Cover image: Screenshot from “Nehemiah: The Joy of Jehovah is your Stronghold.”
What does it mean to walk the covenant path? What does it look like in my spiritual life? Chapter three of the book of Nehemiah describes this covenant community as enclosed in protective walls similar to a sheepfold marked by ten gates. The city of Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah is a type or representation of what a holy life looks like when the Messiah is centered in our lives. The gates further illustrate how Jesus is the “door into the sheepfold,” and the “gate” by which we must enter is repentance and baptism.[1] To walk the covenant path is to “grow up” in Christ and receive a “fulness of the Holy Ghost.”[2] Jerusalem’s ten gates are the picture of the individual disciple’s walk with the “good shepherd” and the sheepfold where Christ dwells among his sheep through his temple.
Background
The house of Israel was smitten and scattered—the Israelites saw to that. They were their own worst enemy. Sure, the Assyrians and Babylonians were the means of scattering them to the wind, but covenants have consequences. When Israel cut and kept their covenants with the Lord, they were established and preserved; when they rejected the Lord’s love in preference to going their own way, they were cut off. Hence, they received according to their desires.[3] Consequently, the stronger and mightier nations seized the moment—like sharks to blood in the water.
Gratefully, seventy years in exile brought a measure of contrition. The Lord revealed to Daniel the prophet the time had come for a remnant of the house of Israel to be restored and planted in the promised land.[4] The Babylonians had conquered Judah by 586 B.C., and the Babylonians were, in turn, conquered by Cyrus the Great of Persia in 539 B.C. Cyrus decreed the Jews could return to Judah and rebuild their temple.[5] Finally, King Artaxerxes appointed Nehemiah, “cupbearer” to the king and governor of Jerusalem.[6] Nehemiah set to work immediately rebuilding the city and walls, issuing the command, “Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work” (Nehemiah 2:18).
Gates and Walls as a Type of the Covenant Community
Gates of cities in the ancient world hold great significance. They enabled residents, merchants, traders, and anyone else to access the city’s heart while affording protection. The walls marked the boundary separating the world’s chaos from the riches and resources within the city. Gates afforded access to the city. Consequently, merchants and leaders frequently conducted business and legal matters at or near the city’s gates.[7] Some examples include Moses passing judgment at the entrance of the camp of Israel while officials carried out justice and punishment at the camp’s gates.[8] Boaz also negotiated the marriage agreement for Ruth at the gates of the city of Bethlehem (see Ruth 4:1).
The Lord and his prophets frequently employed gates as a metaphor for entering into the covenantal life with the Lord. Jesus taught, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Jacob in the Book of Mormon taught, “Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name” (2 Nephi 9:41). The examples are legion, but suffice it to say, entering into the life of the Lord requires we come to him according to his will and way. When we attempt to access his sheepfold outside his authorized channel, the Lord warned, for “he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1).
Building the covenant community and life is not without opposition. Jesus warned his disciples that persecution always follows those who walk his path (see Matthew 5:10-12). So it was with Nehemiah when Sanballat, Tobiah, and others opposed rebuilding Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 2:17-19). Jerusalem was the place of the covenant. The Lord ruled and rested from the place of the covenant, the temple. Sacred time (the Sabbath) came together in a sacred place (the temple). So it is in the last days. As we strive to build lives and communities of strength and holiness, “The temple,” President Russell M. Nelson taught, “lies at the center of strengthening our faith and spiritual fortitude because the Savior and His doctrine are the very heart of the temple.”[9]
Therefore, Jerusalem is a type for the faithful disciple and the Lord’s covenant community. We establish walls of strength marked with gates as patterns of living. The temple of the Lord guides and permeates all we do as the center. Paul the apostle wrote, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). Further still, “Our physical bodies indeed are temples of God,” Elder David A. Bednar taught. “Consequently, you and I must carefully consider what we take into our temple, what we put on our temple, what we do to our temple, and what we do with our temple.”[10] As we strive to build a covenantal life—with the temple at the center—we can confidently say with Nehemiah, “The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build” (Nehemiah 2:20).
Nehemiah’s Ten Gates
The use of the number ten in the Old Testament suggests a witness or representation of the greater whole. It denotes “all of a part.”[11] By illustration, the “ten commandments” represent all 613 laws in the law of Moses. When Abraham’s servant “took ten camels of the camels of his master,” that represented the whole of Abraham’s wealth (Genesis 24:10). David had initially sent ten of his warriors to Nabal as representative witnesses of David’s name and followers (see 1 Samuel 25:5). The ten virgins are a representation of the entire Church (Matthew 25:1-13). The Day of Atonement, the most sacred day of the ancient Israelite calendar, occurred on the tenth day of the Fall month of Tishri. Therefore, the number ten in the ancient scriptures is a token representation of the whole.
Nehemiah’s ten gates were actual historical gates, but they also represent our covenant walk with Christ. The order they occur in Nehemiah 3 is both historical narrative and illuminating. As we follow the text, we discover not only the building of the sacred city of Jerusalem but what it means to walk the covenant path, thus building a life in Christ. The walls provide protection as the Lord becomes, as Jeremiah wrote, “my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction” (Jeremiah 16:19). The gates of the walls typify this growth and the means by which greater light and truth become ours. As we build and guard these walls and gates of covenantal faith, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against” us.[12]
Likewise, to the modern Church, President Russell M. Nelson extended this invitation: “Now, to each member of the Church I say, keep on the covenant path. Your commitment to follow the Savior by making covenants with Him and then keeping those covenants will open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.”[13] The gates of Nehemiah’s Jerusalem are types and shadows of President Nelson’s opened doors “to every spiritual blessing and privilege.” Let us now consider each of the ten gates in turn.
1. The Sheep Gate (3:1).
Nehemiah’s narrative begins and ends with the sheep gate (Nehemiah 3:1, 32). On the city’s north side, “Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests” and built this gate. Eliashib is a Hebrew name meaning “God restores.” Jesus Christ is our “high priest of good things to come” (Hebrews 9:11). He is the one who restores our souls and brings us back into the presence of the Father. John the Baptist invites us to “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). The Lord—the Lamb of God—said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). As the narrative begins and ends with the sheep gate, Jesus Christ is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” of our salvation (Revelation 1:11).
At other times, this gate was known as the Benjamin Gate and exited to the Kidron Valley. In the New Testament, this area was known as the pool of Bethesda. Here, at Bethesda’s waters, the Lord asked an impotent man, “Wilt thou be made whole?” (John 5:6). This man had been in this condition for thirty-eight years. He may be seen as a representation of the house of Israel. As the house of Israel wandered in the wilderness for “thirty and eight years,”[14] we wander unless guided by our Good Shepherd. Significantly, what healed the impotent man is the same power that heals ancient and modern Israel: “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk” (John 5:8). Rising from spiritual slumber and walking the covenant path “will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss” (Alma 37:44). Our weakness becomes strong “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13; see also Ether 12:6, 27).
2. The Fish Gate (3:3)
Fisherman from Galilee entered this gate to the city. When we are “born again,” we are caught in the Lord’s good “net.”[15] The Lord then commissions us as “fishers,” whereby we become “fishers of men.”[16] To enter on the covenant path is not a life of laziness. Instead, we are sent out to draw all people from the chaos of the world’s sea. The Lord then immerses them in new water—even the waters of baptism—to be partakers of his living water.[17]
Anciently, the burnt offering sacrifice was made “on the side of the altar northward before the Lord” (Leviticus 1:11). At the fish gate, on the north side of the sacred city of Jerusalem, we sanctify our lives in service to the Lord by becoming “fishers of men.” Thus, as fishers enter the city from the north, the Lord commissions us to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20).
