Nehemiah 12:38 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Nehemiah 12:38
And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them, and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall;
a wall of protection · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Nehemiah 3:8 Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecarie…
Nehemiah 3:11 Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired the other piece, and the tower of the furnaces.
Nehemiah 12:31 Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, whereof one went on the ri…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 12:27-43
We have read of the building of the wall of Jerusalem with a great deal of fear and trembling; we have here an account of the dedicating of it with a great deal of joy and triumph. Those that sow in tears shall thus reap.
I. We must enquire what was the meaning of this dedication of the wall; we will suppose it to include the dedication of the city too (continens pro contentothe thing containing for the thing contained), and therefore it was not done till the city was pretty well replenished, Neh 11:1. It was a solemn thanksgiving to God for his great mercy to them in the perfecting of this undertaking, of which they were the more sensible because of the difficulty and opposition they had me…
at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem--This ceremony of consecrating the wall and gates of the city was an act of piety on the part of Nehemiah, not merely to thank God in a general way for having been enabled to bring the building to a happy completion, but especially because that city was the place which He had chosen. It also contained the temple which was hallowed by the manifestation of His presence, and anew set apart to His service. It was on these accounts that Jerusalem was called "the holy city," and by this public and solemn act of religious observance, after a long period of neglect and desecration, it was, as it were, restored to its rightful proprietor. The dedication cons…
The broad wall - What part this was, we know not: it might have been a place designed for a public promenade, or a parade for assembling the troops or guard of the temple.
John Gill on Nehemiah 12:38
And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them,.... On the left hand, on the northern part of the wall:
and I after them; Nehemiah, he brought up the rear of his company, as Ezra led the van of his:
and the half of the people upon the wall; the chief of them, for all could not walk upon it:
from beyond the tower of the furnaces; where they baked their bread, or their bricks, see Nehemiah 3:11,
even unto the broad wall; where the wall was broader than common, for some reason or another, see Nehemiah 3:8.
The Church Fathers
And a second chorus of those giving thanks went opposite, etc. It is long to discuss each gate or tower in particular; it suffices to say that those who completed the gates, towers, and wall of the city in great labor, hardship, hunger, cold, daily and nightly watchfulness, against an indefatigable and insidious enemy, then, with the enemy repelled and confounded, walking through the gates, towers, and buildings of the same city, rejoice together in songs and hymns, with psalteries, cymbals, lyres, trumpets, and thanksgiving, together with those who were the makers of the work and the teachers of God's law. It is doubtful to none that this also happens in the same manner in a spiritual edifice. When the time of ultimate retribution comes, as if by the long-desired dedication of the city of God, everlasting faith receives rewards for its works; when, like Nehemiah and Ezra, and the other priests and Levites, each presenting their laborers, all the teachers of the faithful people introduce those whom they have brought to the Lord to the walls of the heavenly homeland. Then, among other things, in the holy walls of the city, even upon the tower of the ovens, in whose structure they had labored before, Nehemiah advances with a chorus of praisers, while the teachers of truth rejoice in the sublime rewards of those they have taught. For if the breads of the ovens, which are baked in secret, signify the inner devotion of the faithful mind, confirmed by the fire of love; whence such breads are commanded by law to be offered as a sacrifice to the Lord (Leviticus II), which are more aptly figured by the ovens in which those same breads are baked than by their own hearts, which are always to burn with the flame of intimate love, and tend to produce acts and words of virtues. About which the prophet beautifully says: "Your Lord is a fire in Zion, and a furnace in Jerusalem" (Isaiah XXXI). And Luke himself about himself: "Was not our heart burning within us, while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke XXIV). And against, the hearts of the reprobate also burn, but with the fire of sins. Hence another prophet about them: "All of them are adulterers, like a heated oven" (Hosea VII). Therefore, the builders of the holy city build a tower of ovens among others, when the teachers establish the hearts of their hearers in faith and in the work of…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ezra — Help. (1.) A priest among those that returned to Jerusalem under Zerubabel (Neh. 12:1). (2.) The “scribe” who led the second body of exiles that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem B.C. 459, and…
Nehemiah — Comforted by Jehovah. (1.) Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7:7. (2.) Neh. 3:16. (3.) The son of Hachaliah (Neh. 1:1), and probably of the tribe of Judah. His family must have belonged to Jerusalem (Neh. 2:3). He was…
Oven — Heb. tannur, (Hos. 7:4). In towns there appear to have been public ovens. There was a street in Jerusalem (Jer. 37:21) called “bakers’ street” (the only case in which the name of a street in…
Shemaiah — Whom Jehovah heard. (1.) A prophet in the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:22-24). (2.) Neh. 3:29. (3.) A Simeonite (1 Chr. 4:37). (4.) A priest (Neh. 12:42). (5.) A Levite (1 Chr. 9:16). (6.) 1 Chr.…
Tower of the furnaces — (Neh. 3:11; 12:38), a tower at the north-western angle of the second wall of Jerusalem. It was probably so named from its contiguity to the “bakers’ street” (Jer. 37:21).
Dedication · Of the wall of — Of the wall of
Ezra · . — .
Levites, The · Services of: Conducting the sacred music — Services of: Conducting the sacred music
Tower · In the walls of — In the walls of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Nehemiah 12:27-43
The dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. - The measures proposed for increasing the numbers of the inhabitants of Jerusalem having now been executed (Neh 7:5 and Neh 11:1.), the restored wall of circumvallation was solemnly dedicated. Neh 12:27-29 treat of the preparations for this solemnity.
Neh 12:27
At the dedication (i.e., at the time of, בּ denoting nearness of time) they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to keep the dedication. Only a portion of the Levites dwelt in Jerusalem (Neh 11:15-18); the rest dwelt in places in the neighbourhood, as is more expressly stated in Neh 12:28 and Neh 12:29. ושׂמחה, to keep the dedication and joy, is not suitable,…
The second choir . . . went northward, up the western wall past the Broad Wall (3:8), the Old City Gate (3:6), and the Fish Gate (3:3), then across the northern side of the wall until it came to the Sheep Gate (3:1) on the northeast corner of the Temple. • The Guard Gate might be the Inspection Gate (3:31).
Rashi on Nehemiah 12:38
And the second thanksgiving offering, which went opposite [it] The other thanksgiving offering, which was second to its fellow, went opposite its fellow, alongside it, not one following the other.
and I was after it And I marched after it, [i.e.,] after the thanksgiving offering.
