Nehemiah 3:15

‘And Shallun the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the fountain gate. He built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its bolts and its bar, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king’s garden, even to the stairs that go down from the city of David.’

The section after the Dung Gate was repaired by Shallun, ruler of the district of Mizpah, along with his helpers. This included the Fountain or Spring Gate which was fairly close to the Dung Gate, and was fully repaired. Also within his responsibility was the wall of the Pool of Shelah by the King’s Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David. Two gates close together (the Dung Gate and the Fountain Gate) were necessary because one was for the disposal of rubbish, whilst the other was by the King’s Garden, and led down to a water supply, possibly the King’s Pool (Nehemiah 2:14).

The Pool of Shelah may well be the same as the Pool of Shiloah (Isaiah 8:6; the consonants are the same), possibly also the Pool of Siloam, and ‘the upper pool’ (2 Kings 18:17; Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 36:2). It was within the walls, and supplied by Hezekiah’s tunnel (2 Kings 20:20), but watered the King’s Garden, possibly situated on the hillside leading down from the gate, by means of a conduit as the water also supplied the King’s Pool. It was by this conduit that the Assyrian generals stood as they addressed the inhabitants of the city (2 Kings 18:17), possibly on the stairs that go down from the city of David, which may have led to this pool. The geography is not, however, certain.

‘Ruler of Mizpah.’ Compare Nehemiah 3:19 where Ezer is also ruler of Mizpah. But this is not difficult to understand for there were a number of Mizpahs, which simply means ‘watchtower’. The main Mizpah was a Benjamite city north of Jerusalem, near Gibeon and Ramah and it was where Gedaliah, the governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar after the destruction of Jerusalem, ruled and was assassinated (2 Kings 25:22-26; Jeremiah 40:6; Jeremiah 41:1-2). There was another Mizpah in the Shephelah not far from Lachish (see Joshua 15:38-39). Alternately one may have ruled the city of Mizpah, while the other ruled the surrounding district, also called Mizpah.