Examining the archeological context of the Wide/Narrow Gates and Roads (Matthew 7:13-14)

A conversation regarding Michael Knowles article ‘Wide is the gate and spacious the road that leads to destruction’: Matthew 7.13 in light of archeological evidence

"Matthew 7.13-14 records the first of four exhortations that conclude the Sermon on the Mount:

Enter through the narrow gate: for wide is the gate and spacious the road that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. How narrow is the gate and constricted the road that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

While referring in context to the difficulty of obedience to Jesus’ teaching, this passage takes on added significance when read in light of the social and political realities of Matthew’s day. Specifically, such a reading poses the question of what actual ‘gates’ or ‘roads’ might have served as literal referents for its metaphoric imagery. The following study will review Matthean redaction of 7.13-14, examine archaeological evidence concerning gates and roads in early Roman Palestine, and seek to locate 7.13-14 thematically within the wider context of Matthew’s Gospel, in order to demonstrate that the references to ‘wide’ gates and ‘spacious’ roads convey specifically Roman (or more properly, anti-Roman) overtones."