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Show fBWbicfSate'&d Jesus Gnkr The question of the particular gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday with the people shouting aruund him may seem superfluous, super-fluous, for common tradition has named the Golden Gate. But the kaiser's visit to Jvusalem in the spring of last year brought up another. version. The Hulda j gate was mentioned then, and it is high time to look into this question and determine the truth. The Hulda gate is the name that the Jews of today give to the old temple gate that lies at the foundation of the mosque of Aksa, but it is also known as the double gate. Josephus tells. us that there were gates on the south side of the temple, and the Talmud says could apply to the northernmost or, to the middle road, and besides, "he saw the citv and wept over it." w hich points to the' middle path. By the southern road little could be seen of the city, but all the extensive temple buildings were visible. "' ;. And, too, it must be remembered that the path pursued by Jesus did not lie far from Bethpage. which was on the eastern declivity of the Mount of Olives, Ol-ives, soNt was impossible for Jesus to have taken the southern path. And it is just as certain that Jesus did go by the middle path, which passed directly over the ridge of the Mount of Olives. SOME REASONS. : As you come down from the moun , Therefore there can be no aouot tnat jelJs en ered by the eastern gate. Ail 'Sequent historical notices agree WS.ihthlJd5Srtem Bate was partially ' ' decoyed by the slower section, it ia . , . r gate was partially restored by Hadrian, fn the second century, but not probable prob-able Thir emperor's arch.tertur.Ii achievements were chiefly m the ,,. not in the temple. The real re-tonit.on of these gates only took place later. LATER HISTORY. The Hulda gate was rebuilt by Justinian Jus-tinian in the sixth century, as we know from an inscription on a stone used for - " ' . 1 dkAtfoitn. mofaBSja- -tm&tims EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR OF THE GOLDEN GATE. j j there were two Hulda gates on the south. Today there are two gates in the southern wall, some 225 feet apart. This gate has been called the mole gate. A mole works into the earth, travels underground and then comes up. So does this gate. In Solomon's time it was not . roofed over, but, later, when Hercd enclosed the royal grounds in the temple court, he put a roof over it, so it became kind of tunnel from the outer wall to the inner court. At present the gates are walled up on the outside. out-side. Because the western gate was double,, the name Hulda was later given to it alone, and not to the eastern one. The Jews of a later period did not like the name with its application to the mole, so they connected the name Hulda Hul-da with that of .the prophetess who, they say, was the only one besides the kings to be buried in the city proper, and that her tomb was near this gate, hence the name. . NOT A TENABLE THEORY. That Jesus and his disciple3 often passed through this gate may he accepted ac-cepted as certain, but that he entered there on Palm Sunday is absolutely untenable. un-tenable. Not one of the many pilgrims pil-grims before and after the crusades mentions this as the gate through which Christ entered Jerusalem. Only of late has this idea' been suggested. The Golden gate is to be found in the eastern wall of the present haram, or court of the mosque of Aksa. The lower low-er portions belongs to the period of the temple, while the ufper part are Byzantine. By-zantine. The top Is Moslem. This gate was made into a fortified tower. Like the other temple gates it had a double entrance. It has been built up by a wall for a long time. From, time immemorial has this been considered the one through which Jesu3 entered and passed to the temple. Jesus Je-sus came from Bethany: whence theret are three paths to Jerusalem. . The southernmost, the modern high road, passes over the lower ridge between the Mount of Offense and the Mount of Olives proper. This is the longest route. The second, the middle path, leads directly di-rectly over the summit of the Mount of j Olives, and then southerly. The third ! and northernmost path also passes oyer the heights. All three pass by the pres- J ent Garden of Gethsemane. and there j run into a single road. The valley of I the Kidron is then traversed by a bridge. - Now, according to Luke. "Jesus descended de-scended the Mount of Olives," which tain you are directly in front of the Golden Gate. This would have been the case no matter by which path he had come from Bethany. It was the nearest gate of the city, and its threshold thresh-old was only about 100 feet above the road along the garden of Gethsemane and the bridge, and