The Sheep Gate was a small, obscure entrance into Jerusalem. When Jesus approached the city at the beginning of that final week which was to end with him being arrested, tried and crucified, he chose to come into the city in a humble way. He found a donkey and rode in. A crowd gathered, cheering and hailing him as the Messiah, the long looked for king. Waving palm branches they laid a path for him.
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Some History:
The Sheep Gate is first mentioned in the Bible in the book of Nehemiah when the rebuilding of the walls of
 | The gate itself was located in the north-eastern part of the city and its mention in Nehemiah is significant for the fact that its rebuilding was carried out by the High Priest and his brothers, the priests. The significance is in the fact that their normal duties were ceremonial |
The gate would not have been anything grand to look at but was used mainly as a means of getting the sacrificial offerings of sheep and goats from their pasture outside the city, to the
The next specific mention is in John’s gospel chapter 5 when Jesus was passing by it to reach the pool of
Its busiest time would have been at the Feast of the Passover when the sacrificial lambs would be offered in the
The words of Isaiah the Prophet sound out, “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth”.
And John the Baptist’s exclamation “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.
