Nehemiah 3:25

Palal the son of Uzai, over against the turning of the wall, and the tower which lieth out from the king's high house, that was by the court of the prison. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) The tower which lieth out from the king’s high house.—Better, the high tower outlying from the king’s palace.

That was by the court of the prison.—The palace generally had its prison, and near this was the “prison-gate” of Nehemiah 12:39.

Benson Commentary

Nehemiah 3:25. Over against the turning of the wall — In a part of the wall which jutted out. And the tower — Or, even the tower. Which lieth out from the king’s high house — Either from the royal palace, or from some other house which the king formerly built there, either for prospect or for defence. By the court of the prison — A place often mentioned: see Jeremiah 32:2; Jeremiah 38:7; Jeremiah 38:13.

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 "king's high house" is almost certainly the old palace of David, which was on the temple hill, and probably occupied a position directly north of the temple.

That was by the court of the prison - Prisons were in old times adjuncts of palaces. The palace of David must have had its prison; and the "prison gate" Nehemiah 12:39 was clearly in this quarter.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. the tower which lieth out from the king's high house—that is, watchtower by the royal palace [Barclay].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Over against the turning of the wall; in a part of the wall, which jutted out as the tower here following did, and therefore was opposite to or over against that turning.

And the tower, or, even the tower. Out from the king’s high house; either from the royal palace; or from some other smaller house which the king formerly built there, either for prospect or for defence.

By the court of the prison; a place oft mentioned; of which see Jeremiah 32:2 38:6,13.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Palal the son of Uzai, over against the turning of the wall,.... Who dwelt there, and so repaired what was right against him:

and the tower which lieth out from the king's high house: which might be built for prospect, or his upper house:

that was by the court of the prison; and we often read in Jeremiah of the court of the prison being in or near the king's house, see Jeremiah 32:2,

after him Pedaiah the son of Parosh; went on from hence with the repair.

Geneva Study Bible

Palal the son of Uzai, over against the turning of the wall, and the tower which lieth out from the king's high house, that was by the court of the prison. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. Palal the son of Uzai] R.V. Palal the son of Uzai repaired.

the tower which lieth out from the king’s high house, that was by the court of the prison] R.V. the tower that standeth out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard, R.V. marg. ‘Or, the upper tower … from the house of the king’.

It is not easy to determine the meaning of this description. The adjective ‘upper’ may be applied either to the king’s house or to the tower; and the clause ‘which is by the court of the guard’ follows it as a further description either of house or tower. In Jeremiah 32:2 ‘the court of the guard’ is in ‘the king’s house’ (cf. Jeremiah 33:1; Jeremiah 37:21; Jeremiah 38:6; Jeremiah 38:13; Jeremiah 38:28; Jeremiah 39:14-15). In the present passage we have either ‘the king’s upper house,’ so called to distinguish it from the king’s house, in which was the court of the guard; or, as seems more probable, seeing that the passage is a description of the city wall, ‘the upper tower,’ which is identified as the one projecting from the king’s palace and close to the ‘court of the guard.’ In the vicinity of the royal palace and Temple there would probably be several towers. The LXX. ὁ πύργος … ὁ ἀνώτερος accepted the latter explanation.

It is very probable that the base of ‘the tower’ here spoken of was reached by Sir Charles Warren. ‘A great wall still exists, though buried in rubbish, joining the Haram wall at the south-east angle. It was evidently built for purposes of fortification, for it is fourteen feet thick.… There are several towers projecting from the wall, one of which is very remarkable, as it projects more than any of the rest, standing upon scarped rock, and having another wall leading from it going down towards the Kedron.’ (Harper, The Bible and Modern Discoveries, P. 509.)

‘the upper house of the king’. This building, erected upon the site of the old palace of the kings of Judah and perhaps at this time occupied by the chief officials of the city, stood apparently on the ‘Ophel’ summit, immediately S. of the Temple precincts.

Pedaiah the son of Parosh] R.V. Pedaiah the son of Parosh repaired. R.V. marg. ‘Pedaiah the son of Parosh (now … Ophel) repaired unto, &c.’ See note on Nehemiah 3:26. On Parosh see Ezra 2:3. As in the earlier part of the verse the verb ‘repaired’ has to be understood.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - The tower which lieth out from the king's high house. In the original it is uncertain whether the word translated "high" belongs to "tower" or "house." Most commentators attach it to "tower." The "king's house" of this place can be nothing but the old palace of David, which was in this quarter, while Solomon's was on the opposite, or western, hill This palace, like Solomon s (Jeremiah 32:2), would naturally have its prison, which would stand in its own court. From this prison, the "prison gate" of Nehemiah 12:39 took its name. Nehemiah 3:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Next repaired Binnui the son of Henadad, a second portion from the house of Azariah, to the angle and to the corner; and further on (Nehemiah 3:25) Palal the son of Uzzai, from opposite the angle and the high tower which stands out from the king's house by the court of the prison. We join העליון to המּגדּל, though it is also verbally admissible to combine it with המּלך בּית, "the tower which stands out from the king's upper house," because nothing is known of an upper and lower king's house. It would be more natural to assume (with Bertheau) that there was an upper and a lower tower at the court of the prison, but this is not implied by העליון. The word means first, high, elevated, and its use does not assume the existence of a lower tower; while the circumstance that the same tower is in Nehemiah 3:27 called the great (הגּדול) tells in favour of the meaning high in the present case. The court of the prison was, according to Jeremiah 32:2, in or near the king's house; it is also mentioned Jeremiah 32:8, Jeremiah 32:12; Jeremiah 33:1; Jeremiah 37:21; Jeremiah 38:6, Jeremiah 38:13, Jeremiah 38:28, and Jeremiah 39:14. But from none of these passages can it be inferred, as by Bertheau, that it was situate in the neighbourhood of the temple. His further remark, too, that the king's house is not the royal palace in the city of David, but an official edifice standing upon or near the temple area, and including the court of the prison with its towers, is entirely without foundation.

(Note: Equally devoid of proof is the view of Ewald, Diestel (in Herzog's Realencycl. xiii. p. 325), Arnold, and others, that the royal palace stood upon Moriah or Ophel on the south side of the temple, in support of which Diestel adduces Nehemiah 3:25. See the refutation of this view in the commentary on 1 Kings 7:12 (Note).)

The royal palace lay, according to Josephus, Ant. viii. 5. 2, opposite the temple (ἀντικρὺς ἔχων ναόν), i.e., on the north-eastern side of Zion, and this is quite in accordance with the statements of this verse; for as it is not till Nehemiah 3:27 that the description of the wall-building reaches the walls of Ophel, all the localities and buildings spoken of in Nehemiah 3:24-27 must be sought for on the east side of Zion. The court of the prison formed, according to Eastern custom, part of the royal fortress upon Zion. The citadel had, moreover, a high tower. This is obvious from Sol 4:4, though the tower of David there mentioned, on which hung a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men, may not be identical with the tower of the king's house in this passage; from Micah 4:8, where the tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, is the tower of the royal citadel; and from Isaiah 32:14, where citadel and tower (בּחן, properly watch-tower) answer to the ארמון of the royal citadel, which lay with its forts upon the hill of Zion. This high tower of the king's house, i.e., of the royal citadel, stood, according to our verses, in the immediate neighbourhood of the angle and the corner (הפּנּה); for the section of wall which reached to the פּנּה lay opposite the angle and the high tower of the king's house. The wall here evidently formed a corner, running no longer from south to north, but turning eastwards, and passing over Ophel, the southern spur of Moriah. A length from this corner onwards was built by Pedaiah the son of Parosh; comp. Ezra 2:3.