3. The Old Gate (3:6)
The old gate lay at the precipice of the Tyropoeon Valley (i.e., “Valley of the Cheesemakers”). Prophets and other writers in the scriptures frequently used the metaphor of valleys to represent times of trial and probation.[18] While valleys sometimes have water coursing throughout the year, some valleys (wadis) only have water at particular times and seasons. Therefore, valleys without living water (flowing water) represent danger in times of trial. The old gate stood at the precipice of a deep valley. It is like the crucible whereby the “old man,” the “body of sin,” as Paul expressed, is destroyed. When we enter into the covenant waters of baptism, “our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6). Gratefully, the Lord promises, “Old things are done away, and all things have become new” (3 Nephi 12:47).
The old gate is the third gate along the path, and the number three is the number of covenant fulness. I have written elsewhere:
The “third day” was the “day of double blessings” in the creation narrative (Genesis 1–2) because the third day was blessed twice. The Lord also manifested his Law to Moses and the children of Israel on “the third day” (Exodus 19:11–16). Additionally, certain purification ceremonies from the taint of death were accomplished on the “third day” (Numbers 19:12, 19). There is consistency throughout the Bible of the Lord establishing his covenant on the “third day”[19] which gave rise to the tradition of Jewish weddings performed on this day of the week.[20]
4. The Valley Gate (3:13)
The old gate leads us further south on the city’s west side to the valley gate in the Tyropoeon Valley. As previously stated, valleys represent times of trial. Nephi pleaded, “May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may walk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road!” (2 Nephi 4:32). David’s quintessential Psalm notes, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). In this vallis lacrimarum (“vale of tears”), the Lord is with us. Through the trials of life, we are guided by his priesthood authority. The rod and staff are repeated images of comfort and protection on this great pilgrimage of perfection.[21]
5. The Dung Gate (3:14)
At the southern end of the city stood the dung gate. The city residents would pass through this gate to discard their refuse. The Tyropoeon Valley extended north to south on the city’s western side and met the Hinnom Valley on the south, crossing east to west. This was the extreme southern end of the city. It was also the location where earlier Israelites sacrificed their children on the fiery altars of Molech (2 Kings 23:10).
The Lord’s people must be clean, and dung was an unclean substance. Therefore, the Lord mandated dung needed to be burned outside the camp of Israel during the Exodus and later the city of Jerusalem.[22] But, dung was also fertilizer and a necessary part of the Lord’s plan for growth.[23] The Lord said to the Nephites, “And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end” (3 Nephi 27:19). The sheep gate on the north can mark the beginning of the covenant path as we descend southward into the valleys of trial and death. Still, from the ashes of contrition, like the phoenix, a new life emerges—a life in Christ.
6-7. The Fountain Gate (3:15) and the Water Gate (3:26)
This fountain gate stood on the southeast side of the city. The city’s central source of water was the Gihon Spring. The water gate stood close to where the Gihon’s fresh waters filled the pool of Siloam. This spring not only saved the city from Assyria’s siege in Isaiah’s day but was also sacred water for temple worship. Today, visitors to the city can walk through Hezekiah’s original tunnel, which still flows with the water of the Gihon.
Jesus promised, “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Revelation 21:6). On the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, presumably when the priests marched in procession from the pool of Siloam to the temple and poured out water at the base of the altar, “Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified) (John 7:37-39; see also John 4:14).
8. The Horse Gate (3:28)
Most Christians are familiar with the story of Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem while riding a donkey. In the ancient world, officials used donkeys and mules for civil processions. To the Jews at the time of Christ, this pattern of the king entering the city from the east would have reminded them of the anointing of the great King Solomon as he entered Jerusalem upon David’s mule and was anointed at the Gihon Spring (see 1 Kings 1:32-40). In contrast, Roman military triumphs featured conquering consuls and generals astride their mighty warhorses.
Scripturally, John the Revelator saw four horsemen representing four thousand years of conquest.[24] To enter the city on a donkey or mule was an act of diplomacy, whereas to do so on a horse suggested a conquerer. John also saw the coming millennial Messiah riding a white horse “and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. . . . And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” (Revelation 19:11, 14). The Lord is coming in glory, and those prepared to receive him are those who “are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:57; see also Matthew 25:1-13).
