Nehemiah 3:1

Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests,.... This was the grandson of Jeshua or Joshua the high priest, his father's name was Joiakim, Ne 12:10, being high priest, and

Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel.

CHAPTER 3 The names of the several families that builded; their order wherein, and the proportion how much, they builded. Eliashib the high priest; grandchild of Joshua, the first high priest after their return from Babylon. Rose up; began the work. They builded the sheep-gate; which was next to the temple; so called, either from the sheep-market, or the sheep-pool of Bethesda, , where the sheep were washed, and then brought to the temple to be sacrificed. They sanctified it; or, they prepared or repaired it; for so the word sometimes signifies. But our translation seems best, both because that use of the word is most common, and because this is spoken only of this gate, which being built by the priests, and nighest to the temple, and with a special eye to the service of the temple, for which both men and things were most commonly brought in this way, and being also the first part of the building, might be in a peculiar manner sanctified by solemn prayer and sacrifice, whereby it was dedicated to God’ s service; and this either as it was considered in itself, or with respect to the rest of the building, of which this was the beginning, and in a manner the first-fruits, and therefore in the sanctification of it the whole lump and building was sanctified. And seeing the whole city is oft called the holy city, it is not strange if the walls and gates of it be also holy, and said to be sanctified, and especially this gate. Compare . The tower of Meah, or, of a hundred; so called, either because it was a hundred cubits high, or so far distant from the sheep-gate.

Nehemiah 3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel.Ver. 1. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up] He was first, as fit he should, for example’ s sake; ministers must be patterns of piety; they have many eyes upon them, and everything in their practice should be worthy imitation. This Eliashib was grandchild to Jeshua, Nehemiah 12:10. With his brethren the priests] Who were before fearful, or forgetful; till reminded and excited by Nehemiah; who, as a lion, became captain to this hosts of harts, and achieved great matters. So strong and so sweet an operation hath a seasonable exhortation, when it falleth on a prepared heart, and is set on by God. And they built the sheep gate] And reason it was, saith an interpreter (Bishop Pilkington), that as they were shepherds to the people, so they should build the sheep gate, which was at the east end of the city where the Temple was, where the sheep came in that were offered in sacrifice, and whereof they had their parts, according to the law. This gate may well be compared to Christ Jesus, who sought the lost sheep, and was sacrificed as a lamb, and is the gate whereby only we enter, and his shepherds must be the builders of it, and bring the people into the fold. They sanctified it] i.e., beautified it, and then consecrated it by their prayers and devotions. This was priest like; and probably hereupon followed that miracle of an angel’ s descending, at their several solemn feasts, into the pool of Bethesda (which was near to this gate, and where they washed their sacrifices), and healing all diseases, John 5:4. Even unto the tower of Meah] Or the centenary tower, so called for its hundred pinnacles, haply; or, because a hundred cubits high.

(1) Then Eliashib.—The account begins with due honour to the high priest and the priesthood. The sheep gate was in the neighbourhood of the priests’ quarter. Through it the victims passed for sacrifice, first being washed in the neighbouring pool of Bethesda. This being built, “they sanctified it,” as an earnest of the subsequent consecration of the entire wall. Their work and the sanctification of it extended to two towns near each other at the north-east corner.

CHAPTER III The names of those who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem; and the part assigned to each person, 1-32. NOTES ON CHAP. III Verse 1. Eliashib the high priest] It was right that the priests should be first in this holy work; and perhaps the sheep gate which is mentioned here is that by which the offerings or sacrifices were brought into the temple. They sanctified it] As they began with the sacred offering as soon as they got an altar built, it was proper that the gate by which these sacrifices entered should be consecrated for this purpose, i. e., set apart, so that it should be for this use only.

Ch. Nehemiah 3:1-32. The Distribution of the WorkThe Rebuilding of the Wall. The present chapter mentions 42 portions of the work. But the description is clearly incomplete; and we may suppose that Nehemiah’s list either has been only partially reproduced by the Compiler or had been preserved in a mutilated copy. See notes on Nehemiah 3:7; Nehemiah 3:25-28. Eliashib the high priest] Eliashib was the son of Joiakim, and the grandson of Jeshua (Ezra 3:2; Nehemiah 12:10). Though he co-operated in the work of rebuilding the walls, his close connexion with Tobiah, as described in chap. Nehemiah 13:4, shows that he did not sympathize with the policy of Ezra and Nehemiah in separating the Jews from any alliance or combination with other nations. The technical title ‘the high-priest,’ literally ‘the great priest,’ which is used here and in Nehemiah 3:20, Nehemiah 13:28, is found in Leviticus 21:10; Numbers 35:25; Numbers 35:28; Joshua 20:6; 2 Kings 12:10; 2 Kings 22:4; 2 Chronicles 34:9; Haggai 1:1; Haggai 1:12; Haggai 1:14; Haggai 2:2; Haggai 2:4; Zechariah 3:1; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:11. Elsewhere we find him called ‘the chief priest,’ e.g. 2 Kings 25:18; 2 Chronicles 24:11; 2 Chronicles 26:20; Ezra 7:5; Ezra 8:17; Jeremiah 52:24. the sheep gate] This gate is also referred to in Nehemiah 3:32 and Nehemiah 12:39. There can be little doubt that it is the same gate as that mentioned by St John 5:2, ‘Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda.’ The fact that the priests restored it suggests its proximity to the Temple. This is confirmed by the reference to it in chap. Nehemiah 12:39. Its position was in the N.E. portion of the city, and corresponded to the modern St Stephen’s gate, so far as the change in walls and ground-level permits of comparison. We may suppose that the name was taken from a sheep-market in the immediate neighbourhood. Large numbers of sheep would be required for the Temple sacrifices. The chief supplies of sheep would come from Eastern Palestine and the land of Moab. Their arrival through this eastern gate, whether a market stood near or not, was sufficient to account for the name. Socin (Baedeker, Palestine and Syria, p. 151) says ‘As the pool of Bethesda is now believed to have been near the present ‘Ain esh-Shifâ,’ and not at the place assigned to it by tradition, we must inter that the sheep gate led from the industrial quarter of the Tyropœon into the Temple precincts.’ Comparing, however, this passage with Zechariah 14:10, it is tempting to identify ‘the sheep gate’ with ‘the gate of Benjamin,’ which is not mentioned in our chapter, but which clearly stood at the N.E. of the city (cf. Jeremiah 37:13). they sanctified it] The same Hebrew word occurs in connexion with the completion of a building in 1 Kings 8:64, ‘The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court.’ It does not anticipate the solemn dedication of the walls in chap. 12.

Eliashib (compare the marginal reference) was the grandson of Joshua, the high priest contemporary with Zerubbabel.

1. Eliashib the high priest — He must now have been an old man. Compare Ezra 10:6, note. The priests seem to have built the gates and walls nearest to the temple.