Introduction

This morning, we get to study another fascinating story. If you are a nerd like me, you’re going to be wondering about implications for politics, economics, and even capitalism vs. socialism. That’s because of how Nehemiah addresses a poverty crisis. But far more important is how this story challenges us, as Christ’s church, to support each other, love each other, and maintain an unbreakable bond.

This is important because Satan has a big bag of tricks for splintering God’s people. Last week we saw that he tried to splinter the Jews with terrifying external pressure. Sanballat and Tobiah threatened to invade Jerusalem, murder everyone, and destroy their work. But Nehemiah rallied his team, and they stood firm. The church must also refuse to be intimidated by a hostile, evil world. We must stand firm.eHe Heh

But Satan’s not a one-trick pony. In fact, he often does even worse damage by exerting internal pressure. He tempts us with selfishness and greed, he sows seeds of discord, and he tries to turn the team against itself. If he can get us to stop fighting for each other and instead fight with each other, he can kill our effectiveness.

That’s what he tries in Nehemiah 5. But once again, Nehemiah rises to the occasion. He identifies the threat, and he responds forcefully, compassionately, and successfully. In the process, he gives us a simple challenge we must remember often. Take care of your family. The local church is the closest modern parallel of Nehemiah’s community. We are family. Families must take care of each other. But Satan loves to tear God’s family apart, and he almost succeeded until Nehemiah stepped up. Verses 1–5 describe…

I.  The Conflict (vv. 1–5)

This was a severe economic challenge. It had probably been brewing for a while. Israel was weak, and their foreign neighbors were taking advantage by preying on the poor. The poorest Jews were hanging on by a thread. And the added pressure of building the wall, snapped the thread.

Specifically, they necessarily had neglected their regular work and their farms to finish the wall quickly. And we know Nehemiah finished building the wall in August/September, or at the tail end of wheat harvest. But farmers had neglected the harvest, and when their creditors showed up expecting to get paid, they had nothing. It’s a serious situation. “There was a great outcry” among the people because…

The poor were suffering. For the poorest people, it was a matter of life and death. Verse 2 says they were pleading “Let us get grain that we may eat and live.” Their children were starving. Can you imagine that level of desperation, watching your children starve and being powerless to help? It’s awful.

Verses 3–4 say that others had grain, but they had mortgaged their future to get it. Creditors had seized their ancestral lands. Still others, had mortgaged their land to pay taxes. We know King Artaxerxes had a crushing tax code. Alexander the Great found 270 tons of gold coins when he invaded Susa. That tax code was crushing many of the Jews.

Finally, v. 5 says that still others were forced to sell their children into slavery to pay their bills. That sounds unthinkable to us. “I’d never do that.” But what if the only alternatives were starvation or debtor’s prison. If Dad’s in prison and not working, everyone is going to starve eventually.

To make matters worse, the second mention of daughters probably means that some of the buyers had bought their young daughters to be a second wife. So, there was no hope of them ever coming home. Instead, many were doomed to a life of hardship, neglect, and even abuse. Nehemiah has a big problem on his hands. And adding insult to injury was the fact that…

The rich Jews were profiting. Sadly, it’s common in every culture for the Scrooges of the world prey on people’s desperation to make a profit. But what really made Nehemiah’s blood boil was the fact that the Samaritans and Philistines were not the ones preying on the poor Israelites; it was other Israelites.

Verse 1 says the outcry was “against their Jewish brothers.” And v. 5 says the poor complained that their own brothers were scooping up Jewish children, probably at a steep discount because the slave market was flooded. On top of that, v. 8 says at least some were flipping Jewish children to Gentile neighbors for a profit.

Parents, imagine if someone were trading your child as mere commodity? You’d be angry too. And you probably wouldn’t feel too excited about building a wall together or having his back in a war.

The tension was high. Satan found a far more deadly threat than foreign intimidation could have ever been. But this conflict was much more than a threat to the building project. In vv. 6–9 Nehemiah identifies…

II.  The Evil (vv. 6–9)

Nehemiah is “very angry.” This sort of evil should make him angry. But Nehemiah knows he must collect himself before he speaks. That’s the idea when v. 7 says, “I consulted with myself.” James 1:20 says, “The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” Nehemiah’s anger is righteous, but he had to control it lest it became destructive rage.

But once he collected himself, he “held a great assembly.” Construction stopped. Everyone got a memo to gather right now for a chat. In front of everyone, Nehemiah confronted the “nobles and rulers.” He charged them, specifically, with “usury.” That doesn’t mean much to us, but it’s a serious charge under the Law of Moses.

“If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious” (Ex 22:25-27).

God strictly commanded Israel not to prey on the poor or to put them in an unnecessarily compromised position. For example, “No one shall take a handmill or an upper millstone in pledge, for he would be taking a life in pledge” (Deut 24:6).