9. The East Gate
Overlooking the Kidron Valley was the east gate. As the sun rises in the east, so will the rising of the Son of God, as a Messianic deliverer, come in glory. During the time of Ezekiel, the Lord’s glory departed the temple eastward (see Ezekiel 10). The Jews anxiously awaited the time when the glory of the Lord would return from the East (Ezekiel 44:1-3; Zechariah 14:4). Jesus came as king to the sounds of, “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest,” he came riding into Jerusalem from the east (Matthew 21:9). Contrary to tradition, I believe, based upon the earliest sources and scriptural support, Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose again the third day east of the city on the Mount of Olives, but that is the subject of a later discussion.[25]
Paul the apostle, shortly before his execution, wrote, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (1 Timothy 4:7-8). Enoch the prophet “the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years” (Moses 7:65). The Lord himself taught his closest disciples, “For as the light of the morning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, and covereth the whole earth, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:26). Truly, the sun of the morning, the sacrifice of the Lamb, and the ferocity of the Lion blaze forth from the east.
10. The Miphkad Gate (3:31)
Finally, we come to the Miphkad gate. Few things are known about this gate and it sometimes bears the name Muster Gate. It may have been part of the temple complex rather than a gate of the city wall. Miphkad means “inspection,” “mustering,” or the “appointed” place for the sin offering to be burnt.[26] The gate was close to the sheep gate and was used to inspect the sacrificial sheep and goats destined for the temple. The Lord offered this parable about his Second Coming:
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:31-34).
What separates the sheep from the goats or the covenant keepers from the unclean? The Lord offered this answer:
For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me (Matthew 25:35-40).
To those seeking to reflect an image of self rather than the image of God, the Lord said they would be “weighed in the balances” and “found wanting” (Daniel 5:27). To those gathered into the sheepfold, the Lord promised, they “shall be saved,” have the freedom to “go in and out” without the threat of danger, and ultimately “find pasture” (John 10:9). They are those who “delight . . . in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” They shall “shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Psalm 1:2-6).
Conclusion
President Russell M. Nelson taught, “The covenant path is the only path that leads to exaltation and eternal life.”[27] What is the covenant path? Elder D. Todd Christofferson answered, “It is the one path that leads to the celestial kingdom of God.” We embark upon the path through repentance and baptism and thus come into the fold of God. “The covenant path is our greatest hope for avoiding avoidable misery on the one hand and successfully dealing with the unavoidable woes of life on the other.”[28]
Entering this path is entering into the Lord’s sheepfold. He is the “good shepherd” (John 10:11). His covenant community dwells safely within his protective walls, with the temple at the center of the camp of Israel. Nehemiah’s ten gates typify both the individual walk along the covenant path as well as the destiny of the house of Israel. Nehemiah’s ten gates illustrate a narrative where we:
- We enter through the sheep gate as one of his flock.
- We become fishers of men as we go forth to gather all within the Lord’s net.
- We engage in the work of salvation which enables our “old man of sin” to become regenerated and renewed in Christ.
- We are strengthened as we walk through the world’s trials, vicissitudes, and persecutions in service to the Lord.
- Through trial, our weakness, like dung, becomes fertilizer for a new tree of righteousness.
- We are nourished by the Lord’s living waters.
- We are sustained by living waters emanating within our souls.
- As part of the army of the Lord, we are prepared to receive him as conquering King at his Second Coming.
- The Lord comes in glory as the sun rises in the east.
- The Lord makes a full accounting and judgment whereby the meek shall inherit the earth.
