Elul 11 – Beyond the Horse Gate the Priests Made Repairs

September 3, 2025

06 – Elul, 2 Chronicles, Brook Kidron, Gareb, Goath, Horse Gate, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Tower of Hananel

Hebrew

Elul 11, 5785; from sunset September 3, 2025, to sunset September 4, 2025

(The eleventh day of the sixth month)

This is an image of a portion of the wall rebuilt by Nehemiah and company.

Today in the story of Nehemiah, we’re running into the priests again. This time they are working on the restoration of the wall near their own homes, close the Horse Gate.

Beyond the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house. – Nehemiah 3:28 (NKJ)

שַׁעַר הַסּוּסִים

Sha’ar Hassusim = The Gate of the Horses

A sus (“soos”) is a horse. Susim is plural…horses. The Horse Gate is mentioned three times in the Bible. Besides our verse in Nehemiah, it shows up in 2 Chronicles 23:15 where the self-proclaimed Queen Athahliah was killed. She was the granddaughter of King Omri of Israel, who was the father of King Ahab. Athaliah’s husband was her nephew, King Jehoram. When their son was assassinated by Jehu, she killed all of the royal offspring, which would either be her nephews or her grandchildren or both. (And we think things are mixed up in our days!) Then she ruled the land herself. When seven-year-old Joash, the sole survivor, showed up six years later to claim his throne, Athaliah was brought through the Horse Gate on her way to the king’s house where she was murdered (2 Kings 11).

So they seized her; and she went by way of the entrance of the Horse Gate into the king’s house, and they killed her there. – 2 Chronicles 23:15 (NKJ)

In the Horse Gate’s third occurrence, the LORD prophesies through Jeremiah that a new covenant will be given to Israel and Judah in a future millennial kingdom. In that kingdom the blessings on Jerusalem will extend “from the Tower of Hananel…unto the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east.”

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city shall be built for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.” – Jeremiah 31:38-40 (NKJ)

Archaeologist Eilat Mazar excavated a four-chambered gate in the Ophel that dates to the time of David and Solomon. This could be the Horse Gate. It lies between the Water Gate and the East Gate and is incorporated into the Ophel wall.

Just a reminder that it’s tradition to read Psalm 27 daily through the Feast of Tabernacles. You can find it by clicking on the link.

To read all of our posts on Nehemiah, click on the image above.