In the ancient Near East, city gates were not merely entry points but served as vital centers of commerce, legal proceedings, and social interaction. The Bible frequently references the gates of cities, highlighting their strategic and symbolic importance. Throughout Scripture, the gates of cities are often depicted as targets during times of conflict, being razed and burned by invading forces as a demonstration of conquest and domination.

Strategic Importance

City gates were crucial for defense and control. They were typically fortified and guarded, serving as the first line of defense against invaders. The gates were also places where elders and leaders would gather to make decisions, settle disputes, and conduct business. In Deuteronomy 21:19, the elders of the city are mentioned as sitting at the gate, indicating its role as a place of authority and judgment.

Symbol of Power and Security

The destruction of city gates symbolized the fall of a city and the loss of its power and security. In Judges 16:3, Samson's removal of the gates of Gaza is a powerful act demonstrating his strength and the vulnerability of the Philistines. The gates represented the strength of a city, and their destruction was a clear sign of defeat.

Biblical Accounts of Destruction

Numerous biblical accounts describe the razing and burning of city gates during sieges and invasions. In 2 Kings 25:9-10, the Babylonian forces under Nebuzaradan set fire to the house of the LORD, the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, including the gates, during the conquest of Jerusalem: "He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building. And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem."

Similarly, in Nehemiah 1:3, the report of Jerusalem's condition after the Babylonian exile includes the gates being burned with fire: "The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire."

Prophetic Imagery

The destruction of city gates is also used in prophetic literature as a metaphor for divine judgment. In Isaiah 45:1-2, the LORD speaks of subduing nations and opening gates before Cyrus, the Persian king, as a sign of His sovereign power: "This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him so that the gates will not be shut: 'I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.'"

Restoration and Hope

Despite the frequent destruction of city gates, the Bible also speaks of their restoration as a sign of hope and renewal. In Nehemiah 2:17, Nehemiah rallies the people to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem: "Then I said to them, 'You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.'"

The restoration of city gates is a recurring theme in the promises of God, symbolizing the restoration of His people and the reestablishment of His covenant blessings. In Isaiah 60:11, the future glory of Zion is depicted with gates that are always open: "Your gates will always stand open; they will never be shut, day or night, so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into you, with their kings being led in procession."

The gates of cities, often razed and burned, serve as powerful symbols throughout the biblical narrative, representing both the vulnerability of human strength and the enduring hope of divine restoration.Nehemiah 1:3
And they said to me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Lamentations 2:9
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria
... Local cults often centred round obscure deities held in little account by ... their houses
burned, and prisoners were impaled outside the gates of their cities. ...
/.../chapter ithe assyrian revival and.htm

The Seven Trumpets.
... extremities of Germany almost to the gates of Rome ... them with the ruins of their cities
and churches ... a New Jerusalem, as other enthusiasts have often attempted. ...
/.../bliss/a brief commentary on the apocalypse/the seven trumpets.htm

The First Theban Empire
... a stronghold by breaking down its gates with their ... But the ancient royal cities of
Kheops and his ... The task was often arduous, and the commissioners generally ...
/.../chapter iiithe first theban empire.htm

The Last Days of the Old Eastern World
... to secure for him the opening of the gates of Athens ... were restored to order, and,
as was often customary in ... the offensive, most of the Asiatic cities would have ...
/.../chapter iithe last days of 2.htm

Syria at the Beginning of the Egyptian Conquest
... and was sometimes used to denote cities which had ... had a double enclosing wall and
massively built gates, which could ... to which the country was often exposed, or ...
/.../chapter iisyria at the beginning.htm

Tiglath-Pileser iii. And the Organisation of the Assyrian Empire ...
... movements of the time, and had often directed their ... Borsippa, Kuta, Kishu, Dilbat,
and Uruk, "cities without peer ... the town threw open its gates before him.*. ...
/.../chapter iitiglath-pileser iii and the.htm

The Reaction against Egypt
... of demarcation between them, and we are often obliged to ... the Nile and to the
river-side cities on the ... the central steppe and through the Cilician Gates, to the ...
/.../chapter iithe reaction against egypt.htm

The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire
... allowed their critical faculties, and often their imagination ... and several lines of
walled cities"among which ... two small forts placed close to the main gates. ...
/.../chapter iiithe medes and the.htm

The Iranian Conquest
... classical writers maintain that the Magi often cloaked monstrous ... his fortress of
Sidene, opened its gates after a ... the passion of the Greek cities for autonomy. ...
/.../chapter ithe iranian conquest.htm

Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
... 'The heathen made the chief gates of their ... The two cities Sion and Jerusalem, were
such as sometimes set forth the two churches, the true and the false, and ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/solomons temple spiritualized.htm

Are there pearly gates in heaven? | GotQuestions.org

How could the laws of God be written on doorframes, gates, and foreheads? | GotQuestions.org

What was the significance of gatekeepers in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus