Nehemiah 11:24

Pethahiah the son of Meshezabeel(R.V. Meshezabel) … Zerah On -Zerah the son of Judah" see note on Nehemiah 11:4.

at the king's hand What this exactly meant we are left to conjecture. Pethahiah was in some sort of way an official representative of Jewish interests in connexion with the Persian court. The suggestion (of Reuss) that he resided at Jerusalem, and was the official recipient of the provincial tribute might derive support from the mention of -the house of the king" in Nehemiah 3:25. But it is hard to see how any Jewish official of the Persian court, if he resided in Jerusalem, could be said to be -at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people" in any sense which would not much rather be applicable to Nehemiah himself. Indeed, if this official was a resident in Jerusalem, it is not easy to believe that the time of Nehemiah's governorship can be referred to.

If he was the Jewish representative at Susa it constitutes an isolated reference in this chapter to a person dwelling outside the borders of Judea.

In spite of this objection it seems more probable that -at the king's hand" denotes personal residence at the Persian court.

The mention of the fact is parenthetically added in connexion with the royal mandate favourable to the Levites and the singers; and is not therefore, strictly speaking, relevant to the list. The phrase -at the hand of" seems to denote personal attendance, cf. Nehemiah 13:13 -next to them," 1 Chronicles 18:17 -And the sons of David were chief about (lit. -at the hand of," Vulg. -ad manum") the king," 1 Chronicles 23:28 -their office was to wait on (lit. -at the hand of," LXX. ἐπὶ χεῖρα, Vulg. -sub manu") the sons of Aaron." In our verse the LXX. renders πρὸς χεῖρα, the Vulg. -in manu."