but 725 feet away in an air line. Here, too, the valley was at its widest; here the valley running run-ning from the northern side of the city opened into the valley of Kidron, broadening the whole valley. As-V a result of this the path had to run along a curved line. Now theiGolden Gate is in the temple wall, 'but at that time the city wall was from fifty to sixty-five feet tjutside : of the wall of the temple. Necessarily there must have been a gate in the i city wall at this point, but it was not a double, only a single gate like all the other city gates. After Jesus had ridden through this gate and approached ap-proached the temple gate, he had to get dowfi from his ass; ncr would he have been permitted to ride through the Hulda gate. This caused a slight der lay during which the accompanying multitude crowded rgether. increased also by others, especially children, who came out of the neighboring houses . that were built between the two walls. I The rest of the city now heard .the ; loud cries of Hosanna; the people came to see what it was all about, and went into the temple with Jesus. This is a reasonable and natural account of tho occurrence. But if, on the other hand, it is supposed sup-posed that Jesus entered by the Hulda j gate, everything becomes unnatural i and forced. Even here the Kidron val-j val-j ley had to be crossed. But it was cen-I cen-I tainly easier there, where it was not t so deep, as lower down where it was j not only deeper, but also narrower and I steepe;. Sepp admits that Jesus went by the southerly path, but did not go as far as the Garden of Gethsemane, but turned off westward into the valley to shorten the route. A northerly short cut would have led by the so-called I tomb of Absalom into the valley to the ! lower bridge. But this road is very I steep, much steeper than that which j led to the Golden Gate. In .fact, in order or-der to ride to the western suburb com- fortably on the .ass, so as to pass through Ophal, the route had to be followed fol-lowed further in the valley, as far as the Pool of Silcam, and then an ascent of 300 feet to the threshold of the Hulda Gate had to be made. Besides the road to the Golden Gate was only one-fifth as long as that to the other gate. , it. The gateway formed the foundation: ! for his Church of St. Mary. As to the j Golden gate, in the year 562, when j Jurtinian died, it had not been re- -. stored, for a little later, between 570 . and 600, Antonius Martyr saw it still f . in ruins. He says: "From Gethsemane we ascended many step to the gate , i of Jerusalem. This gate is connected j with that once beautiful gate of the ! temple, whose threshold and posts still f ! stand." " ' Here we have mention of two sep- , I arate gates: first the - city gate, of f I course, in the city wall; and near it, j but somewhat removed, were the ruins t of the former temple gate, which had ' been part of the temple wall. The ' cteps that he mentions are those which. had been long used by foot travelers. ! leading directly from the valley up t. ' the gate from the south of the Garden I of Gethsemane. This has nothing to do with the path by which Jeus made j his festal entrance into the temple. A little later the Persians, under ; Chosroes, captured the city and destroyed de-stroyed many buildings, especially ! churches, among which, were those that had been in the valley of Jehosaphat i (Klldron valley). The eastern gate was j included in this destruction. The Chris- 1 tian emperor, Heraclius, besieged thw j Persians and entered Jerusalem in 62r " I with the holy cross, which he had j recovered. He came in through this j eastern gate. I think that Heraclius, ? who wanted to rebuild something in j i Jerusalem, was tbe onewho under- I took the reconstruction of the Golden j i Gate on its ancient, foundations, but, 1 according to a new Byzantine plan. In j . this way it became a monument of his victorious entry into Jerusalem, and j the bringing back of the holy cross, j ? and at the same time a reminder of the ; j former entry of Christ. j Baedeker aligns the rebuilding to the seventh century: others place it 5 earlier or later. The monumental build- j ing was, however, never completed, as f j it was begun and partly carried out. j This would be inexplicable if Justinian ' had been the rebuilder; for he certain- , f ly would have finished it. ' But the Mohammedans captured 'the city under Omar In 6ST, enly eight ; j years after Heraclius' triumphal entry. ; j when he h id not yet finished the work 1 1 of rebuilding. It was never added to j after that. In fact. Omar had the en- " trance to the rate walled up. ; When, in 1187. Saladin captured the j city, the entrances to the gate were; j onw more walled up. And so it ftand ' i to this day. , C. SCHICK. |