G. K. Chesterton wrote, “One of the greatest mistakes of the modern world is the habit of preaching a vague duty of fighting without preaching any doctrine to fight about.“[29] The doctrine worth fighting for is the doctrine of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil.[30] This gathering results in entering the covenant path and culminates in the personal presence of our Eternal Father. Furthermore, the covenant path develops within us the character, perfections, and attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord and his prophets are clearly on the move. The last days preceding the Lord’s return are dense with destiny. The Lord is “hastening his work” for it is now the time and day of his salvation.[31] As the Lord prepares his “great supper,”[32] we find ourselves partaking in his hors d’oeuvre to his climactic oeuvre. “Of course,” President Russell M. Nelson taught, “the crowning jewel of the Restoration is the holy temple. Its sacred ordinances and covenants are pivotal to preparing a people who are ready to welcome the Savior at His Second Coming.”[33] Our aim is the Savior’s sheepfold not the dovecotes of the deluded. Jerusalem’s walls and gates at the time of Nehemiah demonstrate such a glorious reunion.
[1] John 10:1, 7; 2 Nephi 31:17.
[2] Doctrine and Covenants 109:15.
[3] “Over and over again the scriptures teach that men receive from the Lord according to their desires” (President Marion G. Romney, “Magnifying One’s Calling in the Priesthood,” General Conference, April 1973; see also Alma 29:4.
[4] See Daniel 9:1-2; Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10.
[5] See 2 Chronicles 36:22; Ezra 1; 3:7; Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; Daniel 1:21; 6:28; 10:1.
[6] Nehemiah 1:11; 2:1.
[7] See Genesis 19:1; Deuteronomy 21:19; 22:15; 25:7; 2 Samuel 18:24; 19:8; Psalms 127:5; Proverbs 31.
[8] See Exodus 32:26; Deuteronomy 17:5; 21:21.
[9] “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation,” General Conference, October 2021.
[10] “Ye Are the Temple of God,” Ensign, September 2001; emphasis in the original.
[11] See Patrick D. Degn and David S. Christensen, Types and Shadows of The Old Testament: Jesus Christ and the Great Plan of Happiness (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2018), 43, 170.
[12] See 3 Nephi 11:39-40; Doctrine and Covenants 10:69; 21:4-6; Matthew 16:18-19.
[13] Russell M. Nelson, “As We Go Forward Together,” Ensign, Apr. 2018, 7.
[14] See Deuteronomy 2:14.
[15] See John 3:3-5; Matthew 13:47-48.
[16] Jeremiah 16:16; Mark 1:17.
[17] John 4:14; Romans 6:3-6.
[18] See for example Psalm 23:4; Isaiah 9:2; Jeremiah 2:6, 23; Job 12:22; 1 Nephi 2:10; 2 Nephi 4:26, 32; Ether 2:4.
[19] For other examples, see Hosea 6:2; Esther 5:1; 2 Kings 20:5-8.
[20] See, for example, John 2:1-11; Degn and Christensen, Types and Shadows, 24, 47-48.
[21] See Leviticus 27:32; Ezekiel 20:37; 1 Nephi 8:19-24; 11:25.
[22] See Exodus 29:14; Leviticus 16:27; Nehemiah 3:13-14.
[23] See Jacob 5:47, 63, 76.
[24] See Revelation 6; Doctrine and Covenants 77:7.
[25] See Degn and Christensen, Types and Shadows, 173-80 for how King David is a type for the Lord Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he made east of the city.
[26] See 2 Samuel 24:9; 1 Chronicles 21:5; Ezekiel 43:21.
[27] “The Power of Spiritual Momentum,” General Conference, April 2022.
[28] “Why the Covenant Path,” General Conference, April 2022.
[29] G. K. Chesterton, Daily News, Nov. 24, 1906; https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
[30] President Russell M. Nelson taught the youth of the Church: “the gathering of Israel ultimately means offering the gospel of Jesus Christ to God’s children on both sides of the veil who have neither made crucial covenants with God nor received their essential ordinances” (“Hope of Israel,” Worldwide Youth Devotional, June 3, 2018; https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/broadcasts/worldwide-devotional-for-young-adults/2018/06/hope-of-israel?lang=eng.
[31] See Doctrine and Covenants 88:73; Russell M. Nelson, “Welcome Message,” General Conference, April 2021.
[32] See Luke 14:15-24.
[33] “Closing Remarks,” General Conference, October 2019.
