Fish Gate

The Fish Gate

<2 Chr. 33:14; Neh. 3:3; 12:39; Zeph. 1:10>

The Fish Gate was an ancient gate on the east wall, just west of the Gihon spring, where men gathered to sell fish, sometimes in violation of the Sabbath (2 Chronicles 33:14, Nehemiah 3:3, 13:16). It may be the same as the Middle Gate (Jeremiah 39:3) but is more likely to be the modern day Damascus Gate. This gate had been one of the main entrances into Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 33:14; Zephaniah 1:10).

"The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. And next to them Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz, made repairs. Next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs. Next to them Zadok the son of Baana made repairs.

Next to them the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord."

Nehemiah 3:3-5 (NKJV)

The sons of Hassenaah did the work of rebuilding the gate while others helped. Hassenaah means' thorny, piercing' and represents those on the cutting edge of God's purposes - evangelism. This gate represents the importance of reaching out in evangelism to the lost. To be fishers of men.

The Fish Gate represents our witness, the Church reaching out to the world (Matthew 4:19). For us, it speaks of evangelism as we have been called to be 'fishers of men'. It is a natural progression in our Christian life that after seeing that Jesus dies for our sins (Sheep Gate), that we would want to tell others about it. Even surveys have shown that believers who have been saved less than two years win the most people to the Lord. Their simple testimony of what Jesus has done in their lives qualifies them to be great 'fishers of men.'

"Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men."

Mark 1:16-17 (KJV)

Just as Jesus called Simon and Andrew, He is calling US to follow Him and learn to become fishers of men. Those who obey and serve God in this area have GREAT joy each time someone receives Jesus through their ministry ! !

After the Fish Gate the people 'made repairs' to the wall. Look at the meanings of the names of those who made these repairs to see what you can glean. The word for repairs is the Hebrew word chazaq, used 35 times in this chapter alone; it has the idea of strengthening, encouraging, making something strong - principles that have application to far more than material gates and walls!

i. The Bible says that we must be "built up" and "repaired"; in Ephesians 4:12, God says the purpose of the church is for the equipping of the saints, and idea behind "equipping" is to prepare, strengthen, and make something able to be used. We come together as Christians to strengthen one another, to make us strong and able to live for Jesus and serve Him outside the gatherings of the church.

ii. After evangelism, there must be follow up, discipleship. Building up of those who have come in through this gate as new believers. The whole five-fold ministry is involved in this.

The Tekoites did their work; the people of the city of Tekoa were more than willing to work - but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of the Lord. For the most part, people joined in - but not every body! These nobles from the city of Tekoa thought themselves above the hard work, so they didn't join in.

i. Literally, the idea in the Hebrew is that they wouldn't submit - they would not "bend their necks" to what the Lord wanted them to do. The real issue was submission. Maybe they thought they had a better plan, maybe they didn't like how Nehemiah was doing it - but they stand in infamy as the only people mentioned in this chapter who did not join in the work!

ii. I can imagine Nehemiah wanting to record the names of each of these nobles; but the Lord made him have mercy and only indicate them in a general way!

iii. We can be like these nobles in not wanting to get involved in the nitty gritty work of evangelism and discipleship. Let us be like the Tekoites.

Conclusion:

The Fish Gate represents our evangelistic witness. We are to be fishers of men. But we must not stop there. After being born again (Sheep Gate) and then sharing our faith (Fish Gate) we must equip ourselves with the truth of God in His Word, This brings us to the next gate - The Old Gate.