Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.
All Commentaries on Nehemiah 13:3 Go To Nehemiah 13
Bede
AD 735
And Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah built the Valley Gate. We know that the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which was also called Gehinnom (that is, the Valley of Hinnom), lies toward the eastern side of the city of Jerusalem, through which the brook of Kidron (of which mention is made in the gospel) flows from north to south when it takes in water from snow or rain. But we read that the Valley of Gihon is in the west of this same city, as the book of the Chronicles states concerning King Manasseh of Judah, as was mentioned above: After this he built a wall outside of the City of David, to the west of Gihon in the valley. Now Gihon is the name of the spring where Solomon was anointed king outside the city.4 Therefore, whether in this passage Ezra means this or that or another valley of this same city, the mystical meaning is clear, namely that the Valley Gate is built in Jerusalem when either the elect who recently have been imbued with knowledge of the faith, or those who had gone astray but have been restored in the purity of the faith, are ordered by teachers of the truth to observe among other things the virtue of humility so that they may deserve to be raised up by the greater grace of God, for as Sacred Scripture says, God resists the proud, but bestows his grace on the humble, and in a psalm: and the valleys will abound with wheat, i.e. the humble will abound with the gifts of heavenly refection. And it is well that the Valley Gate is built after the Old Gate and the Broad Wall, no doubt because after the rudiments of catholic faith which are demonstrated through love, we must be taught to observe humility, which is the guardian of the virtues,1 so that according to the precept of the wise man, the greater we are, the more we should humble ourselves in all things.
