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Nehemiah 5

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The Crisis of Debt and Usury 1–5

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. ​

Nehemiah Confronts the Nobles 6–13

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. ​

Nehemiah’s Example of Selfless Leadership 14–19

14
Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. ​
15
But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God. ​
16
Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. ​
17
Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us.
18
Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. ​
19
Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Nehemiah 5

Verse 1

a great cry — Tseaqah, the cry of the oppressed, the word of Ex 3:7, ‘have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters’, and of Isa 5:7, ‘for righteousness, but behold a cry’. Here it rises not against a foreign master but ‘against their brethren the Jews’, and the wives join in.

Verse 2

that we may eat, and live — The first complaint is the size of the families: ‘We, our sons, and our daughters, are many’. ‘Take up’ is laqach, and the ‘corn’ (dagan) is grain. ‘That we may live, and not die’ was Judah’s plea to his father in the famine (Gen 43:8).

Verse 3

we have mortgaged our lands — Arab, to give as a pledge or surety, the verb of Judah’s ‘I will be surety for him’ (Gen 43:9). ‘Dearth’ is raab, hunger. The law for such a case is Lev 25:35, ‘if thy brother be waxen poor… then thou shalt relieve him: … that he may live with thee’.

Verse 4

the king’s tribute — Middah, a levy reckoned by measure. The enemies’ letter had warned Artaxerxes that if the city were built ‘then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom’ (Ezra 4:13). The third group has borrowed silver (kesef) on their lands and vineyards to meet it.

Verse 5

we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters — Kabash, to subdue, the verb of Jer 34:11, where freed servants were ‘brought… into subjection’. Lev 25:39 forbids it: ‘thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant’. The inability to redeem is literally no strength in the hand, as in Deut 28:32, ‘no might in thine hand’; compare 2 Kgs 4:1.

Verse 6

I was very angry — Charah, to burn, the verb of Sanballat’s wrath in 4:1, now turned on Israelite lenders. Moses ‘was very wroth’ in the same way (Num 16:15). What Nehemiah hears is ‘their cry’ (zaaq), a close variant of the tseaqah of v.1.

Verse 7

Ye exact usury, every one of his brother — Three laws forbid interest to a brother: Ex 22:25, ‘neither shalt thou lay upon him usury’; Lev 25:36, ‘Take thou no usury of him, or increase’; and Deut 23:19, ‘Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother’. The nobles and rulers are the ones named.

Verse 8

we after our ability have redeemed our brethren — ‘Redeemed’ is qanah, to buy, and Lev 25:47–49 lets a kinsman buy back a brother sold to a stranger: ‘After that he is sold he may be redeemed again’. ‘Held they their peace’ is charash, to be silent; they ‘found nothing to answer’.

Verse 9

walk in the fear of our God — The ‘fear’ (yirah) is what Lev 25:36 sets against interest: ‘but fear thy God’. ‘Reproach’ is cherpah, the word of 1:3, 2:17 and 4:4. The ‘heathen our enemies’ are watching, as in 2 Sam 12:14, ‘given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme’.

Verse 10

let us leave off this usury — Nehemiah places himself, his brethren and his servants among those who lent. ‘Exact’ is nashah, to lend on a claim, and ‘usury’ is mashsha, a loan carrying interest. ‘Leave off’ is azab, to forsake. The rule is Ex 22:25, ‘thou shalt not be to him as an usurer’.

Verse 11

their oliveyards — The property is that of v.3, with oliveyards added. ‘Restore’ is shub, to return, as the jubile required: ‘ye shall return every man unto his possession’ (Lev 25:13). The ‘hundredth part’ (meah) is a further sum they ‘exact of them’, on the money, corn, wine and oil.

Verse 12

I called the priests, and took an oath of them — ‘Oath’ is shaba, as in Ezra 10:5, where Ezra made the priests, Levites and all Israel swear. A release of brethren from bondage was once sworn in Jerusalem and then reversed: ‘afterward they turned, and caused the servants… to return’ (Jer 34:8–11).

Verse 13

I shook my lap — Chotsen, the fold of the garment where a man carried his goods. His words explain the act: whoever ‘performeth not this promise’ will be ‘shaken out, and emptied’. ‘Shake out’ is naar, the verb of Ex 14:27, ‘the LORD overthrew the Egyptians’. The Amen and praise echo 1 Chr 16:36.

Verse 14

the bread of the governor — Pechah, governor, the title Nehemiah holds over Judah. He reckons his term ‘from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years’. At its end he went back to the king (13:6). The bread is the allowance for the governor’s table.

Verse 15

chargeable unto the people — Kabad, to be heavy: the earlier governors weighed on the people with ‘bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver’, and their servants ‘bare rule over the people’. ‘The fear of God’ is the restraint Nehemiah names, as in v.9; Prov 16:6 says ‘by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil’.

Verse 16

neither bought we any land — Qanah, to acquire, the verb the KJV renders ‘redeemed’ in v.8. Others had ‘our lands and vineyards’ (v.5), and Nehemiah bought none. ‘Continued’ is chazaq, to hold firm, the verb of ‘strengthened their hands’ in 2:18; his ‘servants’ (naar, 4:16) were gathered to the wall.

Verse 18

one ox and six choice sheep — ‘Choice’ is barar, to select. The daily table, laid for ‘an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers’ (v.17), is set beside Solomon’s day, ‘ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep’ (1 Kgs 4:23). He still ‘required not… the bread of the governor’, for the ‘bondage was heavy’.

Verse 19

Think upon me, my God, for good — Zakar, to remember, the verb of 1:8 and 4:14. The same prayer ends the book three times: ‘Remember me, O my God’ (13:14, 22, 31). ‘For this people’ recalls Ps 106:4, ‘Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people’.