2 Chronicles 33:14

“Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, etc.] Which perhaps had been broken down by the Assyrian army, when it came and took him; Vitringa f146 thinks this is the wall of the pool of Siloah, (<160315>Nehemiah 3:15) which seems to be the first and oldest wall, as Josephus f147; for that turning to the north bent towards the pool of Siloam; an Arabic writer f148 calls it the southern wall: on the west side of Gihon; on the west side of the city, towards Gihon; for that was to the west of it, (<143230>2 Chronicles 32:30), in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate; through which the fish were brought from Joppa, and where, according to the Targum, they were sold:…”

“he built a wall without the city . . . on the west side of Gihon . . . even to the entering in at the fish gate--"The well-ascertained position of the fish gate, shows that the valley of Gihon could be no other than that leading northwest of Damascus gate, and gently descending southward, uniting with the TyropÅ“on at the northeast corner of Mount Zion, where the latter turns at right angles and runs towards Siloam. The wall thus built by Manasseh on the west side of the valley of Gihon, would extend from the vicinity of the northeast corner of the wall of Zion in a northerly direction, until it crossed over the valley to form a junction with the outer wall at the trench of Antonia,…”

“Rather, “he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west of Gihon-in-the-valley.” The wall intended seems to have been that toward the northeast, which ran from the vicinity of the modern Damascus gate across the valley of Gihon, to the “fish-gate” at the northeast corner of the “city of David.” We may gather from this verse that, late in his reign, Manasseh revolted from the Assyrians, and made preparations to resist them if they should attack him. Assyria began to decline in power about 647 B.C., and from that time her outlying provinces would naturally begin to fall off. Manasseh reigned until 642 B.C. return to 'Top of Page'”

“33:14-17 Manasseh might have been repairing damage done to the walls when he was taken captive. His religious reforms were similar to Hezekiah’s but incomplete; Josiah later removed the Temple altars that Manasseh built (2 Kgs 23:12).”

“am 3327-3361, bc 677-643 he built: Ch2 32:5 Gihon: Ch2 32:30; Kg1 1:33, Kg1 1:45 fish gate: Neh 3:3, Neh 12:39; Zep 1:10 Ophel: or, the tower, Ch2 27:3; Neh 3:26, Neh 3:27 put: Ch2 11:11, Ch2 11:12, Ch2 17:19 2 Chronicles 33:15”

“After his return, Manasseh took measures to secure his kingdom, and especially the capital, against hostile attacks. "He built an outer wall of the city of David westward towards Gihon in the valley, and in the direction of the fish-gate; and he surrounded the Ophel, and made it very high." The words היצונה חומה (without the article) point to the building of a new wall. But since it has been already recorded of Hezekiah, in Ch2 32:5, that he built "the other wall without," all modern expositors, even Arnold in Herz.'s Realenc. xviii. S. 634, assume the identity of the two walls, and understand ויּבן of the completion and heightening of that "other wall" of which it is said מאד ויּגבּיהה, and…”