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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Nehemiah 4:12 - 4:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
(4:6-7)
When, therefore, the Jews who dwelt near them, i.e., in the neighbourhood of the adversaries, and heard their words, came to Jerusalem, “and said to us ten times (i.e., again and again), that from all places ye must return to us, then I placed,†etc. Jews came from all places to Jerusalem, and summoned those who were building there to return home, for adversaries were surrounding the community on all sides: Sanballat and the Samaritans on the north, the Ammonites on the east, the Arabians on the south, and the Philistines (Ashdodites) on the west. ×ֲשֶ×ר before תָּש×וּבוּ introduces their address, instead of ×›Ö´Ö¼×™; being thus used, e.g., before longer speeches, 1Sa 15:20; 2Sa 1:4; and for ×›Ö´Ö¼×™ generally, throughout the later books, in conformity to Aramaean usage. “Return to us†(עַל ש×וּב, as in 2Ch 30:9, for ×ֶל ש×וּב), said the Jews who came from all quarters to Jerusalem to their fellow-townsmen, who from Jericho, Gibeon, and Tekoa (comp. Neh 3:2-3, Neh 3:5, Neh 3:7) were working on the wall of Jerusalem. These words express their fear lest those who were left at home, especially the defenceless women, children, and aged men, should be left without protection against the attacks of enemies, if their able-bodied men remained any longer in Jerusalem to take part in the building of the wall.
Neh 4:13
Neh 4:7 is hardly intelligible. We translate it: Then I placed at the lowest places behind the wall, at the dried-up places, I (even) placed the people, after their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ×œÖ·×žÖ¸Ö¼×§Ö¹×•× ×žÖ´×ªÖ·Ö¼×—Ö°×ªÖ´Ö¼×™Ö¹Ö¼×•×ª is a stronger expression for ×œÖ·×žÖ¸Ö¼×§Ö¹×•× ×žÖ´×ªÖ·Ö¼×—Ö·×ª when used to indicate position, and מִן points out the direction. The sense is: at the lowest places from behind the wall. ×‘Ö·Ö¼×¦Ö°Ö¼×—Ö´×—Ö´×™× gives the nature of the places where the people were placed with arms. צָחִיחַ and צְחִיחָה mean a dry or bare place exposed to the heat of the sun: bare, uncovered, or empty places, perhaps bare hills, whence approaching foes might be discerned at a distance. The second וְ×ַעֲמִיד is but a reiteration of the verb, for the sake of combining it with its object, from which the וָ×ַעֲמִיד at the beginning of the verse was too far removed by the circumstantial description of the locality.
(Note: Bertheau considers the text corrupt, regarding the word מְתַּחְתִּיֹּות as the object of ×ַעֲמִיד, and alters it into מַחֲשָ×בֹות or חִשְּ××‘Ö¹× Ö¹×•×ª, engines for hurling missiles (2Ch 26:15), or into מְטַחֲיִּוֹת (a word of this own invention), instruments for hurling. But not only is this conjecture critically inadmissible, it also offers no appropriate sense. The lxx reads the text as we do, and merely renders ×‘×¦×—×—×™×™× conjecturally by ἐν τοῖς σκεπεινοῖς. Besides, it is not easy to see how חש××‘× ×•×ª could have arisen from a false reading of מתחתיות; and it should be remembered that מַחֲשָ×בֹות does not mean a machine for hurling, while מטחתייות is a mere fabrication. To this must be added, that such machines are indeed placed upon the walls of a fortress to hurl down stones and projectiles upon assaulting foes, and not behind the walls, where they could only be used to demolish the walls, and so facilitate the taking of the town by the enemy.)