eddres~ed the people on a former occasion Ver. 48. - Also that day they ofl'ered (eh. viii. 9), so now they conjointly con- great aaori11.ces. David had inaugmatod ducted the ceremony of the dedication. the ''tabernacle" which he rul\de for the ark Ver. 3i. -At the fountain gate. See of the covenant at Jerusalem with sacrifico ebo,·e, eh. ii. 14 end iii. 15. Which was (2 Sam. vi. 17), and had consecrated the over against them. There is no "which threshing-floor of Araunnh the Jel:,usite in \"l'RS" in the original ; and it was clearly not the same way (ibid. xxiv. 26). Solomon, at the gate, but the steps, that were "over his dedication of the temple, had sacrificed sgeinst them." They came to the fountain sheep and oxen "that could not be num- gate in the course of their perambulation of bered for multitude" (1 Kings viii. 6). the wall, and there saw, "opposite to them," Zerubbabel had followed this example at the the st<)ps that Jed up to the city of David. dedication of the second temple (Ezra. vi. B, these they escended the eastern hill, 17); and we may presume that it was with nnd mounting.upon the wall once more, fol- victims that Eliashib and his brethren the lowed it.s course until they reached the priests had " sanctified" their portion of the ",mter gate," which o,erlooked the Kidron wall soon eiter they completed it (N eh. iii. valley (eh. iii. 26), where they stopped. 1). Nehemiah now completed the dedication Above the house of David. See the com- of the entire circuit of the walls by sacrifices ment on eh. iii. 25. on a large scale. Goel haci made them re- Vers. 38, 39.-Anci the other company. joice with gfeat joy. It is characteristic of Nehemiah now proceeds to trace the course Nehemiah to ascribe the universal joy, which of the other choir or procession-the one another might well have claimed as his own which he himself accompanied. Starting work, to the Divine mercy and forethought, from the i;ame part of the western wall as which had brought the matter of the wall to the other, it.s course was northward to the a prosperous and happy issue. The wives :!\. W. angle of the city wall, after which it also anci the chilclren rejoioeci. It is seldom was eastward to the "sheep gate," and then that the Jewish women are mentioned as southward to the "prison gate." In this taking that prominent position in joy, which part of his description Nehemiah traces the naturally belonged to them in sorrow (Judges same portion of the wall as that which had xi. 40; Jer. :xxxi 15; xlix. 3; Joel i. 8, &c.). engaged his attention in eh. iii. 1-11, and There is, however, one remarkable example mentions almost exactly the same features, of the kind, besides the present one-the but in the reverse order. For the tower of rejoicing of the women after the passage the fll.l'Ilaces see eh. iii 11 ; for the broad through the Red Sea, under the leadership of wall, ver. 8 ; for the olci gate, ver. 6 ; for Miriam (Exod. xv. 20). The joy of Jeru• the fish gate, ver. 3 ; for the tower of Han• salem was heard even afar oft: See Ezra aneel, the tower of ll[eah, and the sheep iii 13, and comp. 1 Kings i. 40; 2 Kings gate, ver. 1. The gate of Ephraim is not x:i. 13. mentioned in eh. iii It must have been in the north wall, a little to the west of the NEIIEMIAB'S ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE " old gate." The prison gate, also omitted TEMPLE SERVICE, AND APPOINTMENT OJ' in eh. iii., was probably in the east wall, a OFFICERS (eh. xii. 44-47). The good reso- little north of the " water gate." lutions of the people at the time of the Ver. 40.-So stood the two companiea. renewal of the covenant (eh. x. 28-39) Having performed their respective portions of the perambulation, and reached the _central would have borne comparatively little fruit portion of the eastern wall, opposite the had they not been seconded and rendered temple area, the two companies came to a effective by formal action on the part of the stand one over against the other, not in the civil authority. The people, in the first house' of Goel, but by it, or neai· it, which is flush of their zeal, had bound themselves to a meaning that the preposition ::i often has. The half of the rulers. Compare ver. 32. undertake the conveyance of the tithes, first• Ver. 41.-Anci the priests, Eliakim, &c. fruits and free-will offerings from the country These names are probably personal. With a distri~ts to Jerusalem, and the deposition of single exception, th~J: are absent from t~e them in the temple treasuries (eh. x. 37-39). lists of priestly families (eh. x. 2-8 ; Xll. But in practice this was found too great a 12-21). Ver. 42.-Anci Jrlaaseiah, &c. It may be burthen (eh. xiii. 10). Nehemiah the1·efore snspected that these are Le!itical n~es, and appointed special officers to collect the tithes correspond to the nine LeVItes mentioned ae and other dues throughout the entire terri- accompanying Ezra in vers. 35, 36. The tory, and to bring them to Jerusalem, a~~ ~hief difference seems to have been that lay them up in the proper chambers (eh. xn. Ezra's Levites played on instruments, while Nehemiah's were "singers." 44). Over the chambers he nppointr.d trco.• OR, XII, 27-47.] THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 136
eurers, whose duty it wns, not only to collect the requirements of the law ; whence there the ecclesiastical dues, but also to distribute was at this time special need of treasurers the proceeds among the individuals entitled and treasuries-abundant occupation for the one, and abundant material requirin" to be to share in them (eh. xiii. 13). Having in stored in the other. 0