Nehemiah 3:1
CHAPTER III The names of those who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem; and the part assigned to each person, 1-32. NOTES ON CHAP. III Verse 1. Eliashib the high priest] It was right that the priests should be first in this holy work; and perhaps the sheep gate which is mentioned here is that by which the offerings or sacrifices were brought into the temple. They sanctified it] As they began with the sacred offering as soon as they got an altar built, it was proper that the gate by which these sacrifices entered should be consecrated for this purpose, i. e., set apart, so that it should be for this use only. Nehemiah 3:32
Verse 32. The goldsmiths and the merchants.] The word hatstsorephim may signify smiths, or persons who worked in metals of any kind; but it is generally understood to mean those who worked in gold. I have already observed, that the mention of merchants and goldsmiths shows that these persons were formed into bodies corporate in those ancient times. But these terms are differently rendered in the versions. The Vulgate is the same as ours, which probably our translators copied: aurifices et negociatores. The Syriac is, goldsmiths and druggists. The Arabic, smelters of metal and porters. The Septuagint, in some copies, particularly in the Roman edition, and in the Complutensian, Antwerp, and Paris Polyglots, have οιχαλκειςκαι οιμεταβολι, smiths and merchants; but in other copies, particularly the London Polyglot, for μεταβολοι we find ρωποπωλαι seller of shields. And here the learned reader will find a double mistake in the London Polyglot, ροποπωλαι for ρωποπωλαι, and in the Latin version scruta for scuta, neither of which conveys any sense. Nehemiah 12:39
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