East Gate, Inspection Gate, Gate of Ephraim, Corner Gate

East Gate

Nehemiah 3:29 ESV

After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired.

The East Gate was likely a gate directly leading to the temple from outside Jerusalem. It had a separate gatekeeper for itself.

The East Gate in Hebrew is shaar hamizrah, meaning ‘the gate to the east.’ Mizrah means ‘the place where the sun rises.’ In the symbolism of the Old Testament, the sun often symbolizes the Lord.

Psalm 84:11 ESV

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Malachi 4:2 ESV

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

The priest Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, testified of the coming of the Messiah as a spiritual sunrise for those who sit in darkness.

Luke 1:78–79 (ESV)

because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

In the end times, God’s angels will take place where the sun rises.

Revelation 7:2 ESV

Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,

Inspection Gate (Prison Gate)

The Inspection Gate was also called the Prison Gate, or Gate of the Guard.

Nehemiah 12:39 ESV

and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Gate of Yeshanah, and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard.

The Hebrew words for Inspection Gate is shaar hammiphkad, which comes from the word paqad, meaning ‘to count,’ ‘to number.’

It was a gate where they counted soldiers.

In the end times, the Lord will number His saints.

Psalm 87:6 ESV

The Lord records as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah

Revelation 6:11 ESV

Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

The purpose of counting is for separation. In the end time, the Lord Jesus Christ will separate between the sheep and the goats, the saints and the unbelievers.

Matthew 25:31–32 ESV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

The Gate of Ephraim

Nehemiah 8:16 ESV

So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim.

The Gate of Ephraim was near the temple. This meant that many Israelites living in other regions would come to the Gate of Ephraim to observe the thrice-yearly feasts. Many people would crowd at the square at the Gate of Ephraim, and it would be a place where people were blessed simply by being near the temple.

Psalm 65:4 (ESV)

Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts!

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!

Jesus is the true temple of God coming to us. As God Himself, Jesus is the Immanuel God who dwelled among us. And through His presence and indwelling in our hearts, we are blessed beyond our comprehension.

Philippians 4:19 ESV

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Corner Gate

Zechariah 14:10 ESV

The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.

The Corner Gate wasn’t greatly damaged, so there is no mention of it in the wall reconstruction process in Nehemiah 3.

The cornerstone is the basis for building walls and becomes the foundation of the building. If the cornerstone was slanted, the entire wall or building would be slanted. The cornerstone thus represents the head or the ruler.

David wrote about a stone that didn’t meet the expectations of the builders. It was rejected because it was too crooked or too ugly. But in the end, it became the cornerstone.

Psalm 118:22 ESV

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

This cornerstone primarily refers to David, who was rejected by Saul and his followers. But at another level, it also refers to Jesus Christ who was rejected by the religious leaders of His time.

Isaiah 53:3 (ESV)

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Matthew 21:42 (ESV)

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

In the same way that the cornerstone is the foundation and the beginning of the building, Jesus is the beginning of the church.

Ephesians 2:20–21 ESV

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

1 Peter 2:4 ESV

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,

If Jesus is the cornerstone, and we come to Him and make Him our foundation, then we will also be part of the church. That is what it means to be a Christian. It means that Jesus, not our past sins, not our past failures, not our talents or abilities, not our virtuous deeds or great achievements, but Jesus alone is the foundation of who we are. Above all else, I belong to Jesus. Above all else, He is my foundation. May this be our confession today. May Jesus be the cornerstone and the foundation upon which every member of Zion Church stands or falls. Amen? He is the cornerstone who is trustworthy and who will never fail.