Rashi
Jewish
1040–1105
“And he made Eliashib [made]. in previous times Before I came to Jerusalem, they would put [them] there. which were ordained for the Levites the gifts due the Levites.”
From the early Church Fathers to now.
1 Jewish · 1 Reformed · 1 Catholic
“And he made him a great storeroom, where before him they laid up gifts, and frankincense, and vessels, and the tithes of the corn, of the wine, and of the oil, the portions of the Levites, and of the singing men, and of the porters, and the firstfruits of the priests.”
“And he made Eliashib [made]. in previous times Before I came to Jerusalem, they would put [them] there. which were ordained for the Levites the gifts due the Levites.”
“But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem,.... Nehemiah, who was absent all the while these things were done by Eliashib, or otherwise they would not have been suffered: for in the thirty second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, came I unto the king from Jerusalem; after he had governed there twelve years, to whom he came to give an account of affairs there; this was not Xerxes, as some (b) have thought, for he reigned but twenty one years; but Darius Hystaspis, who reigned thirty six years, according to Ptolemy's canon, and with which Herodotus (c) agrees; he is called king of Babylon, because that, with the whole empire, was in the hands of the king of Persia, as it had been from the times of Cyrus: and after certain days obtained I leave of the king; to return to Jerusalem again; not after five years, as Dr. Prideaux (d) thinks; for it is not likely that Nehemiah would stay so long ere he asked leave of the king to return to Jerusalem, which was so much his care, and on whose prosperity his heart was so much set; rather at most it was but a full year he stayed ere he got leave to return, as Vatablus and Piscator interpret it; in which sense the phrase of certain days is used in Lev 25:29, and in other places quoted by the last mentioned interpreter. (b) Apud Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 8. 2. (c) Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 1. (d) Connect. par. 1. p. 397.”
“He. Eliasib, or Tobias. The original is also ambiguous. Eliasib probably permitted Tobias to furnish himself apartments in the temple, where, by law, he was not allowed to enter. Hence the priests, being deprived of their support, were forced to retire. (Calmet) — Tobias rented the apartments, and was steward of the priests’ revenues. (Tirinus)”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.