The Expositor's Bible: Ezra, Nehemiah, and EstherAdeney, Walter F. (Walter Frederic)
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther
Adeney, Walter F. (Walter Frederic)
Bible. Historical Books -- Commentaries
Going round from this spot northwards, we have the part of the wall
built by the men of Jericho, which would still look east, towards
their own city, so that they would always see their work when they got
their first glimpse of Jerusalem as they passed over the ridge of the
Mount of Olives on their pilgrimages up to the feasts. The task of the
men of Jericho ended at one of the northern gates, the construction of
which, together with the fitting of its ponderous bolts and bars, was
considered enough for another group of builders. This was called the
"Fish Gate." Since it faced north, it would scarcely have been used by
the traders who came up from the sea fisheries in the Mediterranean;
it must have received the fish supply from the Jordan, and perhaps
from as far as the Sea of Galilee. Still its name suggests a wider
range of commerce than the "Sheep Gate," which let in flocks chiefly
from neighbouring hills. Jerusalem was in a singularly isolated spot
for the capital of a country, one chosen expressly on account of its
inaccessibility--the very opposite requisite from that of most
capitals, which are planted by navigable rivers. Nevertheless she
maintained communication, both political and commercial, with distant
towns all along the ages of her chequered history.
After passing the work of one or two Jewish families and that of the
Tekoites, memorable for the painful fact of the abstention of the
nobles, we come to the "Old Gate." That a gate should bear such a name
would lead us to think that once gates had not been so numerous as
they were at this time. Yet most probably the "Old Gate" was really
new, because very little of the original city remained above ground.
But men love to perpetuate memories of the past. Even what is new in
fact may acquire a flavour of age by the force of association. The
wise reformer will follow the example of Nehemiah in linking the new
on to the old, and preserving the venerable associations of antiquity
wherever these do not hinder present efficiency.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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