Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 2:9–end
We are here told,
I. Now Nehemiah was dismissed by the court he was sent from. The king appointed captains of the army and horsemen to go with him (Neh 2:9), both for his guard and to show that he was a man whom the king did delight to honour, that all the king's servants might respect him accordingly. Those whom the King of kings sends he thus protects, he thus dignifies with a host of angels to attend them.
II. How he was received by the country he was sent to.
1. By the Jews and their friends at Jerusalem. We are told,
(1.) That while he concealed his errand they took little notice of him. He was at Jerusalem three days (Neh 2:11), and it does not appear that any of the great men of the c…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Nehemiah 2:15
Then went I up . . . by the brook--that is, Kedron.
and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned--the gate leading to the valley of Jehoshaphat, east of the city. He went out by this gate, and having made the circuit of the city, went in by it again [BARCLAY, City of the Great King].
Adam Clarke on Nehemiah 2:15
By the brook - Kidron.
By the gate of the Valley - The valley through which the brook Kidron flowed. It was by this gate he went out; so he went all round the city, and entered by the same gate from which he had gone out.
John Gill on Nehemiah 2:15
Then went I up in the night by the brook,.... The brook Kidron:
and viewed the wall; that was on that side:
and turned back; did not go quite round the wall, the way perhaps being obstructed with rubbish, and was unpassable or he had not time to do it:
and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned; into the city, the same way he went out of it, Nehemiah 2:13.
Keil & Delitzsch on Nehemiah 2:15
Then I (went on) ascending the valley and viewing the wall, and so entered by the valley-gate, and returned. ואהי with the participle expresses the continuance of an action, and hence in this place the continuous ascent of the valley and survey of the wall. The נחל which he ascended was doubtless the valley of Kidron (קדרון נחל, Sa2 20:23; Kg1 2:37, and elsewhere). ואבוא ואשׁוּב are connected, שׁוּב expressing merely the idea of repetition (Gesenius, heb. Gram. 142, 3): I came again into the valley-gate. Older expositors incorrectly explain these words to mean, I turned round, traversing again the road by which I had come; Bertheau: I turned to go farther in a westerly direction, and after m…
