The Mystery of the Gates

MANY people are intrigued by a mystery​—a story with a puzzle, with clues that can be read in various ways, and with a surprise ending, maybe the finding of a treasure. If you are, you will enjoy ‘The Mystery of the Gates.’

This mystery began to surface at Megiddo, a strategic city that dominated trade and military routes in the ancient Middle East. Archaeologists uncovered the remains of a monumental defensive gate, which the evidence convinced them was from King Solomon’s time. What was it like? The clues began.

Look to the right at the model of ancient Megiddo, and especially at the highlighted gate area. An ancient traveler or an attacking army ascending the road to the fortified city first came to a foregate. Inside that was a plaza, or courtyard. In it any attackers would be exposed as they advanced and turned left to reach the main defensive gate, which is at the heart of our mystery.

Fortified towers formed the front sides of the gate. The entire gate structure was built, not of fieldstone or of brick, but of the ashlar (carefully hewn stone blocks) that was typical of Solomon’s period. But there was a distinctive style inside the gate. On the sides of a long vestibule were massive pilasters, or masonry piers, that formed six chambers where guards might be stationed. (Compare Ezekiel 40:6, 10, 20, 21, 28, 29.) In normal times, a chariot or group of merchants could easily pass, yet it would be a different matter for attackers who managed to batter through the heavy main doors. The masonry piers would force attackers into a narrow passage, to run a gauntlet of armed men, the cream of Megiddo’s army, in the chambers right and left.

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Based on 1 Kings 9:15, archaeologists found at Hazor a gate of the same size and shape as that in Megiddo

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An aerial view of the gate at Gezer. The drawing shows what was first uncovered (solid) and what was found some 60 years later (dotted)

[Credit Line]

Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est.

[Picture Credit Line on page 24]

Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est.