Jerusalem’s Water Gate?

Massive challenge to standard geography of Jerusalem - Temple

 

Part Five:

Jerusalem’s Water Gate?

 

 

 

Has it been wrongly located?

     

“Eilat Mazar calls the Horse Gate the Water Gate, but her grandfather, Benjamin Mazar, correctly identified the gate above the Gihon Spring as the Water Gate …”.

 

biblicalarchaeologytruth

 

 

 

We read this at: http://www.biblicalarchaeologytruth.com/the-water-gate.html

 

The Water Gate

 

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The impressive Spring Tower protected not only the entrance to the city (the Water Gate), but the Rock-Cut Pool, and the Gihon Spring as well.
The Mid-Slope Wall ran from north to south along the eastern ridge in the City of David, and at the time of its construction, a castle or palace existed on top of the ridge, just north, of the gate.
The "mind of the Spirit" would dictate that this is the location of the Water Gate mentioned in Nehemiah 3:26, situated between the Fountain Gate (Nehemiah 3:15,) and the Horse Gate (Nehemiah 3:28). But "man's wisdom" has led archaeologists to a different conclusion.

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    When it comes to the science of archaeology, things often get turned upside down. Benjamin and Eilat Mazar discovered the Horse Gate, but it has been labeled the "Water Gate." Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron discovered a large section of the Water Gate, but they decided to call it, the "Pool Tower."
     The names and locations of the ancient gates should not be difficult to figure out because the name and location of each gate is precisely identified by Nehemiah as he describes the repair of the wall and gates. Nehemiah 3:13 mentions the Valley Gate. The location of this gate is well known at the southwestern corner of the city. By moving counter-clockwise, we then find the Dung Gate at the southeastern corner of the city (verse 14). Next comes the Fountain Gate (verse 15) near the Siloam Pool.

    There are no gates mentioned as we move northward,  between the "sepulchres of David," and the "tower which lieth out from the king's high house, that was by the court of the prison." But the Water Gate does finally appear in verse 26. The Horse Gate comes next (verse 28) with its four-chambered gate, and associated tower, which was constructed using Phoenician ashlars in the header-and-stretcher style. We then come to the East Gate. Its location is also well known in the eastern wall of the Temple Mount.

     This same order of the gates is given in chapter 12 of Nehemiah (verses 31-37) where he describes the route (Valley Gate, Dung Gate, Fountain Gate, Water Gate) taken by the celebrants on top of the wall.
    It was at the Water Gate (chapter 8:1-3) where the people of Jerusalem experienced a great revival (Nehemiah 8:1-3). After Ezra read the Law to the people, the Bible says: “And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them" (Nehemiah 8:12).

      Eilat Mazar calls the Horse Gate the Water Gate, but her grandfather, Benjamin Mazar, correctly identified the gate above the Gihon Spring as the Water Gate: “In any case, there are traces in the Gihon spring area of the line of wall belonging to various periods in the second millennium and the first half of the first millennium B.C. It is in this area, too, that we should locate the Water Gate, an important gate in the eastern wall since earliest times. The name shows that it must have led to the Gihon spring in the Kidron valley" (The Mountain of the Lord, Benjamin Mazar, p. 175).   

     Having made the case that this gate, by the Gihon spring, is probably the Water Gate, we must now return to the gate discovered by Eilat and Benjamin Mazar, and find its correct name. In Nehemiah chapter 3, we find that the gate, situated between the Water Gate (verse 26) and the East Gate (verse 29), is the Horse Gate (verse 28). That is the proper name for the four-chambered gate discovered by Eilat and Benjamin Mazar.

    The location of the Horse Gate is mentioned two other times in the Bible: (1) About the year 835 BC the Horse Gate became a murder scene. The wicked Queen, Athaliah, was taken from the Temple (II Chronicles 23:15,) past King Solomon’s Palace (which would have been located in Ophel), and slain at the entrance of the Horse Gate. (2) In about 606 BC, the prophet Jeremiah predicted that a “New Covenant” would be given to Israel and Judah in a future millennial kingdom.

In that kingdom the blessings on Jerusalem will extend “from the Tower of Hananeel…unto the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east”
(Jeremiah 31:31-40) .….
    

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Nehemiah’s Water Gate on east and Tower

 

“… and the temple servants living on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the

Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower” (Nehemiah 3:26).

 

Is this “east” and “tower” the same as the Tower of the Flock at Ophel of Micah 4:8?

 

“As for you, watchtower of the flock,
    stronghold of Daughter Zion,
the former dominion will be restored to you;
    kingship will come to [Ophel of the] Daughter Jerusalem”.

 

and was this the “east” from whence the Magi-shepherds came?

See my (Damien Mackey) article:

 

Does Luke mention Matthew's "Magi"?

 

https://www.academia.edu/40010747/Does_Luke_mention_Matthews_Magi_