Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 5 Background Reading: Leviticus 25:35–46
The scene shifts. The previous chapter is all about the building of the wall and the opposition of the neighboring peoples. They represented an external threat. In response, Nehemiah demonstrated exceptional organizational genius in meeting that threat. Now, another threat looms large. This one is internal. The residents of Judea come to Nehemiah with a litany of complaints. The chapter begins: “Now there arose a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brothers” (v. 1). The timing is important. Now, while Nehemiah and all of the builders are trying to repair the walls, while the neighboring tribes are waging war against them, the farmers who are living in the countryside come with serious complaints. It is not only the men, but they are accompanied by their wives. This is unusual in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, for wives are seldom mentioned. Their concerns are not about repairing the wall, or even the attacks of the Samaritans and their allies. Their complaints are against “their Jewish brothers.”
There are serious troubles in Jerusalem, but there are even more serious troubles throughout Judea. The people of God are experiencing a huge financial crisis. There is a tremendous shortage of food, with countless children starving. Apparently some of the exiles who had returned to Judea have been blessed with large families, for some called attention to the fact that they had many sons and daughters (v. 2). They needed basic foodstuffs to prevent starvation. One of the causes, they said, was “the famine.” Scripture tells us that famines were often a sign of God’s judgment against his people. We read such warnings in Leviticus 19:19–20; in Deuteronomy 11:13–17; in Deuteronomy 28:22–24; in 1 Chronicles 21:11–12; and in Haggai 1:7–11. We read about it in the story of Jacob and his family, who had to go to Egypt to buy grain (Gen. 41:53–57). We read about it in the story of Ruth, whose adopted family had to move to Moab because of famine (Ruth 1:1). We see it expressed most clearly in the words of Elijah, who warns King Ahab, “There shall be neither dew nor rain these three years, except by my word” (1 Kings 17:1).
As we read through Nehemiah 5, we can infer that there is grievous sin in the land and that God is addressing that sin by sending a famine. God’s people, especially those who are farmers and those who have large families, are being hurt. They cannot find enough food to feed their children. Children are starving, going to bed with empty stomachs. Are these farmers and parents being disciplined by God for some sins that they are practicing? Is God punishing them for their sins?
The situation becomes more complex when we hear these persons complain that their fields, their vineyards, and their homes are being mortgaged in attempts “to get grain” (v. 3). Obviously, there are some parties or persons who hold those mortgages and are using them to their personal advantage. Some parties in the Judean economy have enough money to control the markets. There is a second factor that also needs our attention: the king’s taxes have to be paid. This dual liability is causing families to sell their children into slavery, presumably to these wealthy mortgage holders. Wealthy landowners are enlarging their farms and enslaving Jewish children to enhance their own lifestyle.
If this sad series of complaints came during a time of peace, the resolution would be simpler. But these complaints come in the middle of the wall-building project. All hands need to be on deck to work on the wall, but families from Judah are coming to Jerusalem and demanding that their problems get priority attention. When Nehemiah realizes what has been happening, he says, “I was very angry when I heard their outcry” (v. 6). Interestingly, “I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and officials” (v. 7). Nehemiah does not need a parliamentary assembly to determine what needs to be done. He knows that this is a clear violation of God’s law. He knows that the “nobles and the officials” are in violation and must be charged. Nehemiah, like Ezra earlier, knows what the law of God says about enslaving fellow Jews. He knew the contents of Leviticus 25, which spells out the way that God’s people are to interact with fellow believers. He probably reflected on that passage from Leviticus 25:35–38, which said, “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.”
The ones who are sinning are the members of the upper classes, the nobility and the officials. They are breaking God’s law. It is because of their sins that God has sent a famine in the land. He has withheld the rains. As a consequence, innocent people are suffering. Innocent children are starving. Innocent young people are being sold to fellow Jews as indentured servants. Is this the way that God’s justice system works?
God works his will through human agents. God has obviously known about this problem and these specific sins for a long time. That is why he has withheld the rains. God could have sent a chorus of angels to afflict these nobles and officials, or he could have planted disturbing dreams in every one of their heads. He could have, but he doesn’t. He has sent a bold, courageous servant, Nehemiah, to Jerusalem to address the problem. He has moved the heart of King Artaxerxes to release his trusted cupbearer and give him the authority to govern the Province Beyond the River. God uses human agents to accomplish his will, not always, but usually. Nehemiah has the authority and the courage to charge the ruling class of people with serious sins against the law of God. He also has the power of demanding that these ruling dignitaries make immediate amends. He tells them, “Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them” (v. 11).
