Nehemiah 3:11

Harim … Pahath-moab See on Ezra 2:6; Ezra 2:32.

the other piece R.V. another portion. This phrase, which occurs again in this chapter in Nehemiah 3:19; Nehemiah 3:24; Nehemiah 3:27; Nehemiah 3:30, has been explained, (1) (as the A.V.), as equivalent to -a further portion" of the same section of wall, (2) as -a second portion" of restoration-work undertaken by those mentioned in the verse. The latter is the more natural interpretation. There is this difficulty: whereas in Nehemiah 3:21; Nehemiah 3:27we find the recurrence of names which have occurred earlier in the chapter (Nehemiah 3:4), in this verse and in 19, 20, 24, 30 the names of those who are said to repair -another portion" are not mentioned again. Accordingly some commentators, laying stress on the point that in Nehemiah 3:19; Nehemiah 3:24; Nehemiah 3:27the phrase is accompanied by a minute topographical notice, maintain that the words do not imply a secondpiece of work, but a special continuationof the work just mentioned.

On the other hand, it should be observed that (1) Malchijah's name at any rate recurs in Nehemiah 3:31; (2) in this portion of Nehemiah's description -the gate of Ephraim" is strangely altogether omitted, in spite of its great importance (cf. Nehemiah 8:16; Nehemiah 12:39): (3) it is on other grounds very probable that the complete list of those engaged on the work of restoration has not been preserved, and that numerous names have been lost. A recognition of the incompleteness of the list will fully meet the difficulty presented in this verse, and in Nehemiah 3:19; Nehemiah 3:24; Nehemiah 3:30.

the tower of the furnaces This tower lay between the gate of Ephraim and the gate of the valley (see Nehemiah 12:38). It may have stood a little to the N. of the modern citadel. It was the fortress of the N.W. angle of the city, and probably constituted the chief fortification in connexion with the corner gate (2 Kings 14:13; 2 Chronicles 26:9; Jeremiah 31:38; Zechariah 14:10.