Pearl of Great Price - Nehemiah 3

Nehemiah 3:1 Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place…
32 and between the room above the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and merchants made repairs.

The Sheep Gate was a very significant gate. It was the gate that opened up to the market where the sacrificial lambs and sheep were bought, and then brought into the city.

Sacrificial lambs were ‘born to die’. I was thinking about this the other day, as we were about to have church service at Akins. Four girls walked up with their 3 sheep and 1 goat. The girls bought these animals when they were babies and raised them with a specific purpose in mind…..the livestock show. It is a show in the spring where livestock that 4-H members take their sheep, goats, chickens and hogs…and sell them at auction for money to use for college. Usually some big business leaders in town (who previously took part in 4-H as a kid) participate and drive up the prices so that the money brought in, becomes like a college scholarship. Much like the purpose these animals have, the sacrificial lambs in the market were born and raised with the specific purpose of becoming a sacrifice. The more ‘perfect’ (without blemish) the animal….. the higher the price. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, we know was without sin.....and was the “Pearl of Greatest Price”.

The Sheep Gate was the first gate that was rebuilt because of its importance, and so important that the Priests were the ones who rebuilt it. I don’t know, because it wasn’t mentioned….but I would assume that they had some pretty specific ‘specs’ that they wanted to make sure the gate was built to.

Ultimately, for believers, the Sheep Gate represents Jesus and salvation through his sacrifice. We’ll remember that in John 10, Jesus referred to himself as the gate. Much like the shepherd would lay down in the gap in the fence, to become the gate, Jesus came lay down his life for us.

Sheep Gate also led to Golgotha, really completing the picture of the sacrificial lamb being led to its purpose. I also noted that the significance in this chapter that it was the first gate (v. 1) mentioned and the last (v.32). Much like Christ is the Alpha and the Omega…the beginning and the end.