So the wall was finished in the twenty fifth day of the month Elul,.... The sixth month, answering to part of August and part of September:in fifty and two days; which Aben Ezra reckons from the time that Sanballat sent his letter to Nehemiah, when no more were wanting than to set the doors upon the gates, Ne 6:1, but rather these, with Jarchi, must be reckoned from the time the building was begun; which, reckoning back from the twenty fifth of Elul, it will appear it was begun the third day of the fifth month Ab; nor need this be thought incredible, considering the number of workmen, their ardour and diligence in building, and that the walls were not wholly built all around, only repaired, and breaches made up, and much of the old materials were made use of, which were at hand, and stone unhewed, and especially being attended with the blessing of God, which succeeded the undertaking: nor are there wanting examples similar to this; and as it is observed by many from Curtius , the walls of new Alexandria, which were sixty furlongs in length, or more than seven miles, were finished in seventeen days; if Nicephorus is to be credited, the high walls which surrounded Constantinople, and were twenty miles in circumference, were finished in two months time.
Josephus is not to be regarded, who, contrary to the Scriptures says , this wall of Jerusalem was two years and four months in building. Hist. l. 7. c. 6. Justin e Trogo, l. 12. c. 5. Hist. l. 14. c.
1. Antiqu. l. 11. c. 5. sect.