I'M Not Coming Down
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Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.
In Chapter 5 of Nehemiah we see something uncovered, Not only was the walls of the city destroyed but the economic system was destroyed. In Chapter 5 we see 4 different groups of people that are effected by the economic condition Four different groups of people were involved in this crisis
The First Group was…
(Large Families with No Food)
First, there were the people who owned no land but who needed food (v. 2). The population was increasing; there was a famine (v. 3); and the people were hungry. These people could not help themselves so they cried out to Nehemiah for help.
The Second Group was…
(Large Mortgages (High Debt) who couldn’t buy Food)
The second group was composed of landowners who had mortgaged their property in order to buy food (v. 3). Apparently inflation was on the rise, and prices were going higher. The combination of debt and inflation is enough to wipe out a person’s equity very quickly.
The Third Group was…
(Large taxes forced to mortgage their land and in some cases sell their own children into slavery)
The third group complained because the taxes were too high, and they were forced to borrow money to pay them (v. 4). In order to borrow the money, they had to give security; and this meant eventually losing their property. The Persian king received a fortune in annual tribute, very little of which ever benefited the local provinces. Unlike our situation today, the taxes did not support local services; they only supported the king.
The fourth group was…
(The ones behind it all)
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The fourth group was made up of wealthy Jews who were exploiting their own brothers and sisters by loaning them money and taking their lands and their children for collateral (). Jewish boys and girls had to choose between starvation or servitude!
It was not unlawful for Jews to loan money to one another, but they were not to act like money lenders and charge interest (). They were to treat one another with love even in the matter of taking security (24:10–13; ) or making a brother a servant (). Both the people and the land belonged to the Lord, and He would not have anybody using either one for personal gain
The Building of the wall didn’t create these problems but simply revealed them.
Selfishness means putting myself at the center of everything and insisting on getting what I want when I want it. It means exploiting others so I can be happy and taking advantage of them just so I can have my own way. It is not only wanting my own way but expecting everybody else to want my way too. Why are selfish people so miserable? I think Thomas Merton said it best: “To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell.”
Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.
Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),
Neh
And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?”
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm.
I am not coming down because ...
I Have Been Commissioned
I Have Been Commissioned
Do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No, God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I still wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
I am not coming down because
I have a Compelling Purpose
I have a Compelling Purpose
And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
What are you Doing ?
What are you Doing ?
When are You Doing it ?
When are You Doing it ?
Why Are You Doing it ?
Why Are You Doing it ?
How Are You doing it ?
How Are You doing it ?
I Have A Clear Perspective
I Have A Clear Perspective
And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner.
In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.
Sanballat sent His servant= See people
Open Letter
I Don’t Have to Correct Rumors
I Don’t Have to Correct Rumors
In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king.
And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.”
A piece of false, slanderous and/or mean-spirited story that somebody tells about someone else. These stories are usually told because the victim of the rumor is smarter, more popular, wealthier, more successful, harder working, or nicer than the person who is spreading the rumor.Said rumor spreader often spreads remors becuase he has become jealous and wants to hurt the person who he is spreading a rumor about.
I Don’t Have to Chase Lies
I Don’t Have to Chase Lies
Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.”
But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.”
And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.
Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.
Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.”
So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.
For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.
Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.”
