Builders, Daughters, Artisans and Gates

"Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it." Next to them build the men of Jericho; next, Zaccur son of Imri.

The sons of Hassenaah build the Fish Gate. Meremoth, Meshullam and Zadok repair. "And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord."

Goldsmiths and perfumers build; district rulers of Jerusalem, Beth-haccherem, Mizpah, Beth-zur and Keilah build. "And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters."

Some repair opposite their own houses. Hanun and the people of Zanoah repair the Valley Gate and a thousand cubits of wall. Shallun repairs the Fountain Gate and "the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king's garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David." Others build past the sepulchres of David, the armoury, the tower that lies out and the Water Gate.

The Tekoites repair a second section. Priests repair above the Horse Gate, "every one over against his house." Finally "between the going up of the corner unto the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants." The circuit closes where it began.

Shallum's daughters

"He and his daughters" (3:12) is the only mention of women among the builders. Some suggest "daughters" means dependent villages, as "daughters" of a city often does (e.g. Numbers 21:25), but the phrase "he and his daughters" most naturally means his daughters. The library's Greek, Latin and English all read daughters. Either way, the text records them.

Nobles who would not stoop

The Tekoite nobles "put not their necks" to the work (3:5), a yoke image. The ordinary Tekoites built two sections (3:5, 27). The text does not say why the nobles refused; some suggest ties with Geshem or the southern region. It records a class division without explaining it.

"Repaired" or "built"

Two verbs alternate: banah, "build" (for gates), and hehezik, "strengthen, repair" (for most sections). The list suggests much of the old wall line was repaired, not rebuilt from the foundation, which fits a 52-day project (6:15).

Nehemiah son of Azbuk

"Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of Beth-zur" (3:16) is a different man from the governor, who never names himself in the list. Names repeat often (two Meshullams, two Malchijahs, two Hananiahs).

The pool of Shelah

3:15 names "the pool of Shelah" (KJV "Siloah"), near the king's garden and the stairs of the City of David. The Iron Age Siloam tunnel (Hezekiah's) brought water to this area; the large stepped pool excavated since 2004 dates to the Second Temple (Herodian) period. Neither is "Nehemiah's pool." The library's Greek (Giguet) reads the name as "the pool where fleeces are washed at the king's shearing," taking shelah as a word for fleece or shearing.

A text, not a survey

The list moves counter-clockwise from the Sheep Gate in the north, down the west side, around the south, up the east and back. Scholars disagree whether it included the western hill (the later Upper City) or only the City of David and temple area. Gate names (Fish, Valley, Water, Horse) recur in other periods (2 Chronicles 33:14; Jeremiah 31:38–40), so finding a gate of that name in a later period does not prove its location in 445 BC.

Where did the builders come from?

Builders came from Jericho, Tekoa, Gibeon, Mizpah, Zanoah, Beth-haccherem, Beth-zur, Keilah and the "plain." Their towns sketch Persian Yehud's extent: from Jericho to Beth-zur, from Mizpah to Keilah, an area roughly 40 by 40 km. Beth-haccherem is often identified with Ramat Rahel, the Persian administrative site of the Yehud stamps.