The text describes his end point with three landmarks located adjacent to the line where the wall was being rebuilt: the point opposite the tombs of David,
as far as the artificial pool
and as far as the house of the mighty men.
The plural tombs
directs us to think of the royal cemetery instead of simply David’s own tomb. This cemetery is mentioned several times in the Old Testament (for example, 1 Kings 2:10; 1 Kings 11:43; 1 Kings 14:31); its location was still known in Luke’s day (Acts 2:29) but lost to us. Nearby was the artificial pool.
Perhaps this is the same pool that marked the terminus of Nehemiah’s night-time investigation (Nehemiah 2:14), where the slope and the stones made travel on donkey too dangerous. The third landmark, necessarily close to the cemetery and the pool, was the house of the mighty men,
a barracks for royal guards. Again, its location is lost to us, though clearly not to the people of Nehemiah’s day.
16 After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men.