Elders at the Gate

Lamentations 5:12-18
Lam 5:14  The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

ELDER ELDER (Heb. זָקֵן, zaken). In Israel, as among all other ancient peoples, the elder is not only a person of advanced age, but also a man of distinct social grade (cf. šībumin Akkadian, senator in Latin, geron in Greek, and sheikh in Arabic). The elders were the consulting body of the city, the nation, or the king respectively, and as such were considered "the wise" (cf. Ezek. 7:26 with Jer. 18:18). As a social institution, various types of elders are named: elders of a people (Israel, Judah, Moab, and Midian, Num. 22:4, 7; Egypt, Gen. 50:7); elders of an area (Gilead, Judg. 11:5–11); elders of a tribe (Deut. 31:28); elders of the Diaspora (Jer. 29:1); elders of the priests (II Kings 19:2; Jer. 19:1); elders of the city (passim); and elders of the house (i.e., palace, Gen. 50:7; II Sam. 12:17). The most prominent are the elders of the people or the country and the elders of the city. The Elders of the City These elders represented their fellow citizens in local matters. Their functions are best exemplified by the pertinent laws of Deuteronomy. The city elders are involved in five laws: (1) blood redemption (19:12); (2) expiation of murder by an unknown culprit (21:3, 6); (3) the rebellious son (21:19); (4) defamation of a virgin (22:15); and (5) levirate (25:9). All these cases deal with protection of the family and local patriarchal interests. In the first, the elders tend to the appeasement of the murdered person's family by delivering the slayer into its hands; in the second, they see to it that their town atones for a homicide committed within its borders. In the next two instances, the elders protect the family against a rebellious son and defend the family against defamation. In the last instance, the elders are concerned with preventing the extinction of a family in their town. No professional judgment is necessary in such cases: the elders preside over a case, whose consequences are clear beforehand. The same applies to Ruth 4:2ff., where the elders only confirm the act of levirate. In contrast, "the judges" in the laws of Deuteronomy have functions that are altogether different from those of the elders. The judges act in connection with disputes (19:17–18; 25:1–3) and controversies in the local courts (17:8ff.) that cannot be solved by the local patriarchal representatives, but need a higher and more objective judicial authority. Furthermore, disputes and controversies involve thorough investigation (cf. 19:18), which can be made only by qualified and professional people. These judges are nominated (cf. Deut. 16:19) in contradistinction to the elders, whose dignity is as a rule hereditary. In only one case in Deuteronomy do the elders act together with the judges: the case of the unknown murderer (21:1ff.). The elders of the town nearest the spot where the corpse was found have to perform the expiation rites on behalf of their town. In order to establish which town is nearest, the distances must be measured (see * Eglah Arufah). This has to be implemented by the judges and the elders of the country (21:2), i.e., by a higher authority. This case is important for an understanding of the composition of the courts in ancient Israel, especially since it has its antecedents in the judicial procedures of the other peoples in the ancient Near East. Among ancient Near Eastern peoples, a representative of the state joined the local authority (i.e., the elders) in order to settle disputes. In Mesopotamia the elders (šībūtum) cooperated with the mayor (rabiānum or ḫazānum), and in the Hittite state the commander of the garrison acted with the elders in settling disputes. In purely provincial matters, such as the returning of stray cattle, the elders themselves acted without resorting to government officials (Hittite Laws, para. 71). Only when investigation was involved was the case brought before a tribunal, which consisted of both state officials and elders. In ancient Israel, as in the Hittite state, the judges were associated or even identical with officers and military commanders (Ex. 18:21; Deut. 1:15). That the officer and the elder had much in common is evident from Isaiah 3:14, Ezra 10:8, et al. In I Kings 21:11, they act together (for the