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The Mizpah Gate open
again after 2,600 years.
p. 200
The following extract from The News Chronicle of 20th June, 1932, will be of
interest to our readers:--
"The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaning in purple and gold."--Byron.
After 2,600 years, the great East Gate of ancient Mizpah is open again.
When sudden destruction overtook the city at the hands of Sennacherib in B.C.701,
the gate was only partially destroyed, and it was found under the debris of centuries,
well preserved.
A gigantic tower of solid rock, forty-four feet square, protected the entrance court on
the east side, while soldiers on the city wall could command the approach from the other
side.
The long brown stone benches in the sheltered court shimmer in the sun and look as if
the contemporaries of Amos, Hosea and Isaiah had left them only yesterday.
Undoubtedly there were times when these prophets stood there and warned the
Israelites against the Assyrian peril.
When the Assyrians attacked the fortress in Biblical times, the besieged tore down
their walls and houses to form a barricade. But in vain; the enemy must have made a
breach in another part of the city wall and entered.--Reuter.