two · conjunction + cardinal number, both genders dual absolute
days
יֽוֹםYom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine 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 4:1-2 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.
Psalms 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and…
Ezra 6:15 And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince sh…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 6:15–end
Nehemiah is here finishing the wall of Jerusalem, and yet still has trouble created him by his enemies.
I. Tobiah, and the other adversaries of the Jews, had the mortification to see the wall built up, notwithstanding all their attempts to hinder it. The wall was begun and finished in fifty-two days, and yet we have reason to believe they rested on the sabbaths, Neh 6:15. Many were employed, and there was room for them; what they did they did cheerfully, and minded their business because they loved it. The threats of their enemies, which were intended to weaken them, it is likely, quickened them to go on with their work the more vigorously, that they might get it done before the enemy came.…
Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah, &c.--This man was the son of a priest, who was an intimate and confidential friend of Nehemiah. The young man claimed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy. Having been secretly bribed by Sanballat, he, in his pretended capacity of prophet, told Nehemiah that his enemies were that night to make an attempt upon his life. He advised him, at the same time, to consult his safety by concealing himself in the sanctuary, a crypt which, from its sanctity, was strong and secure. But the noble-minded governor determined at all hazards to remain at his post, and not bring discredit on the cause of God and religion by his unworthy cowardice in leaving the t…
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,…
The Church Fathers
Now the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, etc. The month Elul, according to the Hebrews, is the sixth month of the year, which the Romans call September. And rightly is the wall of the holy city completed in the sixth month of the year, so that the perfect action of the faithful, whether penitents or innocents, is also designated in this ultimate time. For the number six usually signifies the perfection of good works; either because the Lord completed the creation of the world on the sixth day, and on the seventh He rested; or because we are to labor in good works in the six ages of this present world, and to hope for the Sabbath of souls in the seventh age, which is in the life to come. Rightly is it completed on the twenty-fifth day of the same month, on account of the five senses of the body, by the ministry of which good works are to be performed externally. For as the simple number five usually signifies these senses, so when it is multiplied by itself and brought to twenty-five, it demonstrates these same senses with greater perfection. Thus we complete the wall of Jerusalem on the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month, when diligently consecrating all the senses of our body to divine services, we bring the endeavors of virtues begun to a firm end, and faithfully complete with the help of the Lord what we have begun to do for the strengthening of Catholic peace. This wall is also rightly said to have been completed in fifty-two days; for the fiftieth psalm is the psalm of penitence and forgiveness, in which also the Prophet specifically prays about the building of this city, saying: "Deal favorably, O Lord, in Thy good will with Zion, that the walls of Jerusalem may be built" (Psalm 51). On the fiftieth day of the Lord's resurrection, the Holy Spirit came to the primitive Church, through whom the devotion of repentance is infused in us, and the gift of pardon is granted to penitents. Moreover, there are two precepts of charity, namely the love of God and the love of neighbor, through which, granted to us by the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins is given, and we are commanded to labor for the attainment of eternal life. Therefore, most fittingly, the citizens rebuilding the wall of the holy city, which had been destroyed by enemies, restore it in fifty-two days, because this indeed is the perfection of the just in this…
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
Elul — (Neh. 6:15), the name of the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year, and the twelfth of the civil year. It began with the new moon of our August and September, and consisted of twenty-nine days.
Month — Among the Egyptians the month of thirty days each was in use long before the time of the Exodus, and formed the basis of their calculations. From the time of the institution of the Mosaic law the…
Elul · The Jews finish the wall of — The Jews finish the wall of
Months · Names of the twelve: Sixth, Elul — Names of the twelve: Sixth, Elul
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).
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 time that Sanballat sent his letter to Nehemiah, when no more were wanting than to set the doors upon the gates, Nehemiah 6:1, but rather these, with Jarchi, must be reckoned from the time the building was begun; which, reckoning back from the twenty fifth of Elul, it will appear it was begun the third day of the fifth month Ab; nor need this be thought incredible, considering the number of workmen, their ardour and diligence in building, and that the walls were not wholly built all around, only re…
The wall completed, and the impression made by this work upon the enemies of the Jews. - Neh 6:15 The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, i.e., of the sixth month, in fifty-two days. According to this statement, it must have been begun on the third day of the fifth month (Ab). The year is not mentioned, the before-named (Neh 2:1) twentieth year of Artaxerxes being intended. This agrees with the other chronological statements of this book. For, according to Neh 2:1, it was in Nisan (the first month) of this year that Nehemiah entreated permission of the king to go to Jerusalem; and we learn from Neh 5:14 and Neh 13:6 that he was governor in Jerusalem from the twentiet…
just fifty-two days: Everyone realized that the help of our God was what made such success possible (see also 1:11; 2:8, 18, 20; 4:15, 20).
Rashi on Nehemiah 6:15
on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Ellul, in the twentieth year of King Darius, for in the twentieth year of Darius, Nehemiah went up from Babylon, and in that year he built the ruins of Jerusalem.
after fifty-two days The construction of the wall was completed fifty-two days after they had started building it.
