… being stationed at the King’s Gate on the east, up to the present time. These were the gatekeepers belonging to the camp of the Levites. – 1 Chronicles 9:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 22, 2013): 1 Chronicles 9

One of the hardest things to do when something is taken from us is to move on past what has been lost. Whenever there is a death, there is a period of time when nothing changes in the house. His clothes still hang in the closet where they have always been.  The book that he was reading stays on the bedside table. When a child is taken away, no matter what the reason was, often the room of the missing child stays exactly the way that the child left it. Years later the suggestion of changing the room into an exercise room or a sewing room is unthinkable. This was the place where the child laughed and played and slept – and lived. For years parents cling to the expectant hope that one day the child would return – someday the room will once again find its use as the child returns to live in it once more.

I think I often miss the same sense of mourning for Israel. As the people of Israel moved once more to their home land – and once more they began the rebuilding process of the their holy city – everywhere they looked they found reminders of what it was that was no longer available to them – reminders of what it was that had been taken from them – what they had lost.

So the Chronicler picks up his pen and he starts to describe the New Jerusalem. And on the East side of the city was the King’s gate. He describes the placing of the gate, and the gatekeepers that were stationed there. The Chronicler reminds us that this was the “King’s Gate.” It was a gate reserved for the King to enter the temple area. And part of the job of the gatekeepers at this particular gate was to make sure that no one else but the King would enter the temple through this gate. There was a reserved sign that kept everyone but the king away from the gate. For this reason, the gate was important, so only the best of the best of gatekeepers need apply.

But the Chronicler gives us some more important information. The gatekeepers manned the King’s gate even to the day that the Chronicler was writing down the story. And what is interesting about that is that the Chronicler was telling the story from after the return of the exiles from Babylon back to Israel – and at this present time there was no king. Scholars surmise that the King’s Gate was probably sealed – there was no one alive that possessed the credentials to walk through the gate. It was boarded up – and yet still the gatekeepers kept watch on the unused gate. So the gate became a reminder of all that had been lost – and of the hope that someday, someone would appear at the Eastern Gate with the appropriate credentials to come in – it was the hope that someday the King would return.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 10