Nehemiah 3:26

Moreover the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel … lieth out R.V. ( Now the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel … standeth out). The parenthesis probably includes the whole verse. We prefer the R.V. translation to that of the marginof the R.V., which limits the parenthesis to the first clause, and connects the second clause with the previous verse.

(1) The omission of the verb at the close of Nehemiah 3:25 creates no real difficulty; for we have had a similar omission at the beginning of the verse.

(2) We should not expect that a parenthetical clause relating to the dwellingplace of the Nethinim would, in the midst of so much detailed topography, describe it in such brief and general terms as -in Ophel." (In Nehemiah 11:21, where the same words occur, they are possibly based on this passage.)

(3) The reference to -the tower that standeth out" is an allusion to the same tower as that mentioned in the previous verse. The parenthesis seems to be introduced in order to connect the dwelling of the Nethinim with the tower just spoken of.

(4) Nehemiah 3:27 opens with (R.V.) -After him:" and although in view of Nehemiah 3:2; Nehemiah 3:23; Nehemiah 3:29this is not conclusive, it certainly favours the R.V. treatment of the parenthesis.

in Ophel This may possibly mean on the brow of the Ophel hill to the east of the Temple. The wall of -Ophel" was built on by Jotham (2 Chronicles 27:3). And the -hill" was surrounded by a wall in Manasseh's reign, 2 Chronicles 33:14. -Ophel" means -a mound," and was the name applied to the S. continuance of the Temple hill.

over against the water gate toward the east Between the Temple and the water gate there seems to have been a large open space in which the people could assemble (see Nehemiah 8:1; Nehemiah 8:3; Nehemiah 8:16; Nehemiah 12:37; Nehemiah 12:39; Ezra 10:9). The houses of the Nethinim approached or abutted on the city wall at this point.

The -water gate" was obviously so called because the path leading from the spring of Gihon, the Virgin's Spring, entered the city here. Water-carriers passing in and out gave the gate its name. On Gihon, cf. 1 Kings 1:33; 1 Kings 1:38. It is "the one spring of Jerusalem, known as the Virgin's Fountain to Christians, and as -the Mother of Steps" to Moslems, because of the steps which lead down into the vault from the present surface of the valley" (Conder's Palestine, p. 26).

From here the wall led northward or north-eastward to -the corner" (Nehemiah 3:31).

the tower that lieth out Probably the same as that mentioned in Nehemiah 3:25. Perhaps the tower was intended especially to protect -the water gate," in connexion with which it is here mentioned.