Nehemiah 3:16

The wall from the steps leading from the city of David to the angle opposite the armoury. From Neh 3:16 onwards we find for the most part אחריו, after him, instead of ידו על, which only occurs again in Neh 3:17 and Neh 3:19. Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth-zur (see rem. on Ch2 11:7), repaired the wall as far as "opposite the sepulchres of David, and unto the pool that was made, and to the house of the heroes." The sepulchres of David are the sepulchres of the house of David in the city of David (comp. Ch2 32:33). "Opposite the sepulchres of David" is the length of wall on the eastern side of Zion, where was probably, as Thenius endeavours to show in the Zeitschr. of the deutsch morgenl. Gesellsch. xxi. p. 495f., an entrance to the burying-place of the house of David, which was within the city. The "pool that was made" must be sought at no great distance, in the Tyropoean valley, but has not yet been discovered. The view of Krafft (Topographie von Jerusalem, p. 152), that it was the reservoir artificially constructed by Hezekiah, between the two walls for the water of the old pool (Isa 22:11), rests upon incorrect combinations. "The house of the heroes" is also unknown. In Neh 3:17 and Neh 3:18, the lengths of wall repaired by the three building parties there mentioned are not stated. "The Levites, Rehum the son of Bani," stands for: the Levites under Rehum the son of Bani. There was a Rehum among those who returned with Zerubbabel, Neh 12:3; Ezr 2:2; and a Bani occurs among the Levites in Neh 9:5. After him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, for his district. Keilah, situate, according to Jos 15:44 and Sa1 23:1, in the hill region, is probably the village of Kila, discovered by Tobler (vol. iii. p. 151), eastw…

Saying and doing are often two things: many are ready to say, "Let us rise up and build," who sit still and do nothing, like that fair-spoken son who said,"I go, Sir, but went not." The undertakers here were none of those. As soon as they had resolved to build the wall about Jerusalem they lost no time, but set about it presently, as we find in this chapter. Let it never be said that we left that good work to be done tomorrow which we might as well have done today. This chapter gives an account of two things: - I. The names of the builders, which are recorded here to their honour, for they were such as herein discovered a great zeal for God and their country, both a pious and a public spirit, a great degree both of industry and courage; and what they did was fit to be thus largely registered, both for their praise and for the encouragement of others to follow their example. II. The order of the building; they took it before them, and ended where they began. They repaired, 1. From the sheep-gate to the fish-gate (Neh 3:1, Neh 3:2). 2. Thence to the old-gate (Neh 3:3-5). 3. Thence to the valley-gate (Neh 3:6-12). 4. Thence to the dung-gate (Neh 3:13, Neh 3:14). 5. Thence to the gate of the fountain (Neh 3:15). 6. Thence to the water-gate (Neh 3:16-26). 7. Thence by the horse-gate to the sheep-gate again, where they began (Neh 3:27-32), and so they brought their work quite round the city.

3:16-32 These verses describe the building of the new eastern wall. 3:16 The district of Beth-zur was located just north of Hebron. • The tombs of David’s family might refer to where King David was buried (1 Kgs 2:10; 11:43; 2 Chr 21:20; Acts 2:29), and the House of the Warriors might have been a tomb for David’s mighty men (2 Sam 23:8-39).