339. Market at the Gate
• 1 min. read • grade level: 14
The vicinity of the gate was a convenient place for the sale of produce, since what was for sale would be exposed to the view of all passing in or out. Reference is made to this in Nehemiah 13:20-2120So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. 21Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath. (Nehemiah 13:20‑21). Layard, speaking of the vaulted recesses in the gateways of Assyrian cities, says, “Frequently in the gates of cities, as at Mosul, these recesses are used as shops for the sale of wheat and barley, bread and grocery” (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 57, note).