Nehemiah 12:30 - Exposition

The priests and the Levites purified themselves . On this occasion there is no preference of the Levites over the priests, as in 2 Chronicles 29:34 and Ezra 6:20 . Both classes were, it would seem, equally zealous, and equally forward to purify themselves. And the gates and wall. Inanimate things might contract legal defilement ( Deuteronomy 23:14 ; Le 14:34-53). In case either the wall or the gates should be in any such way unclean, they were made to undergo a legal purification before the ceremony of the dedication began.