Enter in at the Gate

There are puzzling instructions in the Bible. Are they just quaint quirks that the Lord threw in to keep us on our toes, or do they have a meaning? Here is one. Ezekiel 46: 9 
But when the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate. And he who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. No one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered but shall go straight out. 

Did you catch the “quirk” there? The worshipers were instructed to leave by the opposite gate from which they entered. Why? One suggestion was to avoid congestion. If a lot of people were to enter through one gate and then try to leave by the same, it would be very crowded. A “flow-through” traffic plan would expedite access to the temple.

A second suggestion was to make the worshipers go “further” to get home as they would have to walk around the city, thus having more time to meditate. And get hungrier, and later, unless they left early to compensate for the extra “travel time.”

Ooookaaayyy. Not bad ideas, but is traffic control the best reason for taking space in the Scripture? Does the Holy Spirit get paid by the word? Sorry, not too reverent there. But maybe there is a little deeper meaning.

It drives me crazy when a preacher prays or says, “We will go away differently than when we came.” They usually mean that we will leave as a changed (or transformed–last post) person. I like that. Leaving differently is an adverb, modifying HOW we came and left. Different is an adjective describing our condition. Maybe the Holy Spirit wanted us to be aware of the change that should accompany us as we leave His presence. So pick a different door.

Just a thought. If we do enter and exit different doors, we might be more concerned to be different when we do leave.

Choose your door. Leave different and differently if necessary.