Nehemiah 13:4

And before this R.V. Now before this. Clearly the date referred to is that of Nehemiah's return to Jerusalem after his residence at the court described in Nehemiah 13:6. We may assume that Nehemiah's Memoirs embraced the whole interval of twelve years. The Compiler, however, makes no extract from the intervening portion. The words -before this" have therefore no reference to the events of the preceding verses; their retention only shows the exactness with which the extract is reproduced.

Eliashib the priest There is scarcely any reason to doubt that this is the same as -Eliashib the high-priest" mentioned in Nehemiah 13:28, and in Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 3:20, whose name occurs in the priestly lists (Nehemiah 12:10; Nehemiah 12:22). That he is here called -the priest," and in Nehemiah 13:28, -the high-priest," constitutes a certain objection against the identification. On the other hand the incident which here connects -Eliashib the priest" with Tobiah is of so similar a character to that which associates -Eliashib the high-priest" in alliance with Sanballat (Nehemiah 13:28), that it is most natural to suppose the same person is denoted.

The full title is not, as some fancifully suggest, withheld out of respect for the office which was so degraded. It is more probable that Nehemiah is recording the fact that -the priest who was appointed over the chambers of the house of God" happened in this instance to be the high-priest himself: perhaps having been appointed to this duty before his succession to the high-priestly office, he still retained the charge. Again, it may be remembered that in old times -the priest" was the customary title of the high-priest.

If the same as the high-priest, it has been remarked that his name does not appear in chap. 10 among those that signed the covenant. It is however somewhat hazardous to conclude, as commentators have generally done, that he must therefore have refused his signature and have openly opposed the policy of Nehemiah. The names in chap. 10 are most of them the names of houses, and the high-priest's name is probably represented in the mention of -Seraiah."

having the oversight of R.V. who was appointed over.

the chamber R.V. the chambers. Marg. -Heb. the chamber". The singular does not give the right meaning. Eliashib in order to dispose of -a great chamber" to Tobiah, must have had all the Temple chambers under his charge. The proposal to read the plural -chambers" (lishkôth) instead of the singular -chamber" (lishkath) is probably right. See Nehemiah 13:9.

The versions give quite an erroneous turn to the passage; LXX. οἰκῶν ἐν γαζοφυλακίῳ, Vulg. -præpositus in gazophylacio."

was allied R.V. being allied. A relationship by marriage is intended by this expression, which is the same as that rendered in Ruth 2:20, -The man is nigh of kinto us."

In the LXX. ἐγγίων and Vulg. -proximus," the idea of local vicinity misapprehends the original. We are not told the exact relationship of Tobiah to Eliashib. But in Nehemiah 6:17, it appears that he had married a daughter of Shecaniah; and that his son Jehohanan had married a daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. Both Shecaniah and Meshullam are names mentioned in Nehemiah 3:20; Nehemiah 3:30; and the probability is that they were priests of high rank. It is natural to derive Tobiah's alliance to Eliashib from his connexion with one or both of these families.