Reference: Ophel
American
A quarter of Jerusalem adjacent to the temple, and therefore occupied by the Nethinim, Ne 3:26-27; 11:21. It appears to have been enclosed by a wall, and fortified by a strong tower, 2Ch 27:3; 33:14; and is thought to be meant by the Hebrew OPHEL, translated" strong-hold," in Mic 4:8. There can be little doubt that the name belongs to the lower ridge into which Mount Moriah sinks, south of the area of the mosque. It is one hundred yards wide, and extends six hundred yards to the south, terminating in a bluff forty or fifty feet high above the pool of Siloam. It is separated from Mount Zion on the west by the valley called Tyropoeon, and is now devoted to the culture of olives, figs, and other fruit.
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Easton
hill; mound, the long, narrow, rounded promontory on the southern slope of the temple hill, between the Tyropoeon and the Kedron valley (2Ch 27:3; 33:14; Ne 3:26-27). It was surrounded by a separate wall, and was occupied by the Nethinim after the Captivity. This wall has been discovered by the engineers of the Palestine Exploration Fund at the south-eastern angle of the temple area. It is 4 feet below the present surface. In 2Ki 5:24 this word is translated "tower" (R.V., "hill"), denoting probably some eminence near Elisha's house.
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Fausets
Hebrew "the Ophel," i.e. the "swelling declivity" by which the temple hill slopes off on its southern side as a long round narrow promontory between the mouth of the Tyropeon central valley of the city and the Kedron valley of Jehoshaphat. On its eastern side is the fount of the Virgin; at the bottom is the lower outlet of the same spring, the pool of Siloam. Here was the "great tower" (Eder? Hebrew Mic 4:8) and the Levites' residence. It was near the water gate (Ne 3:26-27; 11:21). Jotham "built much on the wall of Ophel" Manasseh "compassed about Ophel" (2Ch 27:3; 33:14); on the Ophla, as Josephus calls it (see B.J. 5:4, section 2; 6, section 1, 3). For "the forts" (Isa 32:14). translated Ophel "the mound." James the Less was called Oblias, explained "bulwark of the people" (Hegesippus, in Eusebius H.E. ii. 23), perhaps originally Ophli-am, from Ophel. He was martyred by being thrown from the temple pinnacle near the boundary of Ophel.
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Hastings
Morish
O'phel
A part of Jerusalem, first mentioned in 2Ch 27:3, where it is said that Jotham built much "on the wall of Ophel." Manasseh in his building, "compassed about Ophel and raised it up a very great height.' 2Ch 33:14. On the return from exile the Nethinim dwelt there. Ne 3:26-27; 11:21. It is supposed to have been at the S.E. corner of Jerusalem, outside the present walls, near the Virgin's fountain. The same word is translated 'tower' in 2Ki 5:24, as in the margin of some of the above passages.
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Smith
O'phel
(hill), a part of ancient Jerusalem. Ophel was the swelling declivity by which the mount of the temple slopes on its southern side into the valley of Hinnom--a long, narrowish rounded spur or promontory, which intervenes between the mouth of the central valley of Jerusalem (the Tyropoeon) and the Kidron, or valley of Jehoshaphat. Halfway down it on its eastern face is the ("Fount of the Virgin," so called; and at its foot the lower outlet of the same spring--the Pool of Siloam. In
Jotham is said to have built much "on the wall of Ophel." Manasseh, among his other defensive works, "compassed about Ophel." Ibid.
It appears to have been near the "water-gate,"
and the "great tower that lieth out." ver.
It was evidently the residence of the Levites.