Sunday Sermonette: The dung gate

Nehemiah 2 generates a mystery. Remember this is some 80 years after the original return of the Israelites from exile, and the Temple and city walls were rebuilt in the first generation. The history recorded in the Tanakh gives no indication of why the city walls have been burned in the meantime, so that ' s just an omission we ' ll have to live with, apparently. The " dung gate " is presumably the gate by which excrement and probably trash in general are removed from the city, but the rationale for the names of the other gates is not clear. The Jackal Well is called the Serpent Well in the KJV. The format of the excerpt here is different than you are used to because my usual source is down, but this is the NIV.1In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before;2so the king asked me, " Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart. " I was very much afraid,3but I said to the king, " May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire? "4The king said to me, " What is it you want? " Then I prayed to the God of heaven,5and I answered the king, " If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs