Nehemiah 5

5:1 THEN there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren 2 the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many: let us get 3 corn, that we may eat and live. Some also there were that said, We are mortgaging our 4 fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get corn, because of the dearth. There 5 were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute upon our fields and our 6 vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: 7 and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our 8 daughters are brought into bondage already: neither is it in our power to help it; for other 9 men have our fields and our vineyards. And I was very angry when I heard their cry and 10 these words. Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, 11 and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly 12 against them. And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the 13 Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and would ye even sell your brethren, and should 14 they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found never a word. Also I said, The 15 thing that ye do is not good: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the 16 reproach of the heathen our enemies? And I likewise, my brethren and my servants, do lend 17 them money and corn on usury. I pray you, let us leave off this usury. Restore, I pray 18 you, to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, 19 also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of 20 them. Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we 21 do, even as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should 22 do according to this promise. Also I shook out my lap, and said, So God shake out every 23 man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise; even thus be he 24 shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And 25 the people did according to this promise. Moreover from the time that I was appointed to 26 be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and 27 thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten 28 the bread of the governor. But the former governors that were before me were chargeable 29 unto the people, and took of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even 30 their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God. Yea, 31 also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants 32 were gathered thither unto the work. Moreover there were at my table of the Jews and the 33 rulers an hundred and fifty men, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that 34 were round about us. Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice 35 sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet 36 for all this I demanded not the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon 37 this people. Remember unto me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.

Chap. 5:1-13. A chapter on the poor and the rich. This has a theme peculiarly its own, unlike that of any other in the Bible—the mutual relations of the rich and poor, in a season of general scarcity. Here in Judea were dearth, suffering for bread and complaints of the poor against their richer brethren. The poor came to Nehemiah; “there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brethren.” Some with large families could not fill so many mouths; some had mortgaged everything for bread; some had borrowed to pay state taxes; some had been obliged to sell sons and daughters into slavery, and had no means to redeem them because their lands too were gone for debt. And they could not tell this sad tale without suggesting that their children were of their own flesh and blood—as dear to them as sons and daughters were to their richer brethren who had been buying and selling their neighbors’ children. Nehemiah heard this with sorrow and indignation. He “was very angry when he heard their cry in these words." He thought the case over; he rebuked those rich men for their oppressive usury; he brought face to face before them the many who were suffering so cruelly under their oppressions. He thought proper to speak of his own case: We have done all we could to redeem our Jewish brethren from personal slavery to foreign slave-holders; but ye are enslaving your own brethren. They could say nothing in reply. He said: Ye bring on us the reproach of our enemies; this is a disgrace to our religion and to the God we worship. I pray you, restore to your brethren those lands, those enslaved children, and that exorbitant interest—“the hundredth part”—one per cent (payable monthly, we must presume—equal to twelve per cent per annum), which ye have charged, not for money loaned merely, but for corn—the necessaries of life. We may rejoice to see that they responded promptly—“We will restore, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest.” But lest second thought should bring on the grip of covetousness again, Nehemiah called in the priests to administer the sacred oath that they should fulfil this promise. Also to add the force of his own noble heart, he shook his lap and said, “So God shake out every man from his house and from his labor” (all the fruits of it) “who performs not this promise.” There was some public feeling there, for all the congregation cried, “Amen; and praised the Lord.” H. C.

The chief causes of poverty were three: (1) Overpopulation (verse 2); (2) a recent famine (verse 3); and (3) the weight of taxation, arising from the large amount annually demanded from the province by the Persians in the way of tribute (verse 4). The entire result was that the poorer classes were compelled, first of all, to mortgage their houses and such lands as they possessed (verse 3), and secondly to pledge the persons of their sons and daughters (verse 5), in order to raise money, with the near prospect of having to allow them to become slaves if they were unable to repay their creditor at the time appointed. Under these circumstances they appealed to the new governor for relief. The appeal placed him in a position of great difficulty. He was not rich enough to take upon himself the whole burden; and though he himself and his brothers and personal attendants did lend freely, out of their private store, money and grain (verse 10), yet this was far from being enough. On the other hand, it was impossible for him, under the Persian system of government, to carry matters with a high hand and order a general cancelling of debts. He could only have recourse to persuasion, argument and personal influence. He therefore, first of all, spoke to the “nobles,” who were the money-lenders, rebuked them, and endeavored to induce them to desist from their malpractices (verse 7); but failing to produce in this way any considerable effect, he brought the matter before an assembly of the people. There he first shamed the nobles by alleging his own contrary example, and then called on them, “for the fear of God and because of the reproach of the heathen,” to restore the forfeited lands and houses to their former owners, repay all that they had received in the way of interest on the money lent, and give up the entire practice of lending money upon pledge or mortgage (verses 7-11). Moved by this public appeal, the nobles intimated their consent, whereupon he made them clinch their promise by an oath (verse 12), adding on his own part a malediction if the oath were not observed, which was hailed with acclaim by the people. Thus the whole matter was brought to a happy conclusion—the promise made was kept—“the people”—i.e., the whole nation, nobles included, “did according to this word” (verse 13). P. C.

