DISTRICT

A term taken from several original-language words and variously translated to mean either a specific or a general area.

At Nehemiah 3:14-16 reference is made to the ‘districts’ of Beth-haccherem, Mizpah and Beth-zur. Commentators have expressed the view that “district” may here be used as an official governmental term, that is, that each Persian “jurisdictional district” or “province” (1:3; AV, RS) was partitioned into smaller administrative districts. According to this opinion, the references to half of the district of Jerusalem (3:9, 12) and of Keilah (vss. 17, 18) mean that, for geographical or other reasons, the districts in which these cities stood were divided into two sections. Some hold that the Hebrew peʹlekh (translated “district”) may, like the related Assyrian term (pilku), in the case of Jerusalem and Keilah, refer simply to an “assigned portion.” The “prince” or “ruler” of the half district (AS, AT, AV, JB) would thus refer to an overseer who had charge of the work in that portion of the town.