Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 2:15
Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and [so] returned.
15. Then went I up ] The tense in the original denotes the gradual progress.
by the brook ] i.e. the ‘nakhal’ or ‘brook’ ( ) of Kedron. Leaving the ruined line of wall, he goes down to the hollow of the Kedron valley, and proceeds northward ‘up’ the stream, surveying the remains of the walls that crowned the steep declivity on his left.
and turned back ] R.V. and I turned back. This word has been taken to mean not a retracing of his steps, but the turn westward in his route, which would lead eventually in the direction from which he had started. After leaving the Kedron valley the journey would not be so difficult, being probably on the more level ground where the ruins had been cleared; or where less destruction had been wrought. The absence of mention of any spot on the N. or N.W. wall has caused others to suppose that Nehemiah ‘turned back,’ having seen enough, without completing his circuit of the walls. More probably we have here an instance of condensation on the part of the compiler who at this point passes at once to the return journey, without giving us sufficient material to judge whether the complete circuit of the walls was made.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The brook – The Kidron watercourse, which skirted the city on the east.
Turned back – i. e. he turned westward, and having made the circuit of the city, re-entered by the valley-gate.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. By the brook] Kidron.
By the gate of the Valley] The valley through which the brook Kidron flowed. It was by this gate he went out; so he went all round the city, and entered by the same gate from which he had gone out.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By the brook of Kidron; of which See Poole “2Sa 15:23“. And so returned; having gone round about the city.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Then went I up . . . by thebrookthat is, Kedron.
and entered by the gate ofthe valley, and so returnedthe gate leading to the valley ofJehoshaphat, east of the city. He went out by this gate, and havingmade the circuit of the city, went in by it again [BARCLAY,City of the Great King].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then went I up in the night by the brook,…. The brook Kidron:
and viewed the wall; that was on that side:
and turned back; did not go quite round the wall, the way perhaps being obstructed with rubbish, and was unpassable or he had not time to do it:
and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned; into the city, the same way he went out of it, Ne 2:13.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Then I (went on) ascending the valley and viewing the wall, and so entered by the valley-gate, and returned. with the participle expresses the continuance of an action, and hence in this place the continuous ascent of the valley and survey of the wall. The which he ascended was doubtless the valley of Kidron ( , 2Sa 20:23; 1Ki 2:37, and elsewhere). are connected, expressing merely the idea of repetition (Gesenius, heb. Gram. 142, 3): I came again into the valley-gate. Older expositors incorrectly explain these words to mean, I turned round, traversing again the road by which I had come; Bertheau: I turned to go farther in a westerly direction, and after making the circuit of the entire city, I re-entered by the valley-gate. This sense is correct as to fact, but inadmissible, as requiring too much to complete it. If we take adverbially, these completions are unnecessary. Nehemiah does not give the particulars of the latter portion of his circuit, but merely tells us that after having ascended the valley of Kidron, he re-entered by the valley-gate, and returned to his residence, obviously assuming, that from the upper part of the vale of Kidron he could only return to the valley-gate at the west by passing along the northern part of the wall.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(15) By the gate of the valley, and so returned.The itineration seems to have completed the circuit of the walls.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Then went I up by the brook He probably left his beast by the king’s pool, and went on foot up the brook, or valley of the Kedron, and viewed the wall on the east side of the city; then he turned back, walking down the brook Kedron again to the place where he left his beast, and then rode back around the southern and western walls, and again entered the city by the same gate of the valley through which he had gone out.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Neh 2:15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and [so] returned.
Ver. 15. Then went I up in the night ] sc. By moonlight; for the moon is mistress of the night, Psa 136:9 , by the brightness she borroweth from the body of the sun, which the moon receiveth and reflecteth, like a lookingglass.
And viewed the wall
And entered by the gate of the valley
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the brook. Hebrew. nahal, a torrent, mostly fed by rains. Not nahar, a constant river.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the brook: The brook Kidron, 2Sa 15:23, Jer 31:38-40, Joh 18:1
the gate: The gate leading to the valley of Jehoshaphat, east of the city, through which the brook Kidron flows. It was by this gate he went out; so that he went round the whole of the city, and entered by the same gate. Neh 2:13