Broad Wall
Broad Wall is a structure mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. It appears across 2 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
The Broad Wall was a massive defensive fortification built along the western side of ancient Jerusalem, mentioned twice in the book of Nehemiah in connection with the great rebuilding of the city's walls following the return from Babylonian exile (Nehemiah 3:8; 12:38). When Nehemiah organized the community of returned exiles to rebuild the ruined walls in 444 BC, various sections were assigned to different groups of workers. The Broad Wall formed a key segment of the northwestern defensive perimeter of the city. Its name derived from its exceptional thickness, which ancient descriptions and archaeological discovery confirm as unusually substantial compared to ordinary city walls. The Broad Wall's existence prior to Nehemiah suggests it was part of a late monarchic expansion of Jerusalem, possibly built by Hezekiah in preparation for the Assyrian siege of 701 BC, as implied by 2 Chronicles 32:5. In this interpretation, Nehemiah's workers were not building anew but restoring a wall that had stood as a symbol of Judahite sovereignty before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The Broad Wall is one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries in Jerusalem, uncovered by Nahman Avigad during excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City between 1969 and 1982. The exposed section measures approximately 65 meters in length and 7 meters in width, making it one of the thickest ancient walls discovered in Israel. Pottery and stratigraphic evidence date its original construction to the late 8th century BC, consistent with the reign of Hezekiah. The wall incorporated earlier structures, indicating rapid construction in response to military threat. The discovery confirmed the westward expansion of Jerusalem during the late monarchic period and validates the biblical account in both 2 Chronicles and Nehemiah.
Verse Appearances (2)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]