Nehemiah 5:1-13

Nehemiah 5:1–13 KJV (WS)

1 And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. 2 For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. 3 Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. 4 There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards. 6 And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. 7 Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. 8 And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. 9 Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? 10 I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury. 11 Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. 12 Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. 13 Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise.

Introduction

It’s time for another problem to be so graciously dealt with by our subject Nehemiah.

With any pice of literature, it can be a challenge not to make things appear one-dimensional.

Great stories are able to show us the many different facets of a situation.

Nehemiah could have very easily been a one-dimensional book.

The wall, the wall, the wall.

But it’s not.

Nehemiah transparently reveals the different challenges that he and the people faced.

I don’t think Nehemiah was surprised.

He knew that moving a people from a place of weakness to a place of health would have a wide variety of obstacles to overcome.

We see one of those obstacles this morning.

I know you’re not going to believe this, but the problem stems from money.

The people complain to Nehemiah about their financial situation. 1-5

There are a couple of things going on in Jerusalem that have led to a bad economy in Jerusalem.

Some things had happened that were beyond anyone’s control.

The building of the wall did not create the problem, it revealed it.

Building programs test our faith, patience, and priorities.

They can bring out the best or the worst of people.

Vs 3 mentions a famine that had taken place, probably before Nehemiah had ever even showed up.

The threats of attack, that we have looked at previously, may have kept people in the cities and out of the fields.

It certainly seems like the project had distressed their neighbors so that trade had stopped.

As we will see, whatever the original reason, the current problem has become that rich Jews were taking advantage of poor Jews.

This caused much consternation among those that had been forced to borrow money and were now powerless to repay it.

They felt like they were being taken advantage of by the other richer Jews.

One of the ways that we can see this is by who does the crying out.

Nehemiah specifically points out that it was the women that were bringing this to the forefront.

Wives had been left alone by husbands working on the wall.

They had been left holding the bag, by and large, while dad spent day and night working.

The contents of that bag were nothing to cheer about.

There were 3 main groups of Jews who were suffering.

In vs 2, we see large families, without property, struggling to provide food for their children.

In vs 3, we see families with property that were mortgaging their property in order to buy food.

Finally, in vs 4, we see those that had to take out loans in order to pay their taxes.

As a result of these situations of financial distress, Vs 5 details a complaint brought by all 3 groups.

Whether they had property or not, each of these groups had exhausted their ability to acquire more property.

The last straw that they had burned was when they had put up their children as collateral.

They were giving their children as security in order to get food for the rest of the family.

Now they want their children back and they have no “power to redeem” them back, according to vs 5.

One of the reasons for the increased passion about this problem is what was going on with their indentured daughters.

Their daughters were being abused.

They had been forced into marriage by their owners.

They had been molested by the rich Jews that had taken them.

This was not a good situation.

All of this was against the law.

Lending with interest was illegal among the Jews.

Nehemiah reacts to the situation that he has been made aware of. 6-11

His first reaction was to be angry, very angry.

Think about how much love Nehemiah has already proven he has for the people of Jerusalem.

Think about how much he has already sacrificed to protect in undefended people.

Despite his anger, Nehemiah did not react in the adrenaline rush of anger.

He took time to think about what he should do.

After taking counsel with himself, Nehemiah delivers a scathing rebuke of the rulers.

For the sake of the whole community, this cannot be allowed to continue.

It was an important enough issue that he interrupted the wall project.

He called everyone together.

From the richest to the poorest, everyone needed to hear what he had to say.

He first rebukes the rich for exacting usury of their brethren.

Exacting usury means charging exorbitant interest.

Multiple authors liken it to a modern pawn broker.

Taking advantage of someone in need by taking their possessions.

Turning around and selling it for more so that you can increase your wealth.

Greed was one of the sins that led to the exile in the first place.

Next, Nehemiah puts pressure on them by reminding them of what had been going on back in Persia.

Many Jews in exile had been enslaved.

Nehemiah and others had worked to free those that were in captivity.

Now he comes to Jerusalem and finds that the Jews were actually enslaving each other.

They had freed slaves from foreign masters only to subdue them under domestic masters.

This is ridiculous.

What would Persians think if they heard about this?

This is a horrible testimony.

Nehemiah then includes himself in his speech.

Interesting to see what different commentators say about vs 10.

Some say Nehemiah is admitting to participating in the problem.

It seems more likely that Nehemiah was lending money but without interest.

This is a much more appropriate interpretation. it matches with Nehemiah’s character.

It gives him the ability to ask the rulers to follow his example.

That’s how Nehemiah concludes his speech.

He asks them to stop charging interest.

He asks them to restore the lands and property that they had taken.

He asks them to restore the interest they had been charging.

1% a month would translate to 12% a month.

That gives you a glimpse into how bad things had gotten.

The rulers make things right with the people. 12-13

Lenders gave back all the profit from the loans.

They returned the property to the people that had borrowed.

Nehemiah had the priests come out to observe and serve as witness to the decision.

This was both an economic and a spiritual decision.

We are stewards of all that God has given us; not just the tithes and offerings we may give back to him.

Finally, Nehemiah shook out his lap as a sign of the judgment that God would bring against those who did not follow through.

Lap is a pocket.

God is going to shake you down if you don’t follow good business practices.

The event concluded with the people praising God and obeying Nehemiah.

I bet those people that owed money were the most eager to praise God.

It is amazing to see the lenders giving people back their property.

The people of Jerusalem obeyed their governor and ceased to take advantage of there brethren

Application

If there is anything that we can take from this passage it should be a lesson on how we are to treat one another.

4x in Nehemiah’s speech he reminds the people that they are brothers.

We are very familiar with this terminology, it’s how we refer to each other here.

We ought to have a love for each other.

We ought to have a desire and recognize a responsibility to protect one another.

This is especially true for those who are going through a difficult time.

We are not pawn brokers.

We do not help someone with an expectation of using that to increase our own standing.

Remember, Jesus said in the sermon on the mount that we are even supposed to let one hand know what the other hand is doing.

Charity for the purpose of elevating ourselves or making others indebted to us is un-christian.

It has no place among brethren.

There are more ways than one to be guilty of the behavior we see her.

People are desperate today.

It is in our power to help them.

We must be careful that we do not act like these rich ones in Jerusalem.

God does not look favorably upon those who lord over others.

Conclusion

Nehemiah once again