Possibly.
It could also have a completely different meaning as to the "rock" Jesus was referring to.
I offer the following;
The Gates of Hell
Matthew 16 ESV
(13) Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
(14) And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
(15) He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
(16) Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
(17) And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
(18) And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Often we will see puns in scripture.
This might be one of them.
The district of
Caesarea Philippi was previously called the district of
Bashan near the base of Mount Hermon.
It is a northern district of Israel where present day Tel Aviv is, Golan Heights,
Mount Hermon.
This region was pagan and known for worshiping demon gods.
Several shrines and temples were built at the base of
Mount Hermon in the region of
Bashan.
In this region are underground water sources with cave openings to deep dark water.
So deep that the ancients believed them to be bottomless and
gates to the underworld.
These deep dark cave openings became known as "
The Gates of Hades" (the gates of hell).
To this day you can visit the ruins of the ancient temple to the god Pan - the goat god.
Pan was known before as Baal, the most high god of other cultures.
Goats were sacrificed to Pan (killed) and their dead carcass was cast into the deep dark water, and if it sank to the bottom they would know that Pan accepted their offering.
If it floated, Pan had not accepted it.
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Several temples and niches were carved in the rock of Mount Hermon to accommodate pagan idols to worship.
This was a place of hard core pagan god worship.
It is also interesting that in the book of Enoch it is said that it was at
Mount Hermon that the sons of God (the Watchers)
made their pact to take the human woman of Genesis 6.
Book of Enoch
Chapter 6
1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters.
2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.'
3. And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.'
4. And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.'
5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.
6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈in the days⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.
It is at this very place that Jesus makes the statement "and
the gates of hell shall not prevail".
It has also been suggested by some scholars that verse 18 is not talking about the gates of hell attacking the church, but the church attacking the gates of hell and the gates of hell will not be able to withstand.
(18) And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Also interesting is that the one tribe that abandoned GOD's allotment of land to them is missing from the list of the 144,000 saints of the tribes of Israel that are sealed in the book of Revelation.
Revelation 7 ESV
(4) And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
(5) 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
(6) 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
(7) 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
(8) 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
Dan is missing. This is the only place in scripture that Dan is eliminated from the 12 tribes.
The tribe of Dan was originally allotted the land at the northern part of the Philistines (bordering Judah and Ephraim and the Philistines, shown on the map below just above Philistines.
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But they (tribe of Dan) grew weary of trying to cast out the Philistines and moved to the northern region of Israel as shown on this map (at the northern tip of the map with the light brown area of Dan.
They abandoned the allotted land ordained by GOD and picked their own area up north to settle, in the area of
Bashan. at the base of
Mount Hermon.
Deuteronomy 33 ESV
(22) And of Dan he said, “Dan is a lion's cub that leaps from Bashan.”
Some speculate that Judas (one of the 12 apostles) being deleted from the 12 apostles is a typology of the tribe of Dan being deleted from the 12 tribes.
Some also speculate that the antichrist will be of the tribe of Dan.
