Nehemiah 3:20

After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) Earnestly repaired the other piece.—The reason of this man’s emulation in building near the high priest’s house does not appear.

Benson Commentary

Nehemiah 3:20. Baruch earnestly repaired the other piece — Did his work with eminent diligence and fervency; which is here noted to his commendation. And, it is probable, this good man’s zeal provoked many to take the more pains, and make the more haste.

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." The notice of Baruch's first piece, like that of Malchijah's and Hashub's Nehemiah 3:11, seems to have slipped out of the text.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. at the turning of the wall—that is, the wall across the Tyropœon, being a continuation of the first wall, connecting Mount Zion with the temple wall [Barclay].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Earnestly repaired; did his work with eminent diligence and fervency; which is here noted to his commendation.

From the turning of the wall, or, from the corner, as Nehemiah 3:19. Unto the door of the house; unto that part of the wall which was over against or next to this door.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece,.... Towards and next to that Ezer the last builder mentioned had repaired; and this he did "earnestly", or in anger as the word signifies, being angry with himself or others that there was any backwardness shown to the work; and therefore, with all haste and eagerness imaginable, attended to it:

from the turning of the wall; see the preceding verse:

unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest; of whom see Nehemiah 3:1, now either his house was upon the wall, or that part of the wall that was right against the door of his house is here meant.

Geneva Study Bible

After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. Baruch the son of Zabbai] R.V. marg. ‘Another reading is, Zaccai.’ Zabbai (so Ezra 10:28) is the reading of C’thib and LXX., Zaccai of K’ri and Vulg.

earnestly repaired] The word rendered ‘earnestly’ calls for remark. (a) In the original it appears as an unusual causative of a verb meaning ‘to be angry,’ which in this exact form is only elsewhere found in Job 19:11. ‘He hath also kindled his wrath against me. The word occurs also in Jeremiah 12:5 = ‘contend,’ Jeremiah 22:15 = ‘strivest to excel.’ (b) A causative verb in the past tense immediately preceding the finite verb ‘repaired,’ may be idiomatic Hebrew, but is not to be expected in narrative prose. (c) The word ‘repaired’ is found nowhere else in this list with any qualification. If the reading is correct, the word will denote the ardour or the emulous spirit with which Baruch undertook his work.

The same word differently pointed is capable of meaning ‘towards the hill,’ being then the same as that rendered in Genesis 14:10 ‘to the mountain.’ This must have been the reading of the Vulgate ‘in monte ædificavit Baruch.’

If this is the right reading, it refers to the summit of the Ophel, where the high-priest’s house would have stood immediately S. of the Temple.

the other piece] R.V. another portion. See note on Nehemiah 3:11. Here these words, as Baruch’s name has not occurred before, suggest the incompleteness of the description.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 20. - Earnestly repaired. So Gesenius, Pool, and Bertheau. The construction is not free from difficulty, and the reading is somewhat doubtful (the Vulgate "in monte" showing a different one); but on the whole the translation of the A. V. may stand. Baruch has the high honour of being singled out for special praise, as having shown a burning zeal which deserved this recompense. He rapidly accomplished the task first set him, the mention of which must have accidentally fallen out (see the comment on ver. 11), and now undertook a "second piece," which extended from the north-western angle of the inner wall to the door of the high priest's house. It would seem that this door was in the wall, upon which the house must have abutted (see the next verse). Nehemiah 3:20

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The wall from the angle to the place of the court of the prison by the king's upper house. - Nehemiah 3:20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai emulously repaired a second length of wall, from the angle to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. Bertheau objects to the reading החרה, and conjectures that it should be ההרה, "up the hill." But the reason he adduces, viz., that often as the word החזיק occurs in this description, a further definition is nowhere else added to it, speaks as much against, as for his proposed alteration; definitions of locality never, throughout the entire narrative, preceding החזיק, but uniformly standing after it, as also in the present verse. Certainly החרה cannot here mean either to be angry, or to be incensed, but may without difficulty be taken, in the sense of the Tiphal תּחרה, to emulate, to contend (Jeremiah 22:15; Jeremiah 12:5), and the perfect adverbially subordinated to the following verb (comp. Gesen. Gramm. 142, 3, a). The Keri offers זכּי instead of זבּי, probably from Ezra 2:9, but on insufficient grounds, the name זבּי occurring also Ezra 10:28. Of the position of the house of Eliashib the high priest, we know nothing further than what appears from these Ezra 10:20 and Ezra 10:21, viz., that it stood at the northern part of the eastern side of Zion (not at the south-western angle of the temple area, as Bertheau supposes), and extended some considerable distance from south to north, the second length of wall built by Meremoth reaching from the door at its southern end to the תּכלית, termination, at its northern end. On Meremoth, see rem. on Nehemiah 3:4.