The magnitude and scope of their greed is thus highlighted. Apparently this evil practice had been going on for a long time. The offenders are not the Samaritans or any of the neighboring tribes. The offenders are the wealthy leaders of the upper class and the government officials. They are fellow Jews. They are persons who had recently met with Ezra and all the fathers who had lived through that sad, painful experience of having the marriages of 111 families annulled because of intermarriage with pagan women (see Ezra 9–10). The knowledge of recent Jewish history should have been fresh in their minds. They should have known that God will not ignore the sins of his people. They should have been fearing him.
Of interest is the rationale that Nehemiah employs to motivate the people. “Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?”(v. 9). In street parlance, he is asking, “What will the neighbors say? What kind of examples are you setting? Is that the way that God’s special people should be acting?”
Moses had used that same kind of argument with God when he threatened to destroy all of his own people after the fiasco of their making and worshipping the golden calf. At that point, God tells Moses, “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them” (Exod. 32:10). In response to God’s wrath, Moses asks rhetorically, “Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth?’” (Exod. 32:12).
Nehemiah is reminding the people of why the walls of Jerusalem have to be built. He is reminding them about all the mocking and derision that the neighboring Samaritans had heaped upon them. He was refreshing his own memory about the visit of his brother Hanani, who had told him about all the “great trouble and shame” that the remnant in Judea had been experiencing because the walls continued to lay in ruin (Neh. 1:3). Nehemiah follows that with a forceful demand of the clergy. He calls together the priests and makes them swear an oath that they would “do as they had promised” (v. 12). The implication is clear: the priests had obviously become landowners and mortgage holders and had abused the flocks that they were supposed to shepherd. Upon being charged, they had promised to return the lands, tear up the mortgages, reimburse the interest payments, and make full restitution. Their promises are not sufficient, however. They also need to swear an oath before God that they will honor the promises that they have just made. Is Nehemiah being too harsh? Is Nehemiah reflecting on the fact that it is the Levitical class of men who had broken God’s law by marrying pagan women? Is Nehemiah telling us that the clergy needs to be held to a higher standard?
Over against those negative arguments, Nehemiah offers his own generous responses to the famine as a second, compelling argument. He introduces that argument in verse 10 but then expands on it in verses 14–19. He and his brothers and his servants “are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest” (v. 10). When we get to verse 14, we realize that Nehemiah is reflecting on this whole episode twelve or more years later. He informs us that he had served as governor of Judea “from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years.” During that whole time span he had served in an exemplary fashion and is able to recall “all that I have done for this people” (v. 19). It is not because of self-righteous pride that he recalls his record of service. It is “because of fear of God” (v. 15). Nehemiah has experienced in a personal way that God has demonstrated his awesome power. He saw it in the softening of King Artaxerxes’s heart. He saw it in the sending of famine. He saw it in the cooperation of God’s people as they built the wall in record-setting time. He of the nobles and clergy who gave saw it in God’s protecting care over all back the wealth that they had wrongly the workers and their families in the acquired. He saw it everywhere. He face of overt hostility against them. rightly feared such an awesome God. He saw it in the humble responses He wanted to serve God.
Discussion Starters
What can we infer from verses 1 and 2 about the emotional and social situation in Jerusalem?
What can we all infer from verses 2–5 about the economic and financial situation in Jerusalem?
What segment of the population is exasperating (increasing) the plight of the people? (5:1, 5)
What is the primary cause of this economic stress? (5:3) Was this a sign of God’s judgment?
How were the Jewish people trying to cope with this very difficult situation?
(5:3–5) What does Leviticus 25:35–46 teach us about the making of slaves? What restrictions did God impose?
What was Nehemiah’s response to these conditions? (see 5:6–8)
What does it mean to “bring charges”? Against whom were these charges filed? (5:7–8)
What is Nehemiah’s official title or role in this situation? How does that affect his behavior? (5:14)
What was the response of the nobles and officials to Nehemiah’s accusations? (5:8)
What is Nehemiah’s plea to these officials after they acknowledge their guilt?(5:9)
What is the general motivation that Nehemiah suggests? (5:9)
What specific actions does Nehemiah recommend? (5:10–11)
What is the response of the nobles and officials? (5:12) What does Nehemiah demand from the priests? (5:12–13)
How does Nehemiah demonstrate his personal generosity and that of his office? (5:14, 17)
How does that contrast with the behavior of former governors? (5:15) What motivated Nehemiah to be different? (5:15, 19)
Dr. Norman De Jong is a semi-retired pastor in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.