“The people,” we are told, “did according to this promise.” The poor, who had been deprived of them, re-entered on their lands, their vineyards, their olive-yards and their houses. Whatever interest they had paid on the money which they had borrowed was repaid them; if any interest was owed doubtless it was remitted. We are not told expressly whether anything was done to relieve those who had pledged their persons, or the persons of their sons or daughters. But it is impossible to suppose that they did not share in the general remission of obligations. If the observance of the sabbatical year was not yet restored, it was on the point of restoration (Neh. 10: 31). Probably all who had served their masters six years as slaves were now allowed to go free, in accordance with Ex. 21: 2. The remainder were given to understand that they would not have to serve beyond the sexennial period. G. R.

In an argument to show that the Agrarian law of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy could not have been an afterthought of these latest times, Milman says: “We cannot understand the promulgation of this law of landed property, with all these singular provisions, after the total dislocation and disorganization of that property during the kingdom and the Exile and after the return from the Exile.” B.

7. The question was not what is allowable between man and man in transactions, but what was right, at a period of national distress, between members of the commonwealth of Israel. To exact usury of a brother or countryman was contrary to the express law of Moses; and it was quite at variance with the constitution which God had given to Israel, that the landed possessions of families should be wrested from them in their temporary depression, and that the soil of Palestine should be concentrated in the hands of a few hard-hearted usurers. D. F.

9. Also I said. To silence the nobles was not enough. To shame them was not enough. What was wanted was to persuade them. Nehemiah therefore continued his address. It is not good that ye do. It is not good in itself, apart from any contrast with what I have been doing. Ought ye not to walk—or, literally, “will ye not walk”—in the fear of our God? Will ye not really “fear God and keep His commandments,” not in the letter only, but in the spirit? Will ye not cease to oppress your brethren? Will ye not deal kindly and gently with them? Because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies. If the mere fear of God, the desire to escape His displeasure and win His approval, is not enough, will not the thought of the light in which you will appear to the heathen influence you? You make a profession of religion; you claim to be actuated by high motives; to be merciful, compassionate and self-denying. If they see you as keen after gain as any of themselves, as regardless of others, as pitiless and oppressive, what a reproach will not this bring on your religion! What a proof will it not seem to be that you are no better than your neighbors, and your religion, therefore, no whit superior to theirs! P. C.—Who can resist this sweet and sovereign reprehension? Did we dwell alone in the midst of the earth, yet the fear of our God should overawe our ways; but now that we dwell in the midst of our enemies, whose eyes are bent upon all our actions, whose tongues are as ready to blaspheme God as we to offend Him, how carefully should we avoid those sins which may draw shame upon our profession! Thus shall religion suffer more from the heathen than our brethren do from us. Bp. H.

12. Then they said, We will restore them. Nehemiah prevailed, and brought about a “day of sacrifices.” The nobles, one and all, agreed not only to give back the interest that they had illegally received on the corn and money borrowed of them, but to restore the forfeited lands and houses, which must have been of far greater value, and to which they were by law fully entitled. “We will restore them,” they said, “and will (in future) require nothing of them, neither interest nor security, but will do as thou sayest.” The promise was sweeping in its terms, and probably not insincere; but Nehemiah mistrusted all sudden impulses. He would have something more than a promise. Then called I the priests, and took an oath of them (the nobles), that they should do according to this promise—i.e., he swore the nobles, in the sacred presence of the priests, to the performance of the promise which they had made.

13. Also I shook my lap. Even the taking of the oath did not seem sufficient to the prudent governor. He would strengthen the oath by a malediction, and a malediction accompanied by a symbolical act, to render it the more impressive. Among the nations of antiquity few things were so much dreaded as falling under a curse. The maledictions of De. 28:16-44 were the supreme sanction which Moses devised for the Law, whereof he was the promulgator. Curses protected the tombs and inscriptions of the Assyrian and Persian kings, the contracts of the Babylonians, and the treaties of most nations. Nehemiah’s curse is an unusual one, but very clear and intelligible. He prays that whosoever departs from his promise given may be cast forth a homeless wanderer, emptied of all his possessions, as empty as the fold in his own dress, which he first gathers into a sort of bag or pocket, and then throws from him and so empties out. To this the assembly responded by a hearty “Amen,” and then praised the Lord for the happy ending of the whole affair; in which they piously traced the directing and overruling hand of God. P. C.

A great practical reformation was here carried out by a religious ruler on the highest religious principles, and by the strength of religious character. No more difficult task than to deal successfully with such circumstances in which men’s selfish interests were involved, and the moneyed classes would be against reform. Selfishness is not confined to any class. Those, however, who from their circumstances have acquired most of intelligence and culture, and have most power individually, may be expected to show a tender consideration for the feelings of the poor; they will be concerned for their elevation, improvement and salvation; they will not use their advantages selfishly or hardly (even though legally); they will not feel quite content to swell their own fortunes by giving helpless people starvation wages, or lending money at rates ruinous to the borrower, merely because the law of “supply and demand” justifies them; their power will be used to rebuke, restrain and remedy oppression; to protect and aid the weak; to soften the inequalities of life by kindness and thoughtful charity; and, generally, to bless others rather than aggrandize themselves. In thus acting they will obey the dictates of prudence as well as those of Christianity, and will aid in uniting society by bonds which the strain of the most calamitous times will not burst asunder.

14-19. Nehemiah not unnaturally goes on to inform us of the methods by which in his general government he endeavored to alleviate the distress, or at any rate to avoid adding to the burdens which pressed upon the poorer classes. From the time that he entered upon his office, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, n.c. 444, to the time of his writing this portion of his Book, in the thirty-second year of the same king, n.c. 432, he had lived entirely at his own expense, requiring no contributions from the people, either in provisions or money, for the support of himself or his court (verse 14). This was quite contrary to the previous practice of Jewish governors (verse 15), and indeed of Oriental governors generally, whether under the Persian system or any other, such persons almost universally taxing their provinces, sometimes very heavily, for their current expenses, and often accumulating princely fortunes by their exactions. Nehemiah had also maintained a noble hospitality, of which he may be excused for being a little proud; during these twelve years of his governorship, entertaining daily at his table one hundred and fifty of the chief inhabitants of Jerusalem, besides many foreign Jews who from time to time came on visits to the Judean capital (verses 17, 18). He takes credit, further, for giving the services of his private attendants to the work of the wall during the whole time that it was in building (verse 16), and for having abstained from the purchase of any land, when, through the general poverty, it might have been bought at a low price from those who were anxious to part with it. He felt that he had done much for his people. He looked, however, for his reward not to them, not to man, but to God; and desired that his reward should be not present gratitude and thanks, but God’s approval and remembrance only (verse 19). “Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.” P. C.

He shows us what wealth can do when wealth is consecrated to the service of God. His life rebukes the men who shut themselves up in their own selfish money-getting or money-hoarding, and never manifest any public spirit on behalf either of their country or the Church of God. He shows us, too, what may be done in a community by even one man of practical sagacity and energetic zeal—how such a man can stir up others by his example and his influence, and can carry out his plans for the common good, in spite of enemies without and croakers within. Let us then take a practical lesson from this patriot and reformer of the olden time. Let us not shut ourselves up in our own individual and domestic interests. Let us extend our sympathies and efforts and see what we can do according to the special needs of our own time to serve God and man in our day and generation. T. Finlayson.

15. So did not I, because of the fear of God.** How, in this example, is afresh delineated the essence and the value of that upright fear of God, which has the premise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come! In Nehemiah the fear of God has become, in the fullest sense of the term, a life-principle, which not merely incites to all that is good and noble, but also restrains from much, which every one else would certainly have permitted himself. How all-powerful is a principle which can place itself as a wall between the man and every forbidden tree, and make him draw back, for God’s sake, when everything calls to him, “Hold fast!” The fear of God makes Nehemiah not merely look to himself, but in the midst of resistance and misjudgment watch and care for others with a fidelity which has never been surpassed. Only read how much good this one man accomplished for thousands around him; see him incite the languid, part disputants, disperse foes, only and at all times for God’s sake; and say if the world would be a loser if the life-principle of Nehemiah were more generally adopted. How much better would be our age, our land, our society, if men of such principles, characters like these, were more to be met with in every circle! Many good deeds are done, but how much from self-interest; many evil things are refrained from, but how much from fear of man, or from want of opportunity! How few have the courage, like Nehemiah, to call sin, sin; and to be afraid of nothing but the displeasure of God! Van O.

The loftiest motive may regulate the smallest duties. Religious principle, as we call it in our abstract way, or “the fear of God,” as Nehemiah called it, may interpenetrate, will interpenetrate and run through all life, and find a field for its noblest exercise in the midst of commonplace and secular duties! Wherever that principle is strong and vigorous, a man will have to make up his mind to sturdy non-compliance, to dare to be singular, to be unlike the maxims and examples of the people round about him, and every good man will have to make up his mind to give up a great many sources of gain and profit and pleasure and advantage for no more tangible reason than because a more sensitive conscience makes that which other men can do without winking, if I may so say, a crime intolerable to him.

You cannot resist the evil around you unless you give yourselves to God. “So did not I, because of the fear of God.” The fear of God in the Old Testament corresponds precisely to the more fully developed faith and love to Christ, who is the express image of the Divine person and the communicator to us of the Divine strength, upon whom we have to cast ourselves! God in Christ, trusted in, loved, reverenced, obeyed, imitated—God in Christ alone strengthens a man for this resistance and non-compliance! No man can stand in the slippery places where we have to go, unless he have the grasp of a higher and stronger hand to keep him up. No man will ever for a lifetime resist and repel the domination of evil unless he is girded about with the purity of Jesus Christ, as an atmosphere in which all poisonous things fade and die, and through which no temptation can force its way. The only means for this steadfast resistance is a steadfast faith in Jesus as our Saviour. He has assured us that He will give us the victory. “Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand.” In the strength of this promise I have the right to come to the feeblest here and say, “However you may be encompassed by evil, however you may be drawn aside by evil example and harming associations, however difficult to may be for you to keep your footing in the midst of the rush and swirl of that great tide of sin, here is a hand that you may grasp, and His grasp will make you strong.”

Nothing will go right unless you dare to be singular. “So did not I.” The chief field for the exercise of this resolute non-compliance with common practice is in the region of moral action in the daily conduct of your lives. 1. He who yields is wrecked and ruined. The absolute necessity for this sturdy resistance is plain from the very make of our own natures. It is enforced if we think of the order of things in which we dwell. It is chiefly enforced by the fact that every one of us is thrown more or less closely into contact with people who themselves are living as they should not, and who would fain drag us after them. 2. Remember that not only does easy yielding to such enticements bring all sorts of moral confusion and failure into a man’s life, but that such compliance is in itself weak and unworthy. Surely there is nothing that walks the earth more contemptible, as well as more certainly evil, than a man that lets himself be made by whatever force may happen to be strongest near him, and fastening up his helm and unshipping his oars, is content to be blown about by every vagrant wind and rolled in the trough of each curling wave. 3. Another very solemn consideration may be suggested, enforcing the need of this vigorous non-compliance with the temptations around us, from the remembrance of what a poor excuse for wrong-doing they will be found to be at last.

For us all, in every period of life, the necessity is the same. We must learn to say “No.” We must dare, if need be, to be singular. Like the young Joseph, when you are tempted astray by seducing voices, let your answer be, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Like the young Daniel, when forbidden pleasures and questionable delights are urged upon your appetites, be “purposed in” your “heart that” you “will not defile” yourself with them, and choose pulse and water with the relish of a good conscience rather than such dainties. Like the same Daniel, when the crowd are flocking at the sound of the sackbut and psaltery to worship some golden image, keep your knees unbent amid the madness, learn to stand erect though you alone are upright in the midst of a grovelling multitude, and protest, “We will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Like Nehemiah, dare to lose money rather than adopt sources of profit which others may use without a thought, but which your conscience shrinks from; and to all the various enticements of pleasure and gain and ease and popular loose maxims for the conduct, oppose immovable resistance founded on a higher law and a mightier motive—“So did not I, because of the fear of God.” A. M.

