The lodging of the merchants with their merchandise just outside Jerusalem during the Sabbath, marked their impatience for the moment when they might bring their wares in. This was thought by Nehemiah to be unseemly, and to have an irreligious tendency.
Related Commentaries of Nehemiah 13:21
Nehemiah 13:21
21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye aboutf the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.