2 Chronicles 27:3 - Exposition

The high gate. In the parallel, rendered in the Authorized Version the "higher" gate, the Hebrew ( חָעֶלְיוֹן ) being the same in both places. The Revised Version shows "upper gate" in both places. It was probably the gate which led from the palace to the temple's outer court (see 2 Chronicles 23:20 , and note there). On the wall of Ophel ; Hebrew, הָעפֶל ; i.e. the ophel, which may be Englished "the swelling ground." It was the extreme south end of the spur which gradually narrowed southward, and which was the continuation of the Bezetha hill, bounded by the brook Kedron on the east, and the Tyropceon on the west. This extreme south part called the Ophel sank into the bounding valleys to the Kedron precipitously and to the Tyropeon gradually. Pp. 328-335 of Condor's 'Handbook' (2nd edit.), and specially pp. 332-334, well repay a thorough study. A ditch was cut across the narrowest part of the ridge, which separated the temple hill itself from the Bezetha hill. In these parts fortifications were built, and no doubt to such it is our text calls attention.