Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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.

20. Baruch the son of Zabbai ] R.V. marg. ‘Another reading is, Zaccai.’ Zabbai (so Ezr 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 Jer 12:5 = ‘contend,’ Jer 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 Gen 14:10 ‘to the mountain.’ This must have been the reading of the Vulgate ‘in monte dificavit 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 Neh 3:11. Here these words, as Baruch’s name has not occurred before, suggest the incompleteness of the description.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 20. Earnestly repaired] He distinguished himself by his zeal and activity.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

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 Neh 3:19. Unto the door of the house; unto that part of the wall which was over against or next to this door.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

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 Ne 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.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The wall from the angle to the place of the court of the prison by the king’s upper house. – Neh 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 , and conjectures that it should be , “up the hill.” But the reason he adduces, viz., that often as the word 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 , but uniformly standing after it, as also in the present verse. Certainly cannot here mean either to be angry, or to be incensed, but may without difficulty be taken, in the sense of the Tiphal , to emulate, to contend (Jer 22:15; Jer 12:5), and the perfect adverbially subordinated to the following verb (comp. Gesen. Gramm. 142, 3, a). The Keri offers instead of , probably from Ezr 2:9, but on insufficient grounds, the name occurring also Ezr 10:28. Of the position of the house of Eliashib the high priest, we know nothing further than what appears from these Ezr 10:20 and Ezr 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 , termination, at its northern end. On Meremoth, see rem. on Neh 3:4.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(20) Earnestly repaired the other piece.The reason of this mans emulation in building near the high priests house does not appear.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

20. Earnestly repaired Being filled with holy zeal, he strove to emulate and rival his fellow-builders.

House of Eliashib This probably adjoined the temple enclosure, and from the next verse would seem to have been of considerable extent.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly (strivingly) repaired another portion, from the turning (of the wall) to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.’

It is an open question as to whether Baruch is the last of the list of ‘the Levites’ (Neh 3:17) or is in fact introducing groups of priests responsible for the wall which was by the house of Eliashib the High Priest. Eliashib himself had take responsibility for the part of the northern wall near the Temple area (Neh 3:1) and was not therefore available to work here. Compare how in Neh 3:21 Meremoth is a priest, and how in Neh 3:22 ‘the priests, the men of the Plain (countryside)’ operated. Note also that a priest named Baruch signed Nehemiah’s covenant (Neh 10:6). In view of the close connection with the house/palace of the High Priest all this may suggest that it is most likely that Baruch was a priest. From this point on the line of the wall is defined mainly in terms of people’s houses. So Baruch and his helpers repaired the portion from the ‘turning’ or buttress, to the High Priest’s palace.

The word translated ‘earnestly’ usually indicates ‘burning with anger’. It may indicate ‘passionately, burning with zeal’, or it may suggest a particularly difficult part of the wall which required huge effort and resulted in some exasperation, something well remembered.

Baruch’s namesake was scribe to Jeremiah and greatly assisted him in his work (Jer 32:12; Jer 36:4 ff.; Jer 36:10 ff.). Another Baruch is also mentioned in Neh 11:5 as father of Maaseiah, and son of Colhozeh, a descendant of Perez, the son of Judah. Maaseiah willingly took up residence in a sparsely populated Jerusalem at Nehemiah’s request.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Walls of Zion

v. 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.

v. 21. After him repaired Meremoth, the son of Urijah, the son of Koz, another piece, in addition to that named in verse 4, from the door of the house of Eliashlb, even to the end of the house of Eliashib, the entire enclosure of his palace being meant.

v. 22. And after him repaired the priests, the men of the plain, the Valley of Jordan.

v. 23. After him repaired Benjamin and Hashub over against their house, a second section in addition to that named in verse 11. After him repaired Azariah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, by his house, all these residences being in the same district, or quarter, as that of the high priest.

v. 24. After him repaired Binnui, the son of Henadad, another piece, Cf v. 17, from the house of Azariah unto the turning of the wall, even unto the corner, an outlying tower not far from the southeastern corner of the Temple.

v. 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, the watch-tower by the royal palace, that was by the court of the prison. Cf Jer 32:2. After him Pedaiah, the son of Parosh.

v. 26. Moreover, the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, and these also worked on the wall, unto the place over against the Water Gate toward the east, a gate opening into the subterranean reservoirs, and the tower that lieth out, the southern wall of the Temple area.

v. 27. After them the Tekoites repaired another piece, Cf v. 5, over against the great tower that lieth out, even unto the wall of Ophel.

v. 28. From above the Horse Gate, which was between the Temple and the royal palace, repaired the priests, every one over against his house.

v. 29. After them repaired Zadok, the son of Immer, over against his house. After him repaired also Shemaiah, the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, one of the inner Temple gates.

v. 30. After him repaired Hananiah, the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, another piece, Cf v. 13. After him repaired Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, over against his chamber, Cf v. 4.

v. 31. After him repaired Malchiah, the goldsmith’s son, unto the place of the Nethinim, apparently the place where the traders brought their animals of all kinds for sale to worshipers in the Temple, and of the merchants, over against the gate Miphkad, one of those leading to the Temple area, and to the going up of the corner, the stairs leading to the northeast tower, not far from the Sheep Gate.

v. 32. And between the going up of the corner unto the Sheep Gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants, both of whom were interested in the market which was held in this neighborhood. As the Jewish Church at this time had lost some of the finest appointments of the Temple, so in the Christian Church some of the special gifts of the Apostolic Age are no longer found in the same measure. But one thing has remained, the Word of God. Where this is taught in its truth and purity, the Lord Himself will come and make His abode with men.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Neh 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.

Ver. 20. Earnestly repaired the other piece ] Or a second piece, as Neh 3:19 . He did two pieces whiles others were about one. A ready heart makes riddance of God’s work. He burst out in a heat (so the Heb.), being angry both at himself and others that had done no more; and, in a holy fume, finished quickly, kindling himself from other men’s coldness, and quickening himself from their slothfulness, Se accendit.

– Sic Caesar in omnia praeceps

Nil actum credens, dum quid superesset agendum,

Fertur atrox – (Lucan).

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)