Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The names and sections of those who rebuilt the walls and gates of Jerusalem under Nehemiah's direction, with notes on the twelve gates of the city.
Vulgate Text: 2 Esdrae (Nehemiah) 3:1-31
1. And Eliashib the high priest arose, and his brethren the priests, and they built the sheep gate; they sanctified it and set up its doors, and they sanctified it up to the tower of a hundred cubits, up to the tower of Hananeel. 2. And next to him the men of Jericho built: and next to him Zaccur the son of Imri built. 3. And the fish gate was built by the sons of Hassenaah: they roofed it and set up its doors, and locks and bars; and next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, built. 4. And next to him Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel, built; and next to them Zadok the son of Baana built: 5. and next to them the Tekoites built; but their nobles did not put their necks to the work of their Lord. 6. And Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the old gate: they roofed it and set up its doors, and locks and bars; 7. and next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, men of Gibeon and Mizpah, built for the governor who was in the region beyond the river. 8. And next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, a goldsmith, built: and next to him Hananiah the son of the perfumer built; and they left Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. 9. And next to him Rephaiah the son of Hur, ruler of the district of Jerusalem, built. 10. And next to him Jedaiah the son of Harumaph built opposite his house: and next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah built. 11. Malchijah the son of Harim and Hashub the son of Pahath-moab built the middle section of the district, and the tower of the furnaces. 12. And next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, built, he and his daughters. 13. And Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah built the valley gate: they built it and set up its doors, and locks and bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall up to the dung gate. 14. And Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, built the dung gate: he built it and set up its doors, and locks and bars. 15. And Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, built the fountain gate: he built it and roofed it, and set up its doors, and locks and bars, and the wall of the pool of Siloam by the king's garden, as far as the steps that go down from the city of David. 16. After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, built as far as opposite the sepulcher of David, and as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men. 17. After him the Levites built: Rehum the son of Bani; after him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, built in his district. 18. After him their brethren built: Bavvai the son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of Keilah. 19. And next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, built the second section, opposite the ascent to the armory at the angle. 20. After him on the hill Baruch the son of Zabbai built the second section, from the angle to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. 21. After him Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz built the second section, from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib. 22. And after him the priests, men of the plains of the Jordan, built. 23. After him Benjamin and Hashub built opposite their house: and after him Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah built opposite his house. 24. After him Binnui the son of Henadad built the second section, from the house of Azariah to the turning and to the corner. 25. Palal the son of Uzai built opposite the turning and the tower which projects from the upper house of the king, that is, in the court of the prison: after him Pedaiah the son of Parosh. 26. Now the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, opposite the water gate toward the east, and the tower that projected. 27. After him the Tekoites built the second section opposite, from the great projecting tower to the wall of the temple. 28. From above the horse gate the priests built, each one opposite his house. 29. After them Zadok the son of Immer built opposite his house. And after him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate, built. 30. After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, built the second section: after him Meshullam the son of Berechiah built opposite his treasury. After him Malchijah the son of the goldsmith built as far as the house of the Nethinim and of the merchants, opposite the judicial gate, and as far as the upper room of the corner. 31. And between the upper room of the corner and the sheep gate the goldsmiths and merchants built.
Verse 1: Eliashib the High Priest
1. ELIASHIB THE HIGH PRIEST — that is, the Pontiff. He was the son and successor of Joakim, the son of Josedec. Philo of Annius relates that Jeshua died in office and in life in the 20th year of Darius Hystaspes, and that Joakim succeeded him until the 12th year of Artaxerxes: at which time Joakim died and left as his successor his son Eliashib, who held the pontificate until the 33rd year of Artaxerxes. So says that Philo, on whose authority let faith rest.
THEY BUILT THE SHEEP GATE — through which the sheep and cattle to be sacrificed were brought into the city, so that, having been washed in the probatic pool, they might be brought into the temple.
