa_87:2; Psa_122:2). By gates of righteousness (Psa_118:19) those of the Temple are no doubt meant. The gates of death and of hell occur in Job_38:17; Psa_9:14; Alicash 2:13. Doors and gates of hell are especially introduced, Pro_5:5; Isa_38:10; Mat_16:19; and the Jews go so far in their writings as to ascribe real gates to hell (Wagenseil, Sota, page 220). Virgil (AEn. 6:126) also speaks of infernal gates. The origin of this metaphorical expression is not difficult to explain; for it was very common to use the word gates as an image of large empires (Psa_24:7); and in pagan authors the abode of departed souls is represented as the residence of Pluto (see Virgil, AEn. 6:417 sq.). In the passage, then, Mat_16:19, by "gates of hell" must be understood all aggressions by the infernal empire upon the Christian Church. SEE CITY.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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