Have mercy on me, O Lord! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may tell of all Your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in Your salvation. (Psalm 9:13-14)
In antiquity, the gates of a city were extremely important for many reasons. For starters, the gates symbolized security; if the gates were compromised in times of war, the city was exposed to conquest. In times of peace, it was in the gates that people would meet to talk and to shop; where kings and judges would administer justice, and in Israel, where prophets cried out. The gates also functioned as a platform to display military power and victory over one’s foe suggesting that the city gate was a place of humiliation for the vanquished of captured cities.
According to David, on more than one occasion, Death came close to humiliating the king within its gates. Were it not for the mercy of the LORD, death and hell would have claimed him but the Almighty delivered him from those who would have destroyed him. Being delivered from the gates of death, David was determined to sing God’s praises in the gates of Jerusalem, which is a way of suggesting that the tables were turned. In other words, rather than David (and by extension, David’s God) being humiliated in the gates of death, the power of the enemy would be humiliated in the gates of Zion by the testimony of the one who was delivered by Zion’s God.
This reminds me of something Paul said in light of Messiah’s resurrection — “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). Death temporarily had the Son of God within its grasp but was unable to keep Him — the power of God raised Him from the grave, and in so doing, gave Him authority over Death and Hell (Revelation 1:18). The good news for you and me is that, in Messiah, we have been given the ability to overcome the power of the enemy and, standing upon the solid Rock that is the Messiah, the gates of hell will be unable to prevail against us. So let us join David in praising the Name of our God in the gates of the city and rejoicing in His salvation — Yeshua the Messiah.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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