Nehemiah 6:15

So the wall was finished in the twenty fifth day of the month Elul,.... The sixth month, answering to part of August and part of September: in fifty and two days; which Aben Ezra reckons from the

The month Elul; answering part to our August and part to September. In fifty and two days; to be computed, either, 1. From the time of Sanballat’ s sending this letter to him; or, 2. As most judge, from the beginning of the work; which though a great thing, yet it is not at all incredible, considering, 1. That the walls and gates were not wholly pulled down by the Chaldeans; for to what purpose should they make that waste of time and labour? 2. That where the walls were thrown down, yet the materials remained, which they now used. 3. That in the building of the walls they minded not curiosity, but only strength and safety. 4. The great numbers of the builders, and the prudent distribution of the work among them, and their admirable zeal and diligence in the work. 5. That there want not parallel instances even in heathen authors; for both Curtius and Arrian report, that Alexander the Great built the walls of new Alexandria, which contained above seven miles in length, within twenty days’ space. 6. That there was an eminent hand of God in carrying on this work, which their very enemies here acknowledge.

Nehemiah 6:15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth [day] of [the month] Elul, in fifty and two days.Ver. 15. So the wall was finished] Though with much ado, and maugre the malice of all foreign and internal enemies. So shall the work of grace in men’ s hearts: it is perfected there by opposition, and grows gradually, but constantly and infallibly. In the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul] Which was their sixth month, answering, mostly, to our August. This (saith Beda) answered both unto the six days of God’ s working to make the world, after which a rest followed, and to the everlasting rest in heaven after six ages of the world, spent in toil and labour! In fifty and two days] A very short time for the despatch of so great a work. But nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia. God was much seen herein; and the enemies’ courage much quailed. But what meant Josephus to say, that the wall was in building two years and three months? It appeareth hereby, and by many other passages in his Jewish Antiquities, that he had not much read, or at least minded, the Holy Scriptures. Of this short time spent in building the wall, Daniel seemeth to prophesy, saith an interpreter, when he saith, that it should be built again in angustiis temporum, in the straits of time, Daniel 9:25; neither hold we so much strange at it, since the hands at it were many and those were motitantes, nimble and cheerful, and the princes were present to prick them on, and they repaired only and built upon the old foundation; and lastly the very enemies were convinced that the work was wrought of God, Nehemiah 6:16; what marvel, therefore, that it went so on end?

(15, 16) The finishing of the wall is recorded in the implest manner: first, with a formal specification of the date and time; then in its effect upon the enemies, and as redounding to the glory of God.

Verse 15. The twenty and fifth - of - Elul] This Jewish month answers to a part of our August and September. Fifty and two days.] I see no difficulty in supposing that several thousand workmen, each of whom was working as for God, should be able to complete this wall in fifty-two days. There is little doubt that several parts of the old wall were entire; in many places the foundations still remained; there were all the materials of the old wall still at hand; and though they had to clear and carry away much rubbish, yet they do not appear to have had any stones to quarry. The work mentioned here was little when compared to what Caesar did in Gaul and other places; and to what Titus did at Jerusalem, who built a wall round Jerusalem of five thousand paces in three days, besides, thirteen towers of ten stadia in circuit. And Quintus Curtius and Arrian inform us that Alexander the Great built the walls of Alexandria, on the Tanais, which were nearly eight miles in compass, in the space of between twenty and thirty days. Nehemiah therefore had time sufficient in fifty-two days to repair and restore the walls of Jerusalem. See Calmet on this place.

15–19. The Completion of the Wall (Nehemiah 6:15); and the impression produced (Nehemiah 6:16): treasonable correspondence (Nehemiah 6:17-19)15. Elul] This month, which is the same as the Assyrian U-lu-lu, corresponds to the end of August and beginning of September. It is mentioned in 1Ma 14:27. The 25th of Elul would be September 444. Elul, the 6th of the sacred year, was the last month of the civil year. in fifty and two days] Nehemiah is evidently calling attention to the remarkable rapidity with which the wall was built. But though a remarkable performance, there is nothing incredible in it; and the suggestion to append to the text ‘and two years’ (so Ewald) would give a period of time strangely at variance with the description of haste and urgency in chap. 5. It is true this would nearly agree with Josephus’ statement that the wall took two years and four months building; but Josephus’s chronology is not to be preferred to our text, when the LXX. and the Vulgate show no variation. We do not know the grounds which Josephus had for giving ‘two years and four months;’ but even this circumstantial statement disagrees with the proposed reading. In order to account for the speed with which the wall was built, we must bear in mind, (a) that large numbers of people were employed upon the work, and a thorough system of distribution facilitated its execution; (b) the walls in many parts probably only required repairing, while the materials for the most part lay all ready to hand: (c) Nehemiah and his companions constantly stimulated the people to persevere in the work: (d) according to a very reasonable computation, the 40 lots into which the wall (cf. ch. 3) was distributed averaged about 80 yards apiece, and many lots were omitted in the list. For another instance of the rapid erection of walls under patriotic stimulus, compare the action of Themistocles and the Athenians (see Grote’s Hist. of Greece, vol. IV. p. 333 f.).

Elul - The sixth month, corresponding to the latter part of August and the beginning of September. In fifty and two days - Josephus states that the repairs of the wall occupied two years and four months.

15. Elul — The sixth month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, corresponding nearly to our September. Fifty and two days back from the twenty-fifth of Elul would bring us to the third of the preceding month, Ab.