Nehemiah 3:11

‘Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired another portion, and the tower of the furnaces.'

Two further prominent men and their households, Malchijah and Hasshub, repaired the next section. This included the tower of the furnaces (or ‘ovens'). This was possibly the quarters occupied by the bakers. The tower of the furnaces is also mentioned in Nehemiah 12:38, lying between the Valley Gate and the broad wall. The sons of Harim and the sons of Pahath-moab were listed with the returnees (Ezra 2:6; Ezra 2:32).

Malchijah, the son of Harim, is mentioned elsewhere as having taken a foreign wife, and having to put her away at the behest of Ezra because of her idolatry (Ezra 10:31). She was probably from a prominent family and the affair no doubt caused some resentment against the returnees. This confirms that Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries (compare also on Nehemiah 3:4 a). Two other Malchijahs, besides the son of Harim, had also taken foreign wives (Ezra 10:25)

Malchijah (Yah is my king) was a prominent Israelite name. Two other Malchijahs were involved in the building of the wall, one the son of Rechab, ruler of Bethhecceram (Nehemiah 3:14), and the other a goldsmith (Nehemiah 3:31). A Malchijah is mentioned as one of those at Ezra's left hand during the reading of the Law (Nehemiah 8:4), and a Malchijah was a signatory of Nehemiah's covenant (Nehemiah 10:3). Identification of who was who is impossible.

The name was also that of a Levite, descendant of Gershom, who was one of those whom David set over the "service of song" in worship (1 Chronicles 6:40). It was that of the head of the 5th course of priests (1 Chronicles 24:9). It was that of the father of Pashhur (Nehemiah 11:12; Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 38:1), an ancestor of Adaiah, the latter being one of those who took up his dwelling in Jerusalem at the behest of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 11:12). It was that of a priest, who was a singer at the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 12:42).

Hasshub was also a prominent name. It was the name of another prominent builder of the wall (Nehemiah 3:23), and of one of the signatories to Nehemiah's covenant who was one of ‘the chiefs of the people'. It was also the name of a Levite chief (Nehemiah 11:15; 1 Chronicles 9:14).