interchange of "noble" with "officer," cf. Jer. 39:6 with 52:10; Jer. 27:20 with II Kings 24:14). The Elders of the People or Country In the city-state, as it existed in Canaan, the elders of the city were identical with the elders of the state. In Israel, both before and during the monarchic period, the elders of the town and those of the people, country, and congregation operated separately. Matters that concerned the entire confederation or the nation were brought to the elders of the people, and after the division of the kingdom to the elders of Israel and Judah respectively, whereas the elders of the town dealt only with the local provincial problems (see above). It is not known how the elders of the country were chosen, but it is possible that they were recruited from the city elders. One might argue that the monarchy had deprived the elders of their power and authority, but this was not the case. Even as powerful a king as Ahab had to consult "the elders of the land" before proclaiming war (I Kings 20:7). It is needless to dwell here on the important role that the elders of Israel and Judah played at the time of David (II Sam. 3:17; 5:3; 17:4, 15). The elders cooperated with Elisha against the king (II Kings 6:32), and the elders of the land interfered in the trial of Jeremiah (Jer. 26:17). The "people of the land" or the "people of Judah," who took action when the dynasty was at stake, seem to be identical with the elders of Judah. The emergence of the elders has been explained in the Pentateuch etiologically. According to Exodus 18, it was Jethro who advised Moses to establish a judicial-social organ in order to help him judge the people. (In the desert setting of the narrative there was no distinction between the elders of the town and the elders of the congregation.) In Numbers 11, following Moses' complaint that he cannot manage the people by himself, the Lord draws from some of the spirit of Moses and instills it in the 70 elders who are to assist him. In Deuteronomy 1:9ff., finally, Moses himself proposes that he pick men from the tribes in order to create the judicial body. These three traditions present different outlooks on the quality of the elder-judge in ancient Israel. In Exodus 18, the attributes of the chosen men are fear of God, trustworthiness, and honesty. In Numbers 11, it is the spirit of God, i.e., divine inspiration (cf. the judge in the period of the Judges, Judg. 3:10; 6:34; et al.), which makes a man a member of the elders' council. In Deuteronomy 1, intellectual capacity (wisdom, understanding, and knowledge) makes a man fit to judge. The description in Deuteronomy is apparently the latest, since it reflects the aristocratic approach, which places wisdom at the top of the ladder of values (cf. e.g., Prov. 8:15–16; et al). The Functions of the Elders of the People The functions of the elders of the people were (1) to represent the people in the sacral covenant and in the proclamation of the law (Ex. 19:7; 24:1, 9; Deut. 27:1; 29:9; 31:9; Josh. 8:33; 24:1; cf. II Kings 23:1); (2) to appoint a leader or a king (I Sam. 8:4; Judg. 11:5–11); (3) to proclaim war (Josh. 8:10; II Sam. 17:4–15; cf. I Kings 20:7); (4) to conduct political negotiations and make agreements (Ex. 3:16, 18; 4:29; Num. 16:25; II Sam. 3:17; 5:3); (5) to perform sacred ceremonies (Ex. 12:21; 18:12; Lev. 9:1; I Sam. 4:3; I Kings 8:1, 3; I Chron. 16:25); and (6) to act in times of national crisis (Ex. 17:5–6; Josh. 7:6; I Sam. 4:3; I Chron. 21:16). The elders held their meetings near the city gate (Deut. 21:19; 22:15; 25:7; Ruth 4:1ff.; Lam. 5:14), and more precisely in the square located next to the gate (Job 29:7). In the desert the assemblies were held "at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting" (see *Congregation). The place of the assembly had also been called "the threshing floor" (I Kings 22:10), because of its smooth, stamped surface and its circular shape (cf. Sanh. 4:3). In texts from Ugarit, Danel the pious judge is presented as sitting "before the gate, in the place of the mighty on the threshing floor" (Aqht A, V, lines 5ff., Pritchard, Texts, 151). Participation in the assembly of the elders was considered a great honor (Prov. 31:23; Job 29:7ff.), and appears as such also in Greek literature (Iliad, 1:490; 4:225; et al.). [Moshe Weinfeld]

The book of Genesis records two instances where the descendants of Abraham were given this spiritual heritage: possess the gates of your enemies.

The first instance is in Genesis 22:17, right after the LORD has provided a substitute sacrifice for the life of Isaac. An angel of the LORD calls out blessings to Abraham from the LORD because Abraham did not withhold his son from the altar.

Among the blessings, he declares, “And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” In other words the seed, or the descendants, of Abraham shall possess the gate of their enemies.

Then a few chapters later this same promise is made to the descendants of Abraham’s son Isaac through his wife Rebecca. In chapter 24, verse 60, the relatives of Rebecca send her away with the servant of Abraham, to become Isaac’s wife. As she is leaving, they speak this blessing over her:

May you, our sister, become thousands of ten thousands,
And may your seed possess the gate of those who hate them. (NASB)

Rebecca becomes the carrier of this promise, which is so similar to the one God spoke over Abraham and Isaac in chapter 22. Since Rebecca is about to marry Isaac at the end of chapter 24, we could say that the two promises regarding “possessing the gate of your enemy” are about to “marry” and be passed onto their offspring.

What power! What a multiplication! What a confirmation, as the same thing is spoke by the mouth of two witnesses!

Isaac and Rebecca have twin sons, and one of them, Jacob, is the ancestor of the Jewish people. So we can certainly say that this powerful promise of possessing the gates of the enemy is something available to Jewish people even today, if they walk in it by faith.

But what about the rest of us, who are not physical descendants of Jacob? Glad you asked that question.

Let’s look at Gal. 3:29. “And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (NKJV)

The previous verse says that there is neither “Jew nor Greek”—neither Jew nor Gentile—in Messiah Yeshua. We are all one in Him, without distinction.

And if we belong to Him, we are Abraham’s seed. So we inherit all the promises spoken to Abraham’s seed in the Word of God, including the promise to possess the gates of our enemies.

Okay, but what does that promise mean for us today? To answer that question, we have to consider how gates functioned in Bible times.

Most of the cities or large towns of those days were surrounded by walls of some kind—anything from a kind of stick fence to thick and high stone walls with parapets for defense. The idea was to be able to protect the inhabitants at night from animals who might wander in and most of all, to protect the city from marauding humans—thieves, bandits and conquering armies.

The gate or gates to these enclosures were the only way into or out of the city. So all commercial traffic entered and exited through the gates.

Thus the city gate became a place for all kinds of important activity in the life of the city and its inhabitants. The area near the gate became a literal marketplace, where commodities from farmers outside the city were bought and sold. (II Kings 7:1; Nehemiah 12:25).

Increased commerce gave rise to disputes. So the gate area became a place of adjudication—municipal law courts. (Is. 29:21; Amos 5:15; Zech. 8:16) The city elders (respected men, not simply “old” men) would sit in the gate area and bring the wisdom of their experience and insight to settle commercial disputes and other matters effecting the life of the city’s inhabitants.

The elders and those passing through the gate area would also discuss the issues of the day and the issues of life, sometimes setting policy for the city and advising the city’s ruler. This in turn gave rise to the gate area becoming the center for political activity and even for mustering militias. (Judges 5:11)

Kings would sometimes sit in the city gates, both to dispense justice and to take the political pulse of the people. (II Sam. 19:8) Here’s a good example of that from I Kings 22:10.

“Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.” (NASB)

With kings and commerce and courts congregating at the city gate, no wonder the gate also became a place for public declaration by prophets and others. In the case of Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry, the Lord several times told him to stand in the city gate and proclaim the word of the Lord. (Jer. 7:2; Jer. 17:19) We could say that the city gate was the media center for ancient cities, as well as their commercial center.

The gates to a city, then, represented a point of power, a place to exercise control over that city. A military conqueror would try to get control of the gate in order to enter the city most easily. A king who had the hearts of the elders who sat in the gate would politically control the city. A person who organized and ran the commercial market and storehouses at the gate would control the economic life of the city—and its surrounding villages.

At the gate ideas and policies flowed along with the commerce. These ideas could result in the rising or falling of rulers and even nations.

And that brings us to the modern day in which we live. In our lives—in our cities, states, nations—it often seems like an enemy of the Kingdom of God has possessed our “gates.” This enemy represents ideals and principals contrary to that of Heaven’s Kingdom. Yet it influences our business life, our cultural life, our social life, our political life—even our church life.

And what God is saying to us today, I believe, is, “Rise up and possess the gates of your enemies. Stop settling for the status quo. Take My promise and take back your culture.”

I believe He is saying to us--yes, even to us intercessors—to go out into the marketplace. Go out to the places of power, where the decisions of government are made. Go out into the business community. Go out into the judicial system and the legislature, the political arena. Take these places for the Kingdom of God.

Are you sensing that maybe the Lord is repositioning you right now? Are you sensing that He has a new assignment for you outside the prayer closet where you’ve labored these many years?

If so, then you are not alone. I believe He has been teaching many of us how to live in and by His Spirit, so that He could send us out in such a time as this into the “gates” and change what goes on there.

No more “business as usual.” A new day is dawning. And it is the Army of the Lord that is taking territory, that is moving the boundary stones in this earth until they agree with the decrees of Heaven.

This is what it means to be salt and light. Yes, prayer is necessary. Yes, strategic intercession is powerful and valuable. Yes, contemplative intimacy is the cry of the Lord’s heart for us.

But for some of us it’s time now to take what we learned in the place of hiddenness and go into all the world.

Go then, and every place where the sole of your foot treads take territory for your King!

The elders have ceased from the gate.

The seat of justice overthrown
1. It is a grievous plague unto a people when the seat of justice is overthrown from among them.
(1) Reasons.
(a) It bringeth in all confusion and disorder.
(b) No man can enjoy anything as his own.
(c) Every one lieth open to the violence of spoilers, and hath no succour nor redress.
(2) Uses.
(a) Better have tyrants govern us, than be void of all government.
(b) Pray unto God for the government under which we live, that in the prosperity thereof we may have peace.
(c) Acknowledge all lawful magistrates to be the special ordinances of God, appointed for our good, and therefore to be obeyed and reverenced.
2. The overthrow of magistracy among a people taketh all occasions of rejoicing from all sorts of people. “The young men from their music.”
(1) Reasons.
(a) Many great blessings are lost, and many griefs come upon them which will make the heart heavy.
(b) They have no safety, but have cause every one to fear another, and to stand upon his own guard, as though he were in the midst of his enemies.
(2) Use. Pray to God that He would never leave us without those heads and governors that may take care to protect us in peace; for if He do, our life will be more bitter than death itself.
3. Honest recreations and delights are to be esteemed among the good blessings that God giveth His people in this life.
(1) It is here accounted by the Holy Ghost a grievous thing that they are deprived of them.
(2) Neither body nor mind can continue able and apt to their duties without some intermission, but it is never lawful to be idle. (J. Udall.)


The joy of our heart is ceased, our dance is turned into mourning.
God’s people may apprehend themselves stripped of all cause of joy
This is the condition of these distressed creatures in the land of Babylon; whilst they were in Judea, they used to rejoice in their harvest, and to shout at their vintage (Isa_16:10). They had the mirth of tabrets and their harps melodiously sounding in their streets (Isa_24:8). But now there is a crying for wine in all quarters, their joy is darkened, and the mirth of the land is gone (Isa_24:11). All causes of joy are sometimes taken from God’s: precious saints; thus it fared with Israel upon the pursuit of Pharaoh, when she was passing out of Egypt into the land of Canaan (Exo_14:10). Neither was it better with Job in the time of his affliction (Job_30:17-18; Job_30:31). Do but look upon the sweet singer of Israel, and you shall find him in as bad a condition; for the sorrows of death encompassed him, the pains of hell got hold upon him, and he found nothing but trouble and sorrow (Psa_116:1-19). The Lord takes away all cause of rejoicing from, that He may the more deeply humble them for the evil of their ways. Great afflictions effect the like submissions, with strong cries to the God of heaven (Jdg_6:6; Jdg_10:13-15). God’s great design in thus dealing with them, is to purge them from their dross (Isa_27:9), to make them cast off the sin of their souls; you know gold, that it may be refined, must as it were be encompassed with flames (Zec_13:8-9). The best are prone to rest upon the reeds of Egypt, to rely too much upon worldly vanities, therefore God makes the joy of their hearts to cease, that He may take them off from dependency upon creature comforts (Jer_3:22-23; Hos_14:2-3). Beware of sin, it will cause both sad looks and heavy hearts (Gen_4:7; Amo_8:8-10). Keep your eye upon heaven (2Ch_20:12), it is only a ray of His favour that can cheer your hearts (Psa_9:9-10). Disclaim help from others, trust not to yourselves (Isa_30:1-3; Isa_31:1; Psa_20:7; 2Co_1:9). Created substances are but vanities.
I. The precious sons of Zion may be much discouraged in their sufferings. And when Zion was in affliction, did she not as one in despair cry out, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord (Lam_3:17-18)?
(1) Sudden and boisterous storms sometimes make stout-hearted seamen to give up all for gone (Psa_88:3-8; Isa_54:11; Mat_27:46).
(2) Feeble things are soon thrown down, they want strength, it is weakness of faith that dejects their spirits (Mat_8:24-26). Give a check to the heaviness, to the sadness of your souls, when you are in afflictions (Psa_43:5). The apostles carried themselves gallantly with much cheerfulness in the worst of times (Rom_5:3; Act_21:13).
Now that you may come near them in the same spirit, consider—
(1) That the sorrows of our Saviour were very dolorous (Mat_26:38; Luk_22:42).
(2) That what befalls you is incident to the best of saints (1Co_10:13; Son_2:2).
(3) That death will put a period to all your troubles.
(4) That God hath promised to deliver His chosen ones (Psa_126:5-6; Job_16:33). Brag not of what spirit you will be when you come to suffer; you have but a little strength in yourselves, your hearts may come to deceive you, to fail you when troubles come with a strong current upon you; thus did Peter, yet denied his Master (Mar_14:29; Mar_14:31; Mar_14:68, etc).
2. Keep up your heads, your hearts above the waters of sorrow, let them not sink your spirits, but under the worst of evils, retain your joy, and in patience possess your souls (Lam_3:26; Psa_27:13-14). (D. Swift.)


