Nehemiah 13:4

4 And before this time Eliasib the priest dwelt in the treasury of the house of our God, connected with Tobias;

Nehemiah 13:4 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 13:4

And before this
Before the above law was read, and observed and acted upon:

Eliashib the priest;
whom some take to be a common priest; so Bishop Usher ^F1; but he seems rather to be the high priest, by comparing it with ( Nehemiah 13:28 ) ,

having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God;
which has led some to the notion of his being a common priest; but chamber may be put for chambers, and those for the whole house or temple, which the high priest had the greatest concern in, and oversight of:

was allied to Tobiah;
the servant and Ammonite, an inveterate enemy of the Jews, ( Nehemiah 2:10 Nehemiah 2:20 ) , having married a daughter of Shecaniah, and his son a daughter of Meshullam, who were both priests, and so as it seems related to Eliashib, ( Nehemiah 6:18 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Annal. Vet. Test. p. 200.

Nehemiah 13:4 In-Context

2 because they met not the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them: but our God turned the curse into a blessing.

3 And it came to pass, when they heard the law, that they were separated, every alien in Israel.

4 And before this time Eliasib the priest dwelt in the treasury of the house of our God, connected with Tobias;

5 and he made himself a great treasury, and there they were formerly in the habit of bestowing the offerings, and the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithe of the corn, and the wine, and the oil, the ordered portion of the Levites, and singers, and porters; and the first-fruits of the priests.

6 But in all this I was not in Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second year of Arthasastha king of Babylon I came to the king, and after a certain time I made my request of the king;