Sheepgate
Sheepgate [1]
( שִׁעִר הִצּאֹן, Sha' ar hats-Tson Sept. ἡ πύλη ἡ προβατική; Vulg. Porta gregis) , one of the gates of Jerusalem as rebuilt by Nehemiah ( Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 12:39). It stood between the tower of Meah and the chamber of the corner (3:1, 32) or gate of the guard house (12:39 "prison gate"). It is probably the same with the προβατική of John 5:2 placing it at the present St. Stephen's Gate (so also Keil, after Tobler), since no wall existed north of the Temple enclosure nearly as far to the east as that point till after the (death of Christ. (See Jerusalem). Barclay locates it in a presumed outer wall beyond the precincts of the Temple the on the east ( City of the Great King, p. 116) but it is doubtful whether any such separate wall existed. The adjoining localities would seem to fix it.
