Nehemiah 7:1

Nehemiah 7:1-5. Nehemiah's dispositions for the protection of the City

1. the doors We saw in Nehemiah 6:1 that this alone remained to be done to complete the walls. Those who were responsible for the doors are mentioned in Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 3:3; Nehemiah 3:6; Nehemiah 3:13-15. Nehemiah's completion of the great work is celebrated by the son of Sirach, -And among the elect was Neemias whose renown is great, who raised up for us the walls that were fallen, and set up the gates and the bars, and raised up our ruins again" (Sir 49:13).

the porters and the singers and the Levites The -porters" were a guild whose ordinary duty it was to guard the entrances and defences of the Temple. In the unsettled state of affairs, when he was in constant expectation of attacks from without, and was conscious of intrigues going on within the walls, Nehemiah entrusted the protection of the whole city to this body of trained -police," and augmented their force by other available trained bands, i.e. the musicians and the main body of Levites, who assisted the priests in the Temple services. The mention of -the Levites" generally afterthat of the two special classes is noticeable, but in some measure they were regarded in Nehemiah's time as distinct, cf. Nehemiah 12:47; Nehemiah 13:5-10. They were already a disciplined and organised set of men. The great majority could apparently be relied on to support the policy of Nehemiah and Ezra. Nehemiah put the keeping of the walls into their hand, with the duty of superintending the watch, and of organising a system of sentinel-work among the citizens themselves (Nehemiah 7:3). The fact that Nehemiah thus trusted these Levites, and Temple servants, indicates that they sympathised with him in his scheme of a religious constitution for the Jews, which would completely exclude the Samaritan and the foreigner.