As mentioned, the eastern side of the city of Jerusalem fell away sharply into a valley below (in which flowed the Brook Kidron). To expand the city, kings of the past had built a wall some distance from the natural edge of the precipice (obviously not following its entire length but where there was an indent in the natural edge) and filled in the ensuing cavity (2 Chronicles 27:3; 2 Chronicles 33:14). The term Ophel
actually means swelling
(referring to the city’s resulting expansion). It is unknown how much damage the Babylonians did to that wall or how much the wall deteriorated in the 140 years of neglect after the exile. In Nehemiah’s day temple servants lived on whatever was left of the original Ophel.
26 and the temple servants living on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower.