6. Old gate. sha‘ar hayyeshanah, meaning literally “the gate of oldness,” or in English simply “the old gate.” Though the Hebrew construction has given rise to many variant translations, there is no need of assuming a textual error, as most translators and commentators have done. Some commentators have suggested that the word for “city” has been lost, and read “the gate of the old city.” But this suggestion is equally unacceptable, since the “old gate” was in a section of the wall that enclosed the latest addition to the city. The translates yeshanah as a proper name, Isana. The Hebrew would then read, the “Yeshanah gate.” The gate may have received its name from the city of Jeshanah, now Burj el-Isâneh, northwest of Baal-hazor, which is about 15 north of Jerusalem (2 Chron. 13:19). The “old gate” is usually identified with the “corner gate” of 2 Kings 14:13 and Jer. 31:38, which was situated at the northwest corner of the city wall.
