English Devotion - The Dung Gate

The Dung Gate 

 

Nehemiah 3:14

 

This was the gate through which the filth of the city was carried out. 

 

God’s city must be unde­filed. He required the Jews to be meticulous about cleanliness. 

 

During their stopover in the wilderness, God gave the Israelites, in the laws of Leviticus, precise details for the prac­tice of cleanliness disease preventative regulations, remarkably modern in outlook and practice. 

 

Some of the principles behind these laws are looked upon by the medical profession even today.  

 

The Dung Gate may have been the Pot­sherd Gate of Jer. 19:2. 

 

It was near this gate that the Lord commanded Jeremiah to stand while he denounced the city, fore­telling the disaster to befall those who had defiled it.

 

They were forsaking Him for foreign gods Baal with filthy worship and following the practice of Canaanite deity by sac­rificing their children to Baal in fire. Broken pieces are useless to God and man.

 

There is a close connection between the Valley and the Dung Gates. Nehemiah 3:14 notes that the latter was joined to the Valley Gate by only five hundred yards (about 450 metres) of wall. Both gates in ancient Jeru­salem led to the Valley of Hinnon, which in Jeremiah’s time was associated with the wor­ship place of cannanites. 

 

Symbolically, too, the Dung Gate is near the Valley Gate, which in our picture is the place of humility and confession of sin; In general and actual sins committed. The Dung Gate was a very practical gate, with a specific purpose – that of cleansing. 

 

In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul lists some of these sins and says to the Corinthians, “and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justi­fied in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Thank God this gate is not the last one!

 

What comes out of a man makes him unclean. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside, and make a man unclean. Mark 7:20-23. 

 

From the Dung Gate we may learn that the general acknowledgement and confession of sin, which we pictured in the lowly humility of the Valley Gate, must lead on to holiness of life.

 

We all have our areas of difficulty. We all have our arrogance, our pride, our evil thoughts. None of us finds it easy to acknowledge before the Lord our guilt, and especially to use the word ‘filth’ with respect to our own folly.

 

1 peter 2:22-24

 

“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 

 

23 When they hurled their insults at him he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins”() in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.

 

Only through Jesus , we can be cleansed. 

 

 

 

Let us Pray: 

 

Heavenly father, Thank you for your blood on the cross that has cleansed us out of all our shame, and all our guilt. We pray that you will help us to understand humility from you that we may Honor you and glorify you with our life. In Jesus Name, Amen.