Nehemiah 3:25

Palal the son of Uzai (repaired) over against the turning (of the wall), and the tower that stands out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard.'

The next section, which was repaired (the verb is read in) by Palal the son of Uzai, was either near, or contained, a tower which was a part of the Davidic palace complex. The palace probably had a number of towers and this one is identified by its position ‘by the court of the guard' (compare Jeremiah 32:2). This tower ‘stood out from the upper house of the king', possibly at the southernmost end of the palace. (The palace was situated near the Temple. The complex must have been very widespread).

Nehemiah 3:25

‘After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh (repaired), and the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that stands out (the projecting tower).'

The writer probably assumes that the reader will realise that where Pedaiah was repairing was the southern point of Ophel (the rising ground leading up to the Temple), and was thus where the Nephinim dwelt. His initial readers would know where the former Water Gate, and the Projecting Tower, were. Note the continuing reference to Ophel in the following verse.

The idea here may be that Pedaiah, with the Nethinim (Temple servants) who dwelt in Ophel (see Isaiah 32:14; Micah 4:8), were the ones who repaired this section. Alternatively it may simply be indicating that Pedaiah repaired the section which was adjacent to the houses of the Nethinim in Ophel. Either way he repaired as far as the place which was adjacent to the Water Gate towards the east, and as far as the projecting tower. The Water Gate gave access to the Gihon spring. It may not have been rebuilt at this stage as a consequence of the fact that access to the spring at this point was prevented by the build up of rubble from the previous destruction of the walls. This would have been mid-way up the eastern wall.

Pedaiah was the name of a man who stood by Ezra at the reading of the Torah (Nehemiah 8:4), and he may well be identical with this man. It was also the name of a Levite appointed over the treasuries of YHWH's house (Nehemiah 13:13). A further Pedaiah ben Koliah was a Benjamite, who was forefather of one of the rulers ruling in Jerusalem as a result of its repopulation by Nehemiah (Nehemiah 11:7).

Others who were named Pedaiah were, 1) the father of Joel, who was a ruler of Western Manasseh in David's day (1 Chronicles 27:20); 2) Pedaiah of Rumah (2 Kings 23:36), who was the father of Zebudah, Jehoiakim's mother; 3) a son of Jechoniah (Jehoiachin) while in captivity, whose sons were Zerubbabel and Shimei (1 Chronicles 3:18). Zerubbabel is elsewhere called the son of Shealtiel (Jechoniah's first son) but the relationship may have been by Levirate marriage, or by adoption as heir to the throne.

The Ophel (‘swelling, rising') was the rising ground rising up eventually to the Temple, and was a convenient place for the humbler ‘Temple Servants' (Nethinim - see Ezra 2:43) to live so as to be near the Temple. The Nethinim were descended from foreigners (often prisoners of war) who had been enslaved and given by kings to serve in the Temple in a humble capacity. But their returning to Jerusalem with the returnees confirms their present pride in their position and the fact that they saw themselves as genuine Yahwists.