Nehemiah 3:11

Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahathmoab, repaired the other piece, and the tower of the furnaces.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) The other piece.—This expression occurs a few times when the repairers have been mentioned as having repaired a first piece. But it occurs several times when there is no such mention; and in these cases, as here, must mean only what the margin indicates, a second measure, in relation to what had just been referred to.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-32 The rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. - The work was divided, so that every one might know what he had to do, and mind it, with a desire to excel; yet without contention, or separate interests. No strife appears among them, but which should do most for the public good. Every Israelite should lend a hand toward the building up of Jerusalem. Let not nobles think any thing below them, by which they may advance the good of their country. Even some females helped forward the work. Some repaired over against their houses, and one repaired over against his chamber. When a general good work is to be done, each should apply himself to that part which is within his reach. If every one will sweep before his own door, the street will be clean; if every one will mend one, we shall all be mended. Some that had first done helped their fellows. The walls of Jerusalem, in heaps of rubbish, represent the desperate state of the world around, while the number and malice of those who hindered the building, give some faint idea of the enemies we have to contend with, while executing the work of God. Every one must begin at home; for it is by getting the work of God advanced in our own souls that we shall best contribute to the good of the church of Christ. May the Lord thus stir up the hearts of his people, to lay aside their petty disputes, and to disregard their worldly interests, compared with building the walls of Jerusalem, and defending the cause of truth and godliness against the assaults of avowed enemies.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The other piece - Rather, "another piece" (as in Nehemiah 3:19, Nehemiah 3:21, Nehemiah 3:27, Nehemiah 3:30). It is conjectured that a verse has fallen out in which Malchijah's and Hashub's "first piece" was mentioned.

The tower of the furnaces - Either a tower at the northwestern angle of the city; or, midway in the western wall. The origin of the name is uncertain.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall—or, "double wall," extending from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits in length, formerly broken down by Joash, king of Israel [2Ch 25:23], but afterwards rebuilt by Uzziah [2Ch 26:9], who made it so strong that the Chaldeans, finding it difficult to demolish, had left it standing.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahathmoab,.... The fathers of these were heads of families that came out of captivity with Zerubbabel, Ezra 2:6

repaired the other piece: or second piece, below and next to that which Hattush repaired, the last builder mentioned:

and the tower of the furnaces; near to which were furnaces for the baking of bread, or of bricks.

Geneva Study Bible

Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahathmoab, repaired the other piece, and the tower of the furnaces.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. Harim … Pahath-moab] See on Ezra 2:6; Ezra 2:32.

the other piece] R.V. another portion. This phrase, which occurs again in this chapter in Nehemiah 3:19-21; Nehemiah 3:24; Nehemiah 3:27; Nehemiah 3:30, has been explained, (1) (as the A.V.), as equivalent to ‘a further portion’ of the same section of wall, (2) as ‘a second portion’ of restoration-work undertaken by those mentioned in the verse. The latter is the more natural interpretation. There is this difficulty: whereas in Nehemiah 3:21; Nehemiah 3:27 we find the recurrence of names which have occurred earlier in the chapter (Nehemiah 3:4-5), in this verse and in 19, 20, 24, 30 the names of those who are said to repair ‘another portion’ are not mentioned again. Accordingly some commentators, laying stress on the point that in Nehemiah 3:19-21; Nehemiah 3:24; Nehemiah 3:27 the phrase is accompanied by a minute topographical notice, maintain that the words do not imply a second piece of work, but a special continuation of the work just mentioned.

On the other hand, it should be observed that (1) Malchijah’s name at any rate recurs in Nehemiah 3:31; (2) in this portion of Nehemiah’s description ‘the gate of Ephraim’ is strangely altogether omitted, in spite of its great importance (cf. Nehemiah 8:16, Nehemiah 12:39): (3) it is on other grounds very probable that the complete list of those engaged on the work of restoration has not been preserved, and that numerous names have been lost. A recognition of the incompleteness of the list will fully meet the difficulty presented in this verse, and in Nehemiah 3:19-20; Nehemiah 3:24; Nehemiah 3:30.

the tower of the furnaces] This tower lay between the gate of Ephraim and the gate of the valley (see Nehemiah 12:38). It may have stood a little to the N. of the modern citadel. It was the fortress of the N.W. angle of the city, and probably constituted the chief fortification in connexion with the corner gate (2 Kings 14:13; 2 Chronicles 26:9; Jeremiah 31:38; Zechariah 14:10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - Malchijah and Hashub, who are here said to have repaired, not the other piece, but "a second piece"of the wall, have not been previously mentioned in our present text; whence it has been concluded with reason (Bertheau) that the text is defective, some whole verses having fallen out (comp. ver. 20). The tower of the furnaces is mentioned again in Nehemiah 12:38. Its exact position cannot be fixed. Nehemiah 3:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