A modern parallel would be a man who owns a backhoe, and digging with that backhoe is his only income. God forbade taking it as a pledge on a loan because you’ve robbed him of his only means of paying back the loan and feeding his family. Our God is kind, and he expected his people to be generous, merciful, and just. So, usury is a serious charge. It was justified for several important reasons.

Disobedience: God had been very clear. Loan sharking against fellow Israelites was not allowed. Of course, rebellion against God’s law is always a big deal. If you ever find yourself talking yourself out of obeying God’s word, stop it. Obey God. There’s also the matter of…

Greed: “The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil” (1 Tim 6:10). You may be appalled at what these Jews were doing to their countrymen. How could they enslave their daughters? But be warned. Greed is terribly deceitful and enslaving. Don’t let it grab your heart.

Betrayal (of Family): The Law gave Jews freedom to profit off their pagan neighbors, but they must look out for each other. This is a big part of Nehemiah’s anger. Verse 7 specifically confronts them for “exacting usury, each from his brother.” And in v. 8 Nehemiah is dumbfounded that they are selling their brothers into foreign slavery after all God had done to return them to the land.

Families don’t prey on each other; they take care of each other. Don’t forget that this is your family. It’s a great gift. Love your family and be generous with your family.

Irreverence (v. 9): That’s heavy. “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed” (Prov 19:17). God loves the weak. When you fear the Lord, you love his people, and when you mess with God’s people, you mess with God. You dishonor the Lord.

Nehemiah scolds them for bringing reproach on God’s people and on God himself. We don’t just make a mockery of ourselves when we bite at each other; the world mocks the God we claim to serve.

Nehemiah did not hold back. He called out these evils. And I want to be clear that Nehemiah’s challenge is equally applicable to the church today. Nehemiah’s audience was the people of God in their day, and we are God’s people today. The Spirit has taken us out of the world through the power of the gospel, and he has placed us in Christ and in community. We are the blood-bought, resurrection-empowered family of God.

We must love each other and take care of each other. For the most part, we do that well. It’s so encouraging to see all the ways you are generous with each other. But we can never take that for granted, and we always will have room to improve. Take care of your family. And if you ever see part of the church biting at or preying on another part, lovingly but firmly call it out for the evil that it is. So, Nehemiah called out the evil. Then, he created a compelling vision for…

III.  The Solution (vv. 10–13)

Nehemiah called the people to generosity. Once again, I was so challenged this week by Nehemiah’s leadership. Specifically, Nehemiah had a real crisis on his hands. Tensions were thick, and the only solution demanded that he stand up to the ruling class and call them to a very unusual level of generosity. How could he possibly bring these people together and solve such a dire economic crisis?

He did it with strong, compelling leadership. Don’t miss the fact that his strength flowed out of deep personal conviction. Nehemiah was angry because he loved the Lord, he loved these people, and he believed in the project. Everyone could see his conviction, and it impacted them.

Parents, you’ll never pass a conviction to your children that hasn’t deeply gripped your soul. That’s true for every type of spiritual leader—teachers, youth workers, evangelists, disciple makers, and pastors. If you want truth to grip others, make sure it grips you first.

From there, Nehemiah was thoughtful and focused. A good leader is always in control, and he channels his passion toward a purpose. Next, he was bold. He called sin what it was, and he wasn’t afraid of how the people would respond. But he wasn’t a manipulative bully either. Instead, he was heart focused. He called people to fear the Lord and to true righteousness.

Next, he led by example. He didn’t just call out others. In v. 10 he admits that he and his brothers had been giving loans as well. I assume that he had been doing so according to the Law, but this crisis demanded extreme generosity. The implication here and in vv. 14–19 is that Nehemiah stopped giving loans and started giving people what they needed without expecting repayment. Great leaders are always hardest on themselves. They lead by example.

But they aren’t afraid to be demanding of others. So, Nehemiah calls the rich give back everything they had taken. It’s a big ask. To be clear, the Law allowed the poor to sell their land and even themselves into slavery. But neither were to be permanent. Leviticus 25 says all land must be returned, and all Jewish slaves must be freed on the Sabbath year.

But this was a crisis. So, Nehemiah called on the rich to immediately give back everything they had taken as a pledge and to stop collecting interest. They must even return “a hundredth part of the money and of the grain,” probably meaning the income they had made off these pledges.

It’s easy for us to sit here and say, “Of course, they should do that.” But this is hard. Nehemiah called the people to extreme generosity, to freely hand over a tremendous amount of wealth. We all like to think everyone else should do that sort of thing, but we get amazingly quiet when our wallet is on the line.

All of this does raise some interesting economic questions. Should our government make similar demands? Should it shut down loan sharks and pawn shops? Going a step further, should our government take responsibility for redistributing wealth that people have seized greedily? Was Karl Marx just following Nehemiah’s example?

