Neh 2:12

“and there were no animals with me The few men who were with me went by foot and I alone rode on an animal. They did not ride their horses because they wanted to leave the city in secret, without anyone knowing. They went to break and cast down the walls of the city at night and to increase their breaches in order that on the morrow, the people of the city would be eager and agree unanimously with Nehemiah to build the walls of the city. So it appears from the text.”

“And I went out by night, by the gate of the valley,.... Where that formerly stood, for the gates had been burnt, and were not as yet rebuilt; this was the gate that led to the valley of Jehoshaphat, according to some; or rather to the valley of dead bodies, through which the brook Kidron ran, see Ch2 26:9 it is the gate through which Christ went to Calvary; it led to Shiloh, Bethhoron, and Golan: even before the dragon well; so called from its winding about, just as a crooked winding river is called serpentine; though some think here stood an image of a dragon, either in wood, or stone, or brass, out of the mouth of which the water flowed from the well; and others, that since the desolations of Jerusalem, serpents or dragons had their abode here: and to the dung port; by which they used to carry the dung out of the city, and by which they went to Joppa, the sea, and all the western parts: and viewed the walls of Jerusalem: in what condition they were, what was necessary to be wholly taken down, and where to begin to build: it must have been a moonlight night or he could not have taken a view; for to have carried torches or lamps with them would have discovered them: and the gates thereof were consumed with fire; nothing of them remained.”