Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 7:1-4
God saith concerning his church (Isa 62:6), I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem! This is Nehemiah's care here; for dead walls, without living watchmen, are but a poor defence to a city.
I. He appointed the porters, singers, and Levites, in their places to their work. This is meant of their work in general, which was to attend the temple service; it had been neglected in some degree, but now was revived. God's worship is the defence of a place, and his ministers, when they mind their duty, are watchmen on the walls. Or, in particular, he ordered them to be ready against the wall was to be dedicated, that they might perform that service in an orderly and solemn manner; and the dedi…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Nehemiah 7:4
Now the city was large and great--The walls being evidently built on the old foundations, the city covered a large extent of surface, as all Oriental towns do, the houses standing apart with gardens and orchards intervening. This extent, in the then state of Jerusalem, was the more observable as the population was comparatively small, and the habitations of the most rude and simple construction--mere wooden sheds or coverings of loose, unmortared stones.
Adam Clarke on Nehemiah 7:4
The houses were not builded - The city was not yet rebuilt, only a row of houses in the inside of the wall all round.
John Gill on Nehemiah 7:4
Now the city was large and great,.... The circumference of it, all within the wall; for that was built on its old foundation, and enclosed as much ground as ever it did: Hecataeus (b), an Heathen writer, says the circumference of Jerusalem was fifty furlongs, which was more than six miles; but Josephus (c) makes the circuit of it but thirty three furlongs or about six miles:
but the people were few therein; in comparison of the largeness of the place; for though there were 42,360 that came up at first with Zerubbabel, and many more with Ezra, yet a great number chose to settle in the towns and cities in the country, Jerusalem being in such a desolate condition:
and the houses were not buil…