19. Lastly, he concludes with a prayer, Think upon me, my God, for good. Nehemiah here mentions what he had done for this people, not in pride, as boasting of himself, nor in passion, as upbraiding them, not does it appear that he had occasion to do it in his own vindication, as

Paul had to relate his like self-denying tenderness toward the Corinthians, but to shame the rulers out of their oppressions; let them learn of him to be neither greedy in their demands nor paltry in their expenses, and then they would have the credit and comfort of it, as he had. He mentions it to God in prayer, not as if he thought he had hereby merited any favor from God as a debt, but to show that he looked not for any recompense of his generosity from men, but depended upon God only to make up to him what he had lost and laid out for His honor; and he reckoned the favor of God reward enough. “If God do but think upon me for good, I have enough.” His thoughts to usward are our happiness (Ps. 40 : 5). He refers himself to God, to recompense him in such a manner as He pleased. “If men forget me, let my God think on me, and I desire no more.” H.

Study this character thoroughly as we may, the more it is studied this fact will stand forth in the bolder relief, that its actuating ruling force is a principled fear of God. Because of this principled fear of God, he was a man of faith. Recognizing God as the God of heaven, as ruling in and concerned with the affairs of men, as the great and just God, yet the God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His Commandments, he trusted alone in Him. He believed that God was able to move the hearts of king and of people—able to thwart the designs and efforts of combined enemies, however subtle, numerous or powerful—able to succeed any right purpose of whatever magnitude, though conceived and undertaken by a single feeble man. And his faith was proven by his deeds, proven as well as rewarded by his success in a work so vast.

Because of this principled fear of God, he was a man of prayer. Recognizing God as over and in all events, believing that God could and would counsel and direct in every plan wisely conceived and singly, faithfully engaged in, that God could and would ensure the execution of such plan in its least details, with the simplest, most childlike utterance, at every step, in every juncture in which he was placed, we see him praying to the God he feared and trusted. Nowhere, in the Bible history, do we see the God-fearing spirit illustrated by greater simplicity and minuteness in supplication. Before he sought the king—in the king’s presence—when he left that presence, on his journey and arrival at Jerusalem, and daily onward in doing his good work, repeated expressions assure us that he lived and acted in the closest communion with God, pouring out his very heart in constant prayer.

Because of this principled fear of God, he was a man of action. The spirit that believed and prayed did not passively wait to see done by miracle what he knew God could do by him. Never was the impelling force of faith, never was the inspiring energy of heart-moved living prayer more effectively illustrated than in the intense, unwearied activity of this man in singly achieving that which devotion and patriotism had prompted him to undertake. A people long demoralized by anarchy among themselves and the tyranny of their neighbor heathen nations had to be reorganized and re-inspirited. Their long-dormant patriotism and piety had to be awakened. Courage and energy had to be infused into their depressed and slothful spirits. And these qualities had to be kept alive for weeks under the most adverse circumstances of temptation and trial, through days of severest toil and nights of sleepless vigilance, amid the taunts, the wiles and the threats of foes gathered on every side. Yet the energy of this man of faith and prayer was equal to this work; it slacked not till the work was done, till the city was rebuilt, the government restored, and the people delivered from suffering and oppression from within and without.

A yet further effect of his principled fear of God was his patriotism, his just love of his own people and land. There is a love of country based upon the mere fact of birth and the feeling of personal partnership in national blessings and national glory—a love created in part by self-interest, fostered and perpetuated by the memory of a people’s past deeds and associations and the promise or possibility of their future achievements. This love, which belongs mainly to elevated minds, which, as all history shows, outlives a nation’s prosperity, this love is worthy of, it has always won, high admiration of men. But when there enters into this the idea that nations as individuals exist by God’s appointment, for His glory in man’s welfare, when in a particular nation’s history there are visible tokens of God’s especial favor, indications that He has designed such nation to be His agent for peculiar blessing to men, then the soul that recognizes, fears and trusts God finds in these tokens and indications a yet broader, firmer foundation for love of country—the quality of his love is higher and more just. The narrative of Nehemiah shows that such was his love, that it had such a broad, firm basis. He loved his people and land because they were his, because of the distinguished and useful history they had wrought. But he loved chiefly because he recognized God as having shaped this history, as having established the nation and ordered its career for good to itself and other nations, and in, over all, for His own glory upon earth.

Therefore, because he believed that God had a work still to be accomplished by his people, because he believed that God had not turned away His favor utterly from them, because he believed that there were in God’s heart thoughts of mercy toward his scattered, broken people, therefore his strong love incited and constrained him to pray and labor for their peace and prosperity. B.

OPPOSITION BY CRAFT AND INTIMIDATION. WALL COMPLETED. HANANI PUT IN CHARGE. SECOND REGISTER OF RETURNED JEWS.