In our study of Nehemiah chapter five, we look at the opposition that Nehemiah faced from within the people of Israel. We will see how the failure of the people to follow the instructions of God led to problems among the brothers.
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Then there arose a great outcry from the common people and their wives against their brothers the [wealthier] Judeans. Some of them said, “Counting our sons and daughters, there are a lot of us! Allow us to get grain for them, so that we can eat and stay alive.”
The workers on the wall had given up there normal way of providing for their families. They did not have the time to work on the wall and on their farms or vineyards both so they left them to work on rebuilding the wall. Meanwhile, the family still required food.
There were also some who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, vineyards and homes in order to buy grain, because of the famine.”
In order to feed their families and work on the wall, they took out loans on their farms, vineyards, and homes.
Yet others said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s taxes against our fields and vineyards.
Even if they had food, they still required money to pay their property taxes.
Now our flesh is no different from the flesh of our kinsmen, and our children are the same as their children; yet we are bringing our sons and daughters into bondage as slaves. Some of our daughters have gone into slavery already, and it’s beyond our power to do anything about it, because other men have our fields and vineyards.”
Now, we see who was loaning the people the money and it was their rich Jewish brothers. They were not only taking their fields and vineyards but also their children. This was against God's laws that He gave to Moses. In Exodus 22:25, God forbid charging a brother interest and the instruction was repeated in Leviticus 25:35 and Deuteronomy 23:19.
When I heard their outcry and the reasons for it, I became very angry.
When the people made Nehemiah aware of the problem, it made him mad. Today, there are all kinds of anger management classes and such but, as we see here, there are situations where anger is appropriate. Just as Jesus was angry when the people were selling stuff in the temple, you can be angry without sinning.
I thought the matter over and then took issue with the nobles and rulers.
Nehemiah thought about it and then confronted them with what they were doing. It has been taught that the word "usury" in the Bible is talking about charging excessive interest but that is not what God said in Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:35, or Deuteronomy 23:19. God said not to charge your brothers ANY interest.
I charged them, “You are lending against pledges, everyone to his brother”; and I summoned a great assembly to deal with them. I said to them, “We, to the limit of our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Judeans who sold themselves to the pagans. Now you are selling your own brothers, and we will have to buy them back!” They stayed silent; they couldn’t think of anything to say.
After thought and prayer, Nehemiah called a meeting to deal with the problem. That is a good example for us as well in that, when we see brothers and sisters who are not following God's Word, we are called to lovingly inform them of the problem. Nehemiah reminds the people that they have been buying their brothers out of bondage but now they are putting them back into slavery. The people did not even argue as they understood that it was wrong.
I also said, “What you are doing is not good! You should be living in fear of our God, so that our pagan enemies won’t have grounds for deriding us. Moreover, my brothers and my servants, I too have loaned them money and grain. Please, let’s stop making it so burdensome to go into debt.
Nehemiah was a leader by example as he tells us that he and his men were lending the people money but without charging interest. He is basically asking the leaders what the Gentiles will say when they see them treating their brothers like this. We are called to help brothers and sisters in need and not to profit from their hardship. We have to ask ourselves the question: What will those who do not believe in Jesus think if they see us not following God's Word and treating our brothers and sisters wrongly?
Please! Today! Give them back their fields, vineyards, olive groves and homes; also the hundred pieces of silver and the grain, wine and olive oil you demand from them as interest.”
Nehemiah tells the rich people to return the stuff that they had taken from the poor. We also see that they had been charging what we would call an extremely low interest rate of 1% but even that went against the will and Word of God. What would God say about our credit cards and banking system today where the rates are many times more than what was being charged here?
They answered, “We will give it back. We will require nothing from them. Yes, we will do it, just as you say.” Then I called the cohanim and took an oath from them that they would do as they had promised.
The rich people agreed to give the stuff back but their word was not good enough. Nehemiah figured that anyone who would treat their brothers the way they had could not be trusted to keep their word. He got the priests and had them to swear an oath to God.
Shaking out the fold in my garment, I said, “May God thus shake every man from his house and from his work who fails to live up to this promise — may he be shaken out like this and made empty.” The whole assembly said, “Amen!” and praised Adonai; and the people did as they had promised.
Nehemiah also proclaimed a curse on anyone that did not repent and follow through on the promise to give it all back. He asked God to remove His blessings from them and all of the people agreed and kept their promise.
Besides that, from the time I was appointed their governor in the land of Y’hudah, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of Artach’shashta the king — that is, for twelve years — neither I nor my colleagues drew on the governor’s living allowance.
As the governor, it was the custom that food was brought to him on a regular basis. This food was like a tax on the people but Nehemiah and his brothers did not eat of it even though they were entitled to it.
The earlier governors, before me, had burdened the people, taxing them more than one-and-a-half pounds of silver shekels for food and wine; and even their servants lorded it over the people. But I didn’t, because I feared God.
We see that Nehemiah truly led by example as the governors before him had really taxed the people but he did not. He tells us that the reason that he did not do those things was because of the fact that he was a man of God. What would happen if more of our leaders in the church as well as in government would display this same attitude? The word reverence here really describes an attitude of fear in going against the will of God.
Moreover, I put all my energy into working on this wall. We didn’t buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work.
Nehemiah and his men focused on God's work instead of getting rich. That reminds us of Jesus' words, in Matthew 6:19-21, where He told us to store up treasures in heaven instead of here on earth where they are only temporary. We all have to examine ourselves to see what we are pursuing and where our heart is.
There were 150 leaders and other Judeans who ate at my table, besides those who came to us from the surrounding nations. Every day one ox, six choice sheep, and fowl were prepared for me, and every ten days a supply of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of all this, I never claimed the governor’s allowance, because the people were already bearing the heavy burden of their labor.
Nehemiah is not bragging but he simply informs the rich people about what he was doing to help the poor. He gives a list of the animals and wine that he was having to pay for each day. He reminds them that, as the governor, he could have gotten it for free but instead was paying for it on his own because the people were already carrying a heavy burden. This is a good example for the leaders of our day who are Christians and have so much but see their brothers without food or shelter and do nothing.
My God, remember favorably everything I have done for this people!
God will answer this prayer of Nehemiah's and He will do the same for us. We are told of two judgments in the book of Revelation. The first is salvation while the second is the judgment of the works of the children of God. It is at this point that what Nehemiah did for the people will be remembered just as our work for the kingdom will be remembered and rewarded.
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