THEY SANCTIFIED IT — that is, they cleansed the sheep gate from ruins, rubble, and the profanation of fire, by raising it up as it had been before and restoring it to its former beauty, says Vatablus, Cajetan, and Villalpando. So in Exodus XIX, God says to Moses: 'Sanctify the people,' that is, command them to purify and cleanse themselves by washing their garments and abstaining from their wives. Second, 'they sanctified it,' that is, they dedicated it to the Lord; because this was the sheep gate, through which victims to be sanctified to God and consecrated by immolation were brought into the temple, and therefore the high priest himself and the priests built and consecrated this gate to God, and through it the other gates and the entire city. For Jerusalem was and was called the holy city, inasmuch as it was separated from the profane rite of the Gentiles, and dedicated to the worship of the true God, and was, as it were, God's mirror, especially through the temple so magnificently erected by Solomon to God. Hence Mariana, Salianus, Emmanuel Sa, and Sanchez consider that Eliashib the high priest dedicated and consecrated this sheep gate and the whole city to God with a solemn prayer, or sacrifice, or lustral water, or a similar blessing (which was proper to God); and this is sufficiently gathered from what the Samaritans say about them in the following chapter, verse 2: 'Will they sacrifice and finish in one day?' And chapter XII, verse 27, where it is said: 'And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites.' And verse 30: 'And the priests and Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people, and the gates and the wall.' The Gentiles imitated the same. Hence Servius, in book III of the Aeneid, relates that they sacrificed to Father Liber at the founding of a city, so that the city might be free. Hear Aeneas, a fugitive from Troy, attempting a new city in Thrace, Aeneid III, shortly after the beginning: Entering first the walls in a place of unfavorable fates, I fashion from my name the name of the Aeneadae. I was offering sacrifices to my Dionaean mother and to the gods, As patrons of the works begun; and on the shore I was slaying A shining bull for the king of the heavenly dwellers above.
Moreover, among the Gentiles gates and walls were sacred, as Alexander of Alexandria teaches, book VI of Genial Days, chapter XIV, and Tiraqueau in his commentary there.
Up to the tower of a hundred cubits. — The Hebrew has: up to the tower of Meah, which was called Meah, that is, 'a hundred,' because it was a hundred cubits tall.
Verse 6: The Old Gate
6. AND JOIADA AND OTHERS BUILT THE OLD GATE, etc. — Note from Villalpando, volume III, book III, chapter XXVI, that the principal gates of Jerusalem were twelve, which were situated on three sides of the city, facing three points of the compass; for each side had four gates; for on the fourth side facing south, where the steep cliffs of Mount Zion closed the city and denied exit and entry, there was no gate. The eastern side, therefore, had first the 'sheep' gate already mentioned; second, the 'horse' gate, through which horses were led to water at the torrent Kidron; third, the 'water' gate, so named from the collection of the waters of the fountain of Siloam, which Hezekiah made there; fourth, the 'potter's' gate, because near it potters practiced their craft of pottery and fashioned earthen vessels.
The northern side of the city had first the gate of 'Benjamin,' because through it one went to the territory of the tribe of Benjamin; second, the 'fish' gate, through which fish were brought into the city and the fish market; third, the 'judicial' gate, in which judges sat, and exercised judgment over both strangers and citizens, which was near the temple and the 'sheep' gate. This same gate is called 'old' in this verse, because in it the traces of the ancient construction of the Jebusites and Melchizedek remained; fourth, the gate of 'Ephraim,' through which one went to the tribe of Ephraim. This fourth gate, as well as the following gate of the 'corner,' are not named here, because they did not need restoration, as is implied in verse 8.
The western side had first the gate of the 'corner,' so called because it stood at the western and northern corner of the city; second, the gate of the 'valley' of corpses and Calvary; third, the 'dung' gate; fourth, the 'fountain' gate, about which I spoke in the preceding chapter, verse 13.
To these twelve gates of Jerusalem St. John alluded, Revelation chapter XXI, verse 12, where he lists an equal number of gates of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Verse 8: They Left Jerusalem as Far as the Broad Wall
8. THEY LEFT JERUSALEM AS FAR AS THE BROAD WALL — that is, they interrupted the building of the wall for a distance of 400 cubits, which lay between the gate of Ephraim and the gate of the corner already mentioned; because not long before, King Azariah had excellently repaired and fortified this section, so that it could not be demolished by the Chaldeans.
Verse 16: The House of the Mighty Men
16. As far as the house of the mighty men — in which the thirty most valiant heroes of David had dwelt, and afterward their successors. For this house seems to have been a kind of seminary or college of mighty men, who wielded arms and presided over wars and taught soldiers to fight. See the commentary on II Kings, chapter XXIII, verse 8 and following.
Verse 17: Ruler of Half the District of Keilah
17. AFTER HIM HASHABIAH, RULER OF HALF THE DISTRICT OF KEILAH, BUILT IN HIS DISTRICT. — Jerusalem was divided into its own districts, and each district had its own leader and prefect presiding over it, who is here called 'ruler.' The same is still done in Rome. For Rome from ancient times was divided into its own districts or regions, each of which had its own prefect, who in Italian are called Caporioni, that is, heads of the regions of the city, whose authority is great when their seat is vacant; for it is their duty to protect the city and suppress disturbances, and therefore to punish offenders.
Verse 30: The House of the Nethinim
30. As far as the house of the Nethinim. — These were the Gibeonites, about whom I commented on Joshua IX.