West Gate
West Gate is a structure mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Jerusalem. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
The West Gate of Jerusalem appears in a single reference in 1 Chronicles 26:16, in the context of the organization of the Levitical gatekeepers during David's reign. As David prepared for the transition of leadership to Solomon and organized the temple personnel, the gatekeepers were assigned to specific posts around the city and its sanctuary. Shuppim and Hosah were appointed to the West Gate, also described as the Shallecheth Gate on the ascending causeway. The Shallecheth Gate (meaning "casting out" or "refuse gate") opened onto a road that descended westward, possibly used for removing refuse or waste from the temple precincts. While the West Gate receives only this brief mention, its inclusion in the list of gatekeeper assignments illustrates the comprehensive organization of Jerusalem's sacred geography under David. The Levitical gatekeepers served not merely as guards but as custodians of order and holiness, ensuring that the spatial boundaries between the sacred and the common were maintained. The Chronicles passage situates the West Gate within the broader administrative vision of a city and temple ordered for worship.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The West Gate, associated with the Shallecheth Gate, would have been located on the western side of the temple platform or city precinct in Davidic-era Jerusalem. The western approaches to ancient Jerusalem descend toward the Tyropoeon Valley, and later archaeological work has traced the city's western expansion across different periods. No gate structure positively identified as the Shallecheth or West Gate has been excavated, partly because subsequent construction in the area, including Herodian and later Byzantine and Islamic building activity, has obscured the Iron Age strata. The general topography of Jerusalem's western ridge is well understood from survey and excavation, providing a plausible context for the gate's location, but specific architectural remains await discovery.
Verse Appearances (1)
1Chr
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]