Some gates open into sacred spaces, heritage relics or architectural landmarks. Some gates, like this evening’s Gregorian New Year’s Eve, take us across the threshold of time.
Some gates, like the one Ezekiel describes in today’s chapter, transcend both time and space - and some are kept sealed as they hide secrets and stories. Some gates lead us into the domain of the mysterious.
As Ezekiel keeps on traveling in his mind through the future temple of Jerusalem, he describes the Eastern Gate. In the last chapter he imagined the Divine Presence, wild like water, full of light, returning to the holy home through this gate. But now this gate is closed, forever - from the inside:
וַיָּ֣שֶׁב אֹתִ֗י דֶּ֣רֶךְ שַׁ֤עַר הַמִּקְדָּשׁ֙ הַחִיצ֔וֹן הַפֹּנֶ֖ה קָדִ֑ים וְה֖וּא סָגֽוּר׃
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֵלַ֜י יְהֹוָ֗ה הַשַּׁ֣עַר הַזֶּה֩ סָג֨וּר יִֽהְיֶ֜ה לֹ֣א יִפָּתֵ֗חַ וְאִישׁ֙ לֹא־יָ֣בֹא ב֔וֹ כִּ֛י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בָּ֣א ב֑וֹ וְהָיָ֖ה סָגֽוּר׃
“YHWH said to me: This gate is to be kept shut and is not to be opened! Absolutely no one shall enter by it because the ETERNAL, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut.
Then he led me back to the outer gate of the Sanctuary that faced eastward; it was shut.”
Ezekiel 44:1-2
Is YHWH now locked inside the home, a priestly prisoner? What is the meaning of this gate that once witnessed revelation but is then sealed shut? And did that ever happen?
What is weirder still is that the sealed gate that Ezekiel imagines will become reality - lasting way longer than he could even imagine - and is still shut today.
Unlike most of Ezekiel’s blueprints for the future temple that were never implemented per his specific dimensions - the Eastern Gate - with many other names - will get a life of its own.
When the Second Temple was built less than a century after Ezekiel’s death, the Eastern Gate received a new name - The Shushan Gate - possibly named for the capital of the Persian empire that by then ruled Judea. The gate was not sealed shut - but was not used by the masses to enter the Temple Mount, only reserved only for the High Priest and his entourage on Yom Kippur.There is also a tradition that this was the gate through which Jesus entered the temple.
But eventually the Romans leveled this temple, as the Babylonians did before them. The Temple compound went through multiple incarnations - as a pagan temple, church, and finally - the famous mosque.
Built in the 6th or 7th century CE, on what are likely the ruins of the ancient eastern gate - what has survived is now known in Hebrew as the Gate of Mercy - Sha'ar Ha’rahamim, in Arabic and later in English - The Golden Gate - Bab al-Dhahabi.
Perhaps because of Ezekiel’s vision - it has been sealed and opened several times in history.
The Muslim rulers shut it in 810, only to be reopened in 1102 by the invading Crusaders, walled up again by Saladin after regaining Jerusalem in 1187, and finally sealed with its contemporary configuration by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1541.
Historians claim that Suleiman may have sealed the gate for defensive reasons, but in Jewish tradition this has become the fable that one day will reopen, to welcome the future Messiah.
Fiction and fact fuse as this impressive gate, now overlooking a Muslim graveyard on the slopes of the sacred mountain, has become a symbol for the hope so many of us hold in our hearts today: That the gates of mercy and compassion will open wide, and instead of fighting over land and legends we will somehow manage to open this and other gates wide towards a future in which sacred time and space is celebrated, by all of us, for all of us, with love and open hearts.
Dear Below the Bible Belt Readers,
Join me to begin the new year with a conversation about the ways our ancient heritage informs our lives and can hopefully help us navigate and make sense of our unfolding brutal and tragic reality.
We’ll meet on January 4 2024, 5pm ET to say goodbye to the Prophet Ezekiel, celebrate the 500th chapter of Below the Bible Belt, and get a glimpse of our next section on this journey- the twelve so-called minor prophets.
Here’s the link to the next Below the Bible Belt Zoom Live Conversation:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88915392821
These monthly zoom conversations now welcome all subscribers of Below the Bible Belt, with gratitude to Paid Subscribers for the generous enabling of his blog to be free daily for all.
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We pray for healing and peace.
Go Below the Bible Belt. Link in bio. subscribe.Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections.Become a free or paid subscriber and join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible. Enjoy daily posts, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. 2022-2025.
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