The law clearly sets an example for the fact that government should regulate predatory behavior through just laws (The OT is not truly libertarian). We don’t want banks and businesses preying on people’s desperation, and it’s good that we have laws to prevent that.

But also notice that Nehemiah did not redistribute anything. He calls people to be generous. He pushes them to solve the problem on the most local level. He understood that generous hearts will solve far more poverty than a big government with heavy regulation ever will. So, Nehemiah’s call is very instructive for life in the church and among communities, but don’t take him to be saying more than he is.

But getting back to the main point, Nehemiah called the people to great generosity, and the Spirit of God very clearly moved.

The people responded. Verse 8 records Nehemiah’s initial challenge. Oftentimes, people get defensive and start making excuses when you confront them, but Nehemiah says, “They were silent…”

Then notice their reply in v. 12a. That’s incredible. These people have seized a lot of wealth, and they’ve made some big loans. They can’t be sure these loans will ever be repaid.

But they recognized that family is more important. They committed to generously solving the problem because the community and the work that God had called them to do was worth the risk and worth the sacrifice.

The parallels and the applications for this church are so many. God has also given us a mission of eternal significance that Satan desperately wants to hinder. He’s called us to shine a bright gospel light in this town and to build healthy disciples in the image of Jesus. And Satan would love nothing more than to ruin our impact with selfishness and strife.

Don’t let him do that to you. It happens all the time. Church members begin to think only of themselves, and they get grouchy about petty preferences. “I want to sing this song.” “I want to do this activity.” “We must teach on this subject.” They lose sight of the goal, the church fragments, and the work grinds to a halt. There’s no I in team. Stay focused on the mission.

Beyond that, take care of your family. It’s overwhelming to imagine all the needs represented in this room. People are grieving, lonely, depressed, in pain, and bankrupt. Others are losing sin battles, confused, distracted, or immature. I know you’re busy, and you have your own problems. But they are family. They need you, and you need them. You’ll find that when you push into that family, not only will be you be a blessing, but you will be abundantly blessed as well. Take care of your family, and let your family take care of you.

Returning to the story, God is at work. Then in vv. 14 –19, Nehemiah shares how God moved him to respond personally. I’m going to call Nehemiah…

IV.  The Tone-Setter (vv. 14–19)

Great leaders always lead from the front. They demand more of themselves than they do of anyone else. They work the hardest, they love the most, and they make the greatest sacrifices. Nehemiah sets a wonderful example of this spirit. To appreciate it, you must first appreciate…

Nehemiah’s Right: The background to this testimony is that as the governor of Judah, Nehemiah had a right to collect taxes for his own salary and to fulfill his duties as governor. No one likes taxes, but at least some tax was very justifiable. Nehemiah was responsible to feed 150 staff members and family and to feed official guests who came into town. None of that is cheap. Verse 18 says that it demanded a huge food budget.

So, the previous governors had collected both food and silver from the people. And Nehemiah had authority from the king to do the same. However…

Nehemiah’s Sacrifice: Nehemiah says that during the entire 12 years he served as governor he did not collect any taxes for himself, and he seemingly received no salary. He could see how the people were suffering, and he didn’t want to place any further burden on them. That’s incredible isn’t it? We love politicians who cut taxes, but ours don’t turn around and fund the government out of their pocket. Nehemiah made tremendous sacrifice.

Nehemiah’s Generosity: I don’t know how he did it, but Nehemiah generously gave back. He must have been independently wealthy because he provided for a large sum of people. And he’s not feeding them rice and beans. He slaughtered a steer and 6 sheep every day. Nehemiah liked his meat. And he also paid for an abundance of wine every 10 days. You got a feast when you went to Nehemiah’s for dinner.

Nehemiah was all in. That’s the kind of leader I want to be. I want to be in with all my heart and with everything I have to offer. I may not have the same natural gifts as some other pastors, but no one is going to outwork me. I hope you’ll try, but I will not let you win.

Of course, I don’t expect anyone else to invest what a pastor does, but I hope you are all in with what you have to offer. This is your family, and next to your responsibilities to your biological family, you don’t have any responsibilities more important than the Great Commission. Jump in with both feet. Take care of your family and work for the greatest cause in all the world.

Do the same with the other major responsibilities God has given you. There’s a big push today for men to put themselves first, chase pleasure, and treat yourself like a king. It’s evil. Find me a place where Nehemiah, Jesus, or Paul pampered themselves? You won’t. Or look how it turned out for David and Solomon when they treated themselves like kings. Real men are selfless servant leaders.

Ladies and teens, embrace the same spirit. We live every day under the generous, gracious hand of God at the cost of his Son. It’s up to you to reflect that grace and generosity to others.

The cost is high, but Nehemiah concludes in v. 19 with the assurance that God sees, and God will remember ever sacrifice. You can’t outgive God’s eternal grace. His reward will be worth every sacrifice. Take care of your family.