Completion of the Walls (6:15–19)

So the wall was completed … in fifty-two days (6:15). The date, Elul 25 (the sixth month), would have been October 27, 445 B.C. Josephus assigns two years and four months for rebuilding the walls, but his account has no independent value.212 The archaeological investigations of Kenyon help to confirm the biblical text. Her discoveries indicate that the circuit of the wall in Nehemiah’s day was much reduced. She found what she believes was part of Nehemiah’s wall on the crest of the rock scarp on the summit of Ophel: “It was solidly built, c. 2.75 metres thick, but its finish was rough, as might be expected in work executed so rapidly.”213 Remarkably, the walls neglected for nearly a century and a half were rebuilt in less than two months when the people were galvanized into action by the catalyst of Nehemiah’s leadership.

Section of wall in City of David Area G attributed by some to Nehemiah

Todd Bolen/www.BiblePlaces.com