jerusalem 3 ezra and nehemiah Summary and Overview

JERUSALEM UNDER EZRA AND NEHEMIAH Under the decree of Cyrus the captives returned to Jerusalem, rebuilt the temple, and made the city again habitable; and later, under Nehemiah, the city was fortified, and the walls, which had been broken for 140 years, were re-constructed, notwithstanding the opposition of Sanballat and Tobiah. Neh 4:7-22; Neh 6:1-16. The extent of the walls built by Nehemiah is clearly indicated in Neh 3, and they must have enclosed a far larger space than the reduced population could require. The following description of the city and its extent is from Baedeker's Handbook of Syria (1876): "The wall extended up the hill from the pool of Siloam toward the north. On the highest point of Ophel rose a bastion, which was also intended to protect the horse-gate, an entrance of the temple toward the east. Near the horse-gate, and within the precincts of the temple, were the dwellings of the priests. On the east side it is commonly supposed that there was a second gate, called the water-gate. There were also fortifications at the north end of the temple terrace, the most important being the Bira, a large bastion restored by Nehemiah, afterward the site of Baris. The city was further defended on the north side by the tower of Hananeel. There was also the tower of Mea, about 50 yards south of the other; but the site of both seems to be far from being even approximately determined. . . . The wall which enclosed the upper city ran toward the west and had two gates -- the gate of the centre, which led from one pairt of the city to the other, and, to the extreme west, the valley-gate, afterward called Gennath, situated to the east of the present Jaffa-gate, where Uzziah once erected a tower of defence. In the suburb to the north was, first, the corner-gate, which was probably the same as the old gate, and perhaps also the gate of Ephraim, the site of which, however, is quite uncertain. From the upper part of the city a gate led west toward the valley of Hinnom, called the dung-gate, where a rock staircase has been discovered. To the south a wall ran across the Tyropoeon, at the outset of which lay the spring-gate, or the valley between the two walls. The situation of the potters' gate, leading to the valley of Hinnom, is a matter of mere conjecture." The city prospered under Nehemiah as a Persian governor. In b.c. 366, Jeshua was murdered by his brother, Johanan, through rivalry for the high priesthood, and Bagoses, the Persian general, entered the sanctuary, and imposed a tax of 50 darics or drachmas for every lamb offered during the lifetime of Johanan, which was 7 years. The two sons of Johanan, Jaddua and Manasseh, held the high priest's office jointly until after their father's death, when Manasseh joined the Samaritans, and became the first high priest of their temple on Mount Gerizim. See Samaritans.