The Pulpit Commentary — Nehemiah — Section 31

A. Clnrke. Others translate-" the men of Jerusalem at the distance of some nine or 9i~eo~ ~nd Mizpah, who belonged to the ten miles. It is mentioned in Josh. xv. 34 Junsd1cbon of the governor Rcross the river." as e. city of Judah, but was not a place of But this can scarcely have been the fact, much importa~ce. We can scarcely suppose since Gibcon is mentioned among the re- that the 1nhab1tants hnd as much 11s a thou- occupied cities in eh. ni. 26, e.nd if Bethel s!lnd cu'bit_a of the wall assigned to them, 'l'l"IIB ,T ewish, e.s we know that it we.s from smce that•~ mo~e tl:1an a quarter of a mile, eh. xi. 31, Gibeon and Mizpe.h, which were and the entire c1rcu1t wn.s under fo;:ir miles. nearer Jerusalem, cannot have remained Bertheau suggests that Neheminh merely Syrian. Altogether, there is no ree.son to mea.ns to note that the distance between the dispute the commonly received rendering, two gates, the Valley and the Dung gate, since N eherniah again uses S for '"IV in ver. was :1- thousand cub!ts, e.nd that he so.ys 32, e.nd the governor of S}"Tia may well have nothmg of the repairs because no repairs had a" throne," or tribunal, at Jerusalem, were needed. which WB.S usually under his jurisdiction, Ver. 14.-The dung gate. See the com- though exempted from his authority under ment on eh. ii. 13. The ruler of part of the existing regime. Beth-haocerem. Rather "ruler of the dis- Ver. 8. - Hana.niah the son of one of trict of Beth- haccerem," or head man of the apothece.ries. Or "the son of Hara.k- the region within which Beth-haccerem, was kashim." They fortified Jerusalem unto situated. This was a district in the neigh- the broad we.11. The Septuagint has r:ar,- bourhood ofTekoah (Jer. vi. 1). X,r.ov, "they left," and the Vul,gate dimi- Ver. 15.-The gate of the fountain. See 11erunt in the same sense, which is given the comment on eh. ii. 14. The ruler of also as an alternative rendering by our part 'of llltizpah. Rather, "ruler of the translators, in the margin. And no doubt district of Mizpah," which is distinguished the verb :!TV has this for one of its mean- from the town of Mizpah (vers. 7, 19), and ings. But the clause has thus no satis- shown to have furnished a distinct working factor, sense. That ::l ?V is used for '' to party. The wall of the pool of Siloah was fortif~: " by Nehemiah is plain from eh. iv. probably an outwork designed to protect 2, and we may therefore well understand it those who at a time of siege frequented this in this sense here. Why he uses ::l?V here fountain. The pool must always have been and i'lli in e,ery other place is difficult to outside of the main wall of the city. It explain, unless we suppose, with Pool, that furnished water to the royal garden, which the wall did not need regular repairs in this was at the junction of the Kidron and Hin- part, but only a little strengthening. nom valleys (Joseph. 'Ant. Jud.,' vii. 11 ; ,er. 9.-The ruler of the half pa.rt of 2 Kings xxv. 4). The stairs that go down Jerusalem. Compare verse 11. The city from the city of David may well be the flight itself does not seem to be intended, but of stone steps cut in the rock which is still rather the territory outside which was to be seen on the western flank of Ophel, considered to belong to the city. This leading from the valley of the Tyropc:eon in was divided into two portions, under two the direction of the temple (see Stanley, "princes" or "rulers," Rephaiah and Shel- 'Lectures on the Jewish Church,' Third lum. Series, p. 126; Tristram, 'Land of Israel,' Ver. 11.-lllialchijah and lla.shub, who p. 190). are here said to have repaired, not the other Ver. 16.-Nehemiah the son of Azbuk. piece, but " a second piece " of the wall, Not the writer, who was "the son of Hacha- have not been previously mentioned in our liah" (eh. i 1), but another person of the present text ; whence it has been concluded same name. It was the frequent bearing of with reason (Berthea.u) that the text is de- the same name by two or more contempora- fective, some whole verses having fallen out ries which made it necessary to designate (comp. ver. 20). The tower of the furnaces men generally by their own names and the is mentioned again in eh. xii 38. Its exact nama of their fathers. Bethznr (" Houso position cannot be fixed. of the Rock") is now Beit-Sur, and lies on Ver. 12. - Re and his daughters. It the ordinary route from Jerusalem to Hebron, seems to be almost impossible that women about fifteen miles south of Jerusalem. It is were pressed into the service, especially mentioned in Josh. xv. 58 among the cities when it WB.'l one of so much danger (eh. iv. of Judah, and appears to have become o. 13--21). By "daughters" we must there- place of considerable importance under the fore understand the villages contained in Macca.bees (1 Mac. iv. 29 ; vi. 31-50 ; xiv. Bhallum's district, which is agreeabl& to the 7 ; &c.). The sepulchres of David and the use of the term in eh. ri 25, 27, 28. kings, his descendants, to the time of Heze- Ver. 13.-The valley gate. A gate in the kiah, were excavated in the rock upon which western wall (See the co=ent on eh. ii the temple stood (Ezek. xliii. 7-9), appa- 18.) Zanoah was aituated to the west of rently on its westeni side. They have not OH, III, 1-32.] THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 29