Eliashib the priest, having the oversight. — Probably the high priest of Nehemiah 3:1, whose office alone would not have given him control over “the chamber:” that is, the series of chambers running round three walls of the Temple. He “was allied unto Tobiah,” but in what way is not stated.
Before this. — That is, before the return of Nehemiah; indeed, there is a suspicious absence of Eliashib’s name throughout the high religious festivities of the preceding Chapter s.