Nehemiah 11:21

But the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel: and Ziha and Gispa were over the Nethinims.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) Ophel.—The Nethinims on the promontory of Ophel were either within or without the city, according as the one wall or the other was taken. Here they are regarded as outside.

Benson Commentary

Nehemiah 11:21. The Nethinims dwelt in Ophel — Which was upon the wall of Jerusalem, because they were to do the servile work of the temple; therefore they were to be posted near it, that they might be ready to attend.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-36 The distribution of the people. - In all ages, men have preferred their own ease and advantage to the public good. Even the professors of religion too commonly seek their own, and not the things of Christ. Few have had such attachment to holy things and holy places, as to renounce pleasure for their sake. Yet surely, our souls should delight to dwell where holy persons and opportunities of spiritual improvement most abound. If we have not this love to the city of our God, and to every thing that assists our communion with the Saviour, how shall we be willing to depart hence; to be absent from the body, that we may be present with the Lord? To the carnal-minded, the perfect holiness of the New Jerusalem would be still harder to bear than the holiness of God's church on earth. Let us seek first the favour of God, and his glory; let us study to be patient, contented, and useful in our several stations, and wait, with cheerful hope, for admission into the holy city of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ophel, the southern spur of the temple hill, having a wall of its own Nehemiah 3:27 might be reckoned either in Jerusalem or outside it. Here it is made a separate place.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. the principal to begin the thanksgiving in prayer—that is, the leader of the choir which chanted the public praise at the time of the morning and evening sacrifice. That service was always accompanied by some appropriate psalm, the sacred music being selected and guided by the person named.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel,.... An high place or tower on the wall of Jerusalem, see 2 Chronicles 27:3,

and Ziha, and Gispa, were over the Nethinims; had the oversight of them, and took care that they did their work; they were such themselves, but the principal of them, see Ezra 2:43.

Geneva Study Bible

But the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel: and Ziha and Gispa were over the Nethinims.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. the Nethinims] R.V. the Nethinim.

in Ophel] See Nehemiah 3:26. Their quarters were on the summit of the Hill or Mound, S. of the Temple height.

Ziha and Gispa (R.V. Gishpa)] Ziha’s name occurs at the head of the Nethinim in Ezra 2:43; Nehemiah 7:46; and there can be little doubt that ‘Gishpa’ is to be identified with ‘Hasupha’ in the same list.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - The Nethinims dwelt in Ophel. See above, ch. 3:26 Ophel, the southern prolongation of the temple hill, was a sort of suburb of Jerusalem, sometimes reckoned as part of the city, sometimes as distinct from it. It was a convenient position for the Nethinims, who were employed in menial offices about the temple. Ziha seems to represent the leading Nethinim family (Ezra 2:43; Nehemiah 7:46). Nehemiah 11:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, the southern slope of Mount Moriah; see rem. on Nehemiah 3:26. Their chiefs were Zihah and Gispa. ציחה occurs Ezra 2:43, followed by חשׂוּפא, as head of a division of Levites; whence Bertheau tries, but unsuccessfully, to identify the latter name with גּשׁפּא. For it does not follow that, because a division of Nethinim was descended from Hasupha, that Gishpa, one of the chiefs of those Nethinim who dwelt on Ophel, must be the same individual as this Hasupha.