419 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest,.... The forest or mountain of Lebanon, which, because of its odoriferous and fruit bearing trees, was more like an orchard or paradise, as this word signifies, and so it is translated in Ecclesiastes 2:5 and at the extreme part of it, it seems, there was a city called Paradisus (r); such an...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I came to the governors beyond the river,.... Who these governors were, whether the same who were in the second year of this king's reign eighteen years ago, Tatnai and Shetharboznai, is not certain: now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me; both to do him honour, and for his safety; and coming thus attended, must serve...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When Sanballat the Horonite,.... Who either presided at Horonaim, or sprung from thence, a city of Moab, Isaiah 15:5 and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite; who was formerly a slave, but now raised, from a low mean estate, to be governor in the land of Ammon, though still a vassal of the king of Persia: heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. Before he entered on any business, resting himself from the fatigue of the journey, and receiving the visits of his friends, as Ezra before him did, Ezra 8:32.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I arose in the might, I and some few men with me,.... Both the season of the night, and the small number of men to accompany him, were chosen for greater secrecy, that the business he came upon might not as yet be known, and so no schemes formed to obstruct or discourage: neither told I any man what God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I went out by night, by the gate of the valley,.... Where that formerly stood, for the gates had been burnt, and were not as yet rebuilt; this was the gate that led to the valley of Jehoshaphat, according to some; or rather to the valley of dead bodies, through which the brook Kidron ran, see 2 Chronicles 26:9 it is the gate through which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I went on to the pool of the fountain, and to the king's pool..... That led to the fountain Siloah or Gihon, so called; it was the way to the potter's field, to Bethlehem, Hebron, Gaza, and Egypt. Rauwolff says (t) there is still standing on the outside of the valley Tyropaeum (which distinguishes the two mountains Zion and Moriah) the gate...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then went I up in the night by the brook,.... The brook Kidron: and viewed the wall; that was on that side: and turned back; did not go quite round the wall, the way perhaps being obstructed with rubbish, and was unpassable or he had not time to do it: and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned; into the city, the same way he went out...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did..... The rulers of the city of Jerusalem, who seem to be officers of the king of Persia, since they are distinguished from Jewish rulers in the next clause: neither had I as yet told it to the Jews; what he came about and designed to do: nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said I unto them,.... The priests and princes of the Jews: you see the distress that we are in; lie open to our enemies, and exposed to their insults: how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire, Ne 1:3, come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach; to their neighbours about them, who...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me..... Of the kind providence of God in exalting him in the court of the king of Persia, in giving him an opportunity of laying the sad case of Jerusalem before him, and in inclining his heart to show favour to him, and grant his request: as also the king's words that he had spoken to me;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian,.... This third man might be both an Arabian by birth, and governor of some part of Arabia near Judea: heard it; of their beginning to build: they laughed us to scorn, and despised us; as very silly people, that undertook what they could never perform:...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then answered I them, and said unto them,.... With much spirit and boldness, not at all intimidated by their scoffs or threats: the God of heaven, he will prosper us; whom we serve, and under whose protection we are, who will supply us with everything we want, and succeed this undertaking, in whose name we engage in it, and on whom we depend, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Nehemiah 3 This chapter contains the names of the builders of the wall of Jerusalem, the order in which they worked, where they began, and where they ended, which was the sheep gate, Ne 3:1.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests,.... This was the grandson of Jeshua or Joshua the high priest, his father's name was Joiakim, Ne 12:10, being high priest, and rising first, he set a good example both to the priests and to the people, and served no doubt greatly to animate and encourage them: and they built the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And next unto him builded the men of Jericho,.... The posterity of those that formerly inhabited that city; these began where Eliashib and the priests ended, and went on from thence: and next to them; or rather "to him", the high priest: builded Zaccur the son of Imri; who probably was the chief of the men of Jericho.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build,.... So called, because fish was brought from the sea coasts through it, and near it was the fish market; this also was southward, according to Dr. Lightfoot (x); others say northward; some say it led to the sea of Galilee, Jordan, and all the east and north country: but it is most likely to be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And next unto them repaired Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Koz,.... And the men under him; see Ezra 8:33, this part of the wall on which they worked was not wholly demolished, only weakened, and therefore did not rebuild it, but repaired and strengthened it, and this phrase is used all along afterwards: and next unto them repaired...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And next unto them the Tekoites repaired,.... The inhabitants of Tekoa, a city in the tribe of Judah; see Amos 1:1 but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord; either of Nehemiah, as some, or rather of the lord and prince appointed over their families, as Aben Ezra, to whom they would not be subject; though it seems best, with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Moreover, the old gate repaired Jehoiada, the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah,.... Which some think was so called because it led to the old city Salem. Dr. Lightfoot (a) thinks it is the same with the second or third gate, Zephaniah 1:10. According to Vatablus, it was the gate of the old pool, Isaiah 22:11, or rather, perhaps, it...