(38) The other company.--Comparing the order with Nehemiah 3, the reader will have a clear view of the second company. They had the longer route, proceed. ing to the left, rounding the north "broad wall," passing the sheep-gate, and so meeting the priestly company near the prison-gate. The space where they met had the Temple straight in front, the prison-gate on the right, and the water-gate on the left.

Verses 38, 39. - And the other company. Nehemiah now proceeds to trace the course of the other choir or procession - the one which he himself accompanied. Starting from the same part of the western wall as the other, its course was northward to the N.W. angle of the city wall, after which it was eastward to the "sheep gate, and then southward to the "prison gate." In this part of his description Nehemiah traces the same portion of the wall as that which had engaged his attention in Nehemiah 3:1-11, and mentions almost exactly the same features, but in the reverse order. For the tower of the furnaces see Nehemiah 3:11; for the broad wall, ver. 8; for the old gate, ver. 6; for the fish gate, ver. 3; for the tower of Hananeel, the tower of Meah, and the sheep gate, ver. 1. The gate of Ephraim is not mentioned in ch. 3. It must have been in the north wall, a little to the west of the "old gate." The prison gate, also omitted in ch. 3, was probably in the east wall, a little north of the water gate.

12:27-43 All our cities, all our houses, must have holiness to the Lord written upon them. The believer should undertake nothing which he does not dedicate to the Lord. We are concerned to cleanse our hands, and purify our hearts, when any work for God is to pass through them. Those that would be employed to sanctify others, must sanctify themselves, and set themselves apart for God. To those who are sanctified, all their creature-comforts and enjoyments are made holy. The people greatly rejoiced. All that share in public mercies, ought to join in public thanksgivings.And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them,.... On the left hand, on the northern part of the wall:

and I after them; Nehemiah, he brought up the rear of his company, as Ezra led the van of his:

and the half of the people upon the wall; the chief of them, for all could not walk upon it:

from beyond the tower of the furnaces; where they baked their bread, or their bricks, see Nehemiah 3:11,

even unto the broad wall; where the wall was broader than common, for some reason or another, see Nehemiah 3:8.