The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!—

Man’s fall from love into selfishness

The secret of man’s perfection may be summed up in these short words, Love to God. The secret of man’s sin may be stated as shortly, Defect of love to God. As the former implied truth and holiness, and purity of motive, and unity of wilt with His will, so this latter implies the departure of all these graces. But not only this. The heart allows no vacuum: sin is not a negative only, but a positive condition; where love has departed, there the opposite of love enters, namely, selfishness, with all its baneful consequences. And the essence of selfishness is, that a man lives not for and in another, be that other his neighbour, or his God, hut for and in himself. Now notice, that this selfishness, arising out of defect of love to God, and in God to others, is not an act, or a series of acts in man, but a state, out of which spring, as the symptoms out of a disease, those sinful acts of selfishness, which we call sins. Selfishness has turned love into lust, dignity into pride, humility into meanness, zeal into ambition, charity into ostentation; has made the strong man into a tyrant, the womanly into the womanish character, the childlike into the childish; has turned family and friendly love into partisanship, patriotism into faction, religion itself into bigotry. It penetrates into, and infiltrates every thought, every desire, every word, every act; so that whatsoever is of it, and not of faith, is sin. And its seat is in the noblest, the godlike, the immortal and responsible spirit of man. So that it is no longer worthy of that noble title of the Spirit, reminding us of God; but they who are thus, are named in Scripture unspiritual, and their whole state is called “the flesh”; not that it springs from the flesh, but because it sinks them into the flesh. Another degrading consequence results from this usurpation by self of the place of God within us. Man placed under love, though in bond and covenant to God and his neighbour, was really and essentially free; a child of God’s family; his will and God’s will being one, law became to him liberty. But under selfishness, though he has broken loose from covenant with God and his neighbour, he is to all intents and purposes, a slave; in bondage to his own desires and passions, which he ought to be, and wishes to be, ruling. “The truth,” declares our Lord, “shall make you free”; but all sin is a lie, It practically denies God,—whose being, and whose power, and whose love constitute the great truth of this universe: this is the negative side of its falsehood; and it sets up self and other creatures in God’s place as lord and guide of man’s being: this is its positive side. It apes the perfections and attributes of God, and makes man into a miserable counterfeit, betraying, by that which he wishes to appear, that which he really ought to be. Well then, it now comes before us as a solemn question, seeing that our whole nature, the nature of each man, is thus gone astray, and that every one of us has an abiding tendency to selfishness and to evil—

Whence came this tendency? How had it its beginning? This tendency is a departure from God who made us; and cannot therefore have been God’s work. And this departure can only have begun by an act of the will of man. God created us free, gave our first parents a command to keep, which very fact implied that they had power to break it. Now there was no reasonable ground for breaking it, but every imaginable reason against such conduct; the departure was not an act of the convinced reason, but an act of that which we know as self-will—a leaning to self in spite of reason and conscience. So that sin had its practical beginning in the will of man. And this beginning we read of in Scripture in the history of the Fall. At once man’s personality, the inner soul of his nature, passes into a different relation to God: it is torn out of the covenant of His love; stands over against Him as His enemy; trembles at His approach. All peace, all innocence, is gone. The body, God’s beautiful and wonderful work, becomes the seat of shame. Man, knowing that he is naked, flies from God and hides himself. And as the spirit of man has renounced its allegiance to God, so have now the animal soul and the body thrown off their allegiance to the spirit. Anarchy enters into his being, and holds wild misrule.

The gravitation of the spiritual world is overthrown, its laws of attraction are suspended; the lower revolts against the higher, the lowest against the lower. And as in man, so in man’s world. In a moment the poison spreads, electric, over the kingdom which he should have ruled; the elements disown him, the beasts of the forest glare upon him, the ground is cursed for his sake. The king of nature is self-deposed,—his palace is broken up, his delights are scattered, his sweet fellowship with his helpmate is marred,—and he is driven out a wanderer. Then first sprung forth the bitter fountains of tears, destined to furrow the cheeks of untold generations; then first the hands were clenched, and the brow grasped, and the breast beaten,—and the vastness of inward woe sought relief in outward gesture. Verily, the crown had fallen from his head; woe unto him, that he had sinned. (Dean Alford.)