A second section of wall was repaired by Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashshub ben Pahath-Moab, two families who came up with Zerubbabel, Ezra 2:6 and Ezra 2:32. Bertheau understands שׁנית מדּה of a second section of wall added to a first already repaired by the same builders. So, too, he says, did Meremoth ben Urijah build one portion, Nehemiah 3:4, and a second, Nehemiah 3:21; comp. Nehemiah 3:5 and Nehemiah 3:27, Nehemiah 3:15 and Nehemiah 3:19, Nehemiah 3:8 and Nehemiah 3:30. This first portion, however, which this mention of a second presupposes, not being named, he infers that our present text has not preserved its original completeness, and thinks it probable, from Nehemiah 12:38 and Nehemiah 12:39, that certain statements, in this description, relating to the gate of Ephraim and its neighbourhood, which once stood before Nehemiah 3:8, have been omitted. This inference is unfounded. The non-mention of the gate of Ephraim is to be ascribed, as we have already remarked on Nehemiah 3:8, to other reasons than the incompleteness of the text; and the assertion that שׁנית מדּה assumes that a former portion was repaired by the same builders, receives no support from a comparison of Nehemiah 3:5 with Nehemiah 3:27, Nehemiah 3:15 with Nehemiah 3:19, and Nehemiah 3:8 with Nehemiah 3:30. Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, who, according to Nehemiah 3:30, built שׁני מדּה, are not identical with Hananiah the son of the apothecaries, Nehemiah 3:8. The same remark applies to Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah (Nehemiah 3:19), and Shallum the ruler of the district of Mizpah (Nehemiah 3:15). Only in Nehemiah 3:5 and Nehemiah 3:27, and Nehemiah 3:4 and Nehemiah 3:21, are the names of the builders the same. Moreover, besides Nehemiah 3:21 and Nehemiah 3:27, שׁנית מדּה occurs five times more (Nehemiah 3:11, Nehemiah 3:19, Nehemiah 3:20, Nehemiah 3:24, and Nehemiah 3:30) with respect to builders not previously (nor subsequently) mentioned in this list. Hence, in five different places, the names of the building parties, and the notices of the portions of wall built by them respectively, must have been lost, - a circumstance priori incredible. When, however, we consider the verses, in which שׁנית מדּה occurs, more closely, the second length is, in Nehemiah 3:19, Nehemiah 3:20, Nehemiah 3:21, Nehemiah 3:24, and Nehemiah 3:27, more nearly defined by a statement of locality: thus, in Nehemiah 3:19, we have a second piece over against the ascent to the arsenal at the angle; in Nehemiah 3:20, a second piece from the angle to the door of the house of Eliashib; in Nehemiah 3:21, a second piece from the door of the house of Eliashib to ... ; in Nehemiah 3:24, a second piece from the house of Azariah to ... , who, according to Nehemiah 3:23, built near his own house; in Nehemiah 3:27, a second piece over against the great projecting tower ... , as far as which, according to Nehemiah 3:26, the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel. From all this, it is evident that שׁנית מדּה in these verses, always denotes a second portion of that length of wall previously spoken of, or a portion next to that of which the building was previously mentioned. And so must שׁנית מדּה be understood in the present Nehemiah 3:11, where it is used because Malchiah and Hashshub repaired or built the tower of the furnaces, besides the portion of wall. שׁנית מדּה may be rendered, "another or a further piece." the word שׁנית is chosen, because that previously mentioned is regarded as a first. The tower of the furnaces lay, according to this verse and Nehemiah 12:38, where alone it is again mentioned, between the broad wall and the valley-gate. Now, since there was between the gate of Ephraim and the corner-gate a portion of wall four hundred cubits long (see 2 Kings 14:13), which, as has been above remarked, went by the name of the broad wall, it is plain that the tower of the furnaces must be sought for in the neighbourhood of the corner-gate, or perhaps even identified with it. This is the simplest way of accounting for the omission of any notice in the present description of this gate, which is mentioned not merely before (2 Chronicles 26:9; Jeremiah 31:38; and 2 Kings 14:13), but also after, the captivity (Zechariah 14:10). It is probable that the tower of the furnaces served as a defence for the corner-gate at the north-western corner of the town, where now lie, upon an earlier building of large stones with morticed edges, probably a fragment of the old Jewish wall, the ruins of the ancient Kal'at el Dshalud (tower of Goliath), which might, at the time of the Crusades, have formed the corner bastion of the city: comp. Rob. Palestine, ii. p. 114; Biblical Researches, p. 252; and Tobler, Topogr. i. p. 67f.