The Israelites had no cities with gates when Moses lived

On p 364 of EBE Dennis McKinsey complains that Exo 20:10 states, "The seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates." How could Moses have written this, when it implies the author was in Palestine? The word "gates" is not applicable to prior wanderings in the wilderness,when Moses lived, but only to the period following his demise. The Israelites had no cities with gates when Moses lived.

Firstly the word "gate" comes from the Hebrew sha'ar meaning opening, which has a range of uses from entrance, door, gate, city or port. Examples follow:

(Deu 5:14 NIV) but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do.

(Deu 15:22 NIV) You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.

(Exo 27:16 NIV) "For the entrance to the courtyard, provide a curtain twenty cubits long, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen--the work of an embroiderer--with four posts and four bases.

(Exo 32:27 NASB) And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.'"

Secondly, Moses is bringing them into the promised land and the law looks to the future when they will dwell in cities.

Thirdly it is entirely possible, but I think unnecessary in this case, for later scribes to change a word to bring it up to date.

Tekton on Anachronisms, Tekton reply to EBE Chapter 18