It appears that Jerusalem’s city walls were finished some months prior to their dedication. Ezra left Babylon in the first day of the first month in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes (Xerxes in secular history), and arrived in Jerusalem four months later in the first day of the fifth month (Ezra 7:1, 8-9). After he learned about the grave sin of the Jews in mixing with the heathen in marriage (Ezra 9:1-5), he met with the nobility, the rulers of the people, the Levites and the common folk (Ezra 10:1-5). He began doing this, as all Israel were coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the annual feast days occurring in the seventh month of the year, beginning on the first day of the month. It was on this day, the Feast of Trumpets, that Ezra read from the Law of Moses and convicted the Jews of their great sin of rebellion, and they wept (Nehemiah 8:1-9). However, the seventh month was a time of remembering and rejoicing in the great things the Lord had done for their ancestors, so the people were encouraged to rejoice, instead of mourning (Nehemiah 8:9-10).
Afterward, when the celebrations ceased, the children of Israel met on the twenty-fourth day of the month fasting and repenting of their sin. At this time, they began to separate themselves from the heathen, and they confessed their sin and that of their fathers before the Lord (Nehemiah 9:1-2). Such a matter has complicated results, so the thing took time to complete, before arrangements could be made to formally conclude the matter with a covenant to obey the Law of Moses and return wholly to the Lord. So, when the word went out from Jerusalem for the Jews to assemble themselves before the Lord, they were given three days to do so,[1] and in the twentieth day of the ninth month the people sat trembling in the street of the Temple (Ezra 10:9). They were clearly told their sin and what they needed to do, and they repented before the Lord, saying they would enter into a covenant with the Lord to obey the Law of Moses (Ezra 10:10-12). Therefore, times were appointed, beginning with the first day of the tenth month, for different groups to appear before the Lord and formally admit their sin and promise to repent and obey the Law of Moses. By the first day of the first month of the eighth year in the reign of the king of Persia, the matter was concluded (Ezra 10:17).
Therefore, it would have been ludicrous to dedicate the wall of Jerusalem prior to the people repenting of their rebellion against their God. Although the wall was probably finished months before its dedication, it would have been hypocritical to rejoice in the Lord’s protection, if Israel lived in a state of rebellion. Just as Jerusalem’s wall was unable to save the Jews from the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, so it would be frivolous and foolish to rejoice in its completion, when the Jews weren’t in a position, where the Lord would protect them from their enemies.
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[1] This particular meeting may have been only for the leaders of the Jews throughout the province of Judah, for the text admits the people were many and the work was great (Ezra 10:13). The text mentions only the rulers of the people having to stand and act (Ezra 10:14).
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