Nehemiah 3:3

But the fish gate R.V. And the fish gate. This gate is referred to in chap. Neh 12:39; 2 Chronicles 33:14; Zephaniah 1:10. It was on the northern or north-western wall; how far distant from the -tower of Hananel" we cannot tell. But the two sections of wall-building undertaken by -the men of Jericho" and -Zaccur the son of Imri" intervened.

The name of the gate may have been derived from the proximity of the fish market. It has been suggested that the fish brought by the Tyrian traders (Nehemiah 13:16) and by the fishermen of Lake Galilee would arrive by this gate. From Zephaniah 1:10-11, it appears that this gate adjoined the merchant quarter of Jerusalem.

Hassenaah cf. Ezra 2:35; Nehemiah 7:38, Senaah.

whoalso] R.V. they.

the locks thereof R.V. the bolts thereof. The details of the fully completed gate are repeated in Nehemiah 3:6; Nehemiah 3:13. What the -bolts" (A.V. -locks") were, is not certain (LXX. κλεῖθρα, Vulg. valvas). The word occurs again in Song of Solomon 5:5.

Some suppose them to be the -sockets" or -supports" into which the -bars" and -stanchions" of the gate filled; others the -bolts" which held the cross-bars firm. The city gates of ancient times turned upon pivots in sockets instead of upon hinges; and we may conjecture that the word rendered -locks" denoted that which held a gate in its place, while -the bars" fastened it to the side-posts.