April 1930
180
T h e
K i n g ’ s
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The Eastern Gate B y R ev . R onald R . K ratz (Western Springs, Til.)
t FASCINATING antiquity which the pilgrim to the land of our Lord will likely visit, is the East ern, or Golden, Gate at Jerusalem. The setting and traditions of this Gate hold one’s attention, but the position that it claims in history and prophecy is unexpectedly great. Therefore, tak to see the “gate that looketh toward the east.” As we go down Temple Street to the Temple Area, we jostle against Arabs, Jews, Sudanese, heavily laden don
floor of Araunah, which David bought that he might sac rifice thereon, and it is the site of the altar of burnt offer ing for the Temples of Solomon, Ezra, and Herod. But passing eastward and a bit northward among many worshipers picturesquely garbed in flowing robes, we advance to the Eastern Gate. This gate was confused with the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and by a mistrans lation of “beautiful” from Greek to Latin, it is called the “Golden Gate,” but in the Bible it is called the “gate that looketh toward the east.” On approaching this
ing our Bibles, let us accompany the pilgrim as he goes up
keys, a n d American tourists. Entrance is gained at the west side of the T e m p 1e Area through the gate Bab el Silsilah. Upon the pay ment of fifteen piasters (75 cents) each, we are admitted. A few steps north ward bring us to some stone steps which as cend e a s t w a r d to a broad stone platform. O u r guide reverently tells us that these steps mark the site of the Holy of Holies. When the Temple was dedi cated, the Ark of the Covenant was brought here, and the Glory of God filled the Temple;
gate, we observe i t s two small domes and battlements, which are a little higher than the c o n n e c t i n g walls. There is a n a r r o w stairway leading down to a small courtway be fore the gate proper. The two openings in the gate were originally of considerable s i z e , but they h a v e been built in so that now they are only a trifle larger than doors in an ordinary dwelling. We are amazed to find that t h e stairway leading down to the court is closed at the bottom by a gate of iron bars.
The small doorways are similarly barred. Our curiosity being now aroused, we resolve to see the outside of the gate. Since this is the only gate facing east from the Temple Area, it is necessary to go out of the Area northward to St. Stephen’s Gate, through which we walk eastward through the city wall. At once we turn south and walk past a Moslem cemetery to the outside of the Eastern Gate. Here, to our great amazement, we find that the gate is completely walled up. This gate is shut, emphatically shut. Furthermore, our guide tells us that for years, during the Turkish regime, guards were sta tioned here on Fridays to prevent any attempt at opening the gate. W hy T h e G ate is C losed For the explanation of the threefold closing of the gate, we read the first two verses of the forty-fourth chap ter of Ezekiel.: “Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. Then the Lord said to m e: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it,.therefore it shall be shut.” The occasion when “the Lord, the God of Israel, . . . entered in by it,” was the so-called Triumphal Entry of our Lord. To the east of the gate is the deep Kidron Val ley, and beyond that the Garden of Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives. Over the top of the Mount are the ruins
throughout many years the Glory dwelt here above the Mercy Seat of the Ark. Annually, on the Day of Atone ment, the High Priest entered with the blood of the offer ing for his own sins and then for those of Israel. But the Glory did not remain forever. In Ezekiel 10:4 we read that “the Glory of the Lord went up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of the house.” Just east of these stairs is the site of this threshold. Farther east stood the “door of the east gate of the Lord’s house,” to which the Glory next moved (Ezek. 10:18-19). Still tracing the path of the Glory, we read Ezekiel 11:23: “The glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.” Looking east from where we stand, we can see over the wall, across the Kidron Valley to that mountain, the Mount of Olives. These movements of the Glory of the Lord were very significant. Idols had been introduced into the Temple in spite of the Lord’s prophets. Therefore, the Glory de parted, and judgment, at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, came. Directly east of these stairs, we walk around the “Dome of the ‘Rock,’ ” commonly but mistakenly called “The Mosque of Omar.” If we had time, we might don some large slippers and enter this beautiful building to see the great rock which is the top of Mount Moriah on which Abraham offered Isaac. This rock is also the threshing-
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