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The Walls Dedicated
v. 27. And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, at the formal celebration following its completion, they sought the Levites out of all their places, since they were scattered throughout the province, Neh_11:20-36, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps, with psalms of praise accompanied by instruments, as used in the Temple orchestra.
v. 28. And the sons of the singers, the guild, or company, of singers as taken from the Levitical families, gathered themselves together, both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem, that is, from the surrounding villages, and from the villages of Netophathi, a town near Bethlehem, where the singers seem to have settled;
v. 29. also from the house of Gilgal, Beth-gilgal, also near Bethlehem, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, both of these towns apparently north of Jerusalem; for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem, within easy walking distance of the capital.
v. 30. And the priests and the Levites purified themselves and purified the people and the gates and the wall, most likely by a series of prescribed sacrifices and such other ceremonies as the Law and custom demanded.
v. 31. Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, literally, "two great thanksgivings," whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall, starting out from the Valley Gate and headed by the one company of singers, toward the Dung Gate, to the south;
v. 32. and after them went Hoshaiah and half of the princes of Judah, as Nehemiah had arranged the procession,
v. 33. and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam,
v. 34. Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,
v. 35. and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets, the blowing of which was a special priestly privilege; namely, Zechariah, the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph;
v. 36. and his brethren: Shemaiah, and Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God, those chosen and invented by David for the Temple orchestra, and Ezra, the scribe, before them. Thus the procession went to the south and then turned to the east.
v. 37. And at the Fountain Gate, which was over against them, near the Pool of Siloam, they went up by the stairs of the City of David, leaving the wall at the Tower of Siloam, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, ascending the stairs where the wall loomed up above the house of David, even unto the Water Gate eastward, which seems to have been a gate in the inner wall. This company had thus passed along and viewed the entire southern half of the city wall.
v. 38. And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them, starting out in the opposite direction from the Valley Gate, or that of Jaffa, and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces, that is, past this tower, even unto the Bread Wall, beyond the corner gate on the northwest;
v. 39. and from above the Gate of Ephraim, near the northwestern corner of the city, and above the old gate, almost at the northeastern corner, and above the Fish Gate, in the eastern wall, north of the Temple mount, and the Tower of Hananeel, and the Tower of Meah, these two structures bearing the names of their builders, even unto the Sheep Gate, which was in the eastern wall, near the Temple; and they stood still in the Prison Gate, the high gate at the end of the inner wall, to which point the other company had progressed, at the bridge spanning the Tyropoeon Valley.
v. 40. So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, and I and the half of the rulers with me;
v. 41. and the priests: Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;
v. 42. and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah, their overseer, the leader of the chorus.
v. 43. Also that day they offered great sacrifices, thank-offerings combined with a great sacrificial feast, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the wives also and the children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem, the shouting and singing and the reports of the glad rejoicing, was heard even afar off. All the services of the Christians express the joy of their hearts over the salvation in Jesus Christ and over the many blessings which the Lord gives them even here in time.