We are told in the record that the House of God was completed in the sixth year of the king of Persia (Ezra 6:15),[1] which was done on the third day of the twelfth month in the Jewish calendar, the month of Adar. Nevertheless, nothing at all is mentioned pertaining to the time Jerusalem’s wall was finished.[2] This may have been due to the importance of the repenting process, which needed to be done before any wall of protection could be effective. Instead of mentioning the time of the completion of Jerusalem’s walls, we find the text unveiling the rebellion of the people at the coming of Ezra to Jerusalem in the fifth month of the calendar, during the seventh year of the king’s reign (Ezra 7:8-9; 9:1-5). What occurs afterward is months of mourning and repentance of that rebellion, as well as steps taken to rectify the evil that was committed by the nation, as a whole.
Now, after the first month of the Jewish calendar had begun, during the eighth year of the king’s reign, and a full two years after the completion of the House of God, the word had been sent out to bring the Levites to Jerusalem to organize the celebration of the wall’s dedication (Nehemiah 12:27-29). Many of them had built villages close to Jerusalem, so they would be at hand for purposes such as this to celebrate and rejoice before the Lord (cp. verse-29). Moreover, at this time both the priests and the Levites purified themselves, the people and the gates of the city in preparation for the celebration that would take place (Nehemiah 12:30).
Nehemiah organized the people into two great companies, that marched on the top of the city wall, beginning in the southern extremity of Jerusalem. One company climbed the steps to the eastern wall at the Dung Gate and the group extended to the next gate to the north, the Water Gate (Nehemiah 12:31-37). The second company of celebrants climbed the stairs opposite the first group, probably at the Fountain Gate on the western wall in southern Jerusalem, and marched north atop of the broad wall to the Gate of Ephraim in the west around the Old Gate on the north wall to the Fish Gate in the eastern wall, stopping at the Gate of the Guard (Eastern Gate) in front of the Temple of God, where the first company waited (Nehemiah 12:37-39)
At the climax of the event, the two choirs of Levites and the trumpeters stood in the House of God, and with them was Nehemiah and half of the rulers with him. The appropriate sacrifices were offered and the whole city rejoiced in the Lord, men, women and children, so that their joy could be heard afar off from the city’s limits (Nehemiah 12:40-43).
At that time certain Levites were appointed over the storehouses of the Temple treasuries, where the offerings, firstfruits and tithes were brought according to the Law of Moses (Nehemiah 12:44), because the people rejoiced in the services of both the priests and the Levites. All the formalities of the services done for the Lord, whether performed by the people, the Levites, the porters or the singers, were done according to the Law of Moses and the commandments made by David and his son, Solomon (Nehemiah 12:45-46). So, in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel willingly contributed portions from the blessings, which they received from the Lord, to the welfare and living of the singers and gatekeepers. The people gave to the Levites, and the Levites gave to the priests, everything in accordance with the Law of Moses (Nehemiah 12:47).
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[1] The reign of the king was reckoned from autumn to autumn, or the seventh month in the Jewish calendar to the seventh month in the following year. Other things were reckoned this way for political purposes. In an agrarian society, for example, it makes little sense to tax the people, when they plant their seed. It makes much better sense to tax them, when they have reaped their crops and have produce to sell and have ought to give the king.
[2] Nehemiah 6:15 pertains to closing the gaps in the wall’s foundation. There were many breaches in the wall, and verse-15 pertains to building the foundation of the wall, so there were no breaches left around the whole city. It would have made little sense to hang the gates in the wall, when much work was still to be done after the breaches were closed (Nehemiah 4:6-7, 19; cp. 6:1).
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