Nehemiah 13:4

4 Before that happened, Eliashib the priest, who was in charge of the Temple storerooms, was friendly with Tobiah.

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 The Ammonites and Moabites had not welcomed the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they had hired Balaam to put a curse on Israel. (But our God turned the curse into a blessing.)

3 When the people heard this teaching, they separated all foreigners from Israel.

4 Before that happened, Eliashib the priest, who was in charge of the Temple storerooms, was friendly with Tobiah.

5 Eliashib let Tobiah use one of the large storerooms. Earlier it had been used for grain offerings, incense, the utensils, and the tenth offerings of grain, new wine, and olive oil that belonged to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers. It had also been used for gifts for the priests.

6 I was not in Jerusalem when this happened. I had gone back to Artaxerxes king of Babylon in the thirty-second year he was king. Finally I asked the king to let me leave.