Nehemiah 5-7
Chapter Summary
Internal problems threaten to do what external enemies could not. Nehemiah learns that wealthy Jews have charged their poorer neighbors high interest rates in violation of Old Testament Law. Many are near starvation, and others have been forced to sell children as slaves to pay their debts (5:1-5). Nehemiah confronts the wealthy and gets their commitment to correct the injustice (vv. 6-13). Nehemiah himself sets an example for the rich by paying the costs of administering Judea himself, rather than exercising his right to tax his already burdened people (vv. 14-19). But Sanballat has not given up. He tries to get Nehemiah to meet him, assuming that without Nehemiah’s leadership work would cease (6:1-4). When neither invitations nor threats work (vv. 5-9), Sanballat hires a prophet to urge Nehemiah to hide, hoping the act will discredit him. Nehemiah scornfully rejects what he sees as a coward’s course (vv. 10-14). And so the wall is rebuilt—in just 52 days (vv. 15-19). With the walls complete, Nehemiah consults the census lists as a first step toward repopulating the holy city (7:1-73).
See the feature article, The Persian Era.
Key Verse
5:9: Those who do God’s work must walk in His ways.
Personal Application
Neither enemies nor personal problems can sidetrack us if we remain committed to the task God has set before us.
Key Concepts
Poor and oppressed. Borrowing. Slavery. Prophet.
Insight
Poverty (5:1-4). Both drought conditions and high taxes placed a great strain on agriculture. But the greed of the wealthy, who loaned desperate families money at high interest and then foreclosed on their property, was the main cause of the dire straits many were in.
Today there are many reasons for poverty. But greed remains the most common cause.
Taxes (5:4). The Persian king collected some 20 million gold darics (a Persian coin) annually in taxes. Payment was demanded in gold or silver coin which was then melted down and stored as ingots.
When Alexander the Great took Susa, where Nehemiah had served Artaxerxes, he found some 270 tons of gold and 1,200 tons of silver! The policy stripped the kingdom of coinage, created inflation, and was in part responsible for the serious economic stress in Judea.
“Usury” (5:7). The Heb. word, massa, appears only in Nehemiah. It means to impose a burden. The O.T. forbids charging interest on loans to poor neighbors (Ex. 22:25-27; Lev. 25:35-37; Deut. 23:19-20; 24:10-13). These provisions were being violated.
Nehemiah’s example (5:14-18). Nehemiah is a pure example of a principle stated in the N.T. He put his hope in God rather than his riches, and was both “rich in good deeds” and “generous and willing to share” (1 Tim. 6:17-18).
“Remember me” (5:19). Nehemiah frequently appeals to God to “remember” his good works. In biblical idiom “remember” means to repay, either for good or for evil. Nehemiah’s appeals were rooted in faith, for he firmly believed “He [God] exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).
Empty threats (6:5-9). Nehemiah dismissed the accusation of Sanballat and the implied threat, saying Sanballat was “making it up.” The Heb. bada‘ appears only here and 1 Kings 12:23. Let’s not be afraid when others threaten us with figments of their own imaginations.
Sanballat’s plot (6:11-12). The prophet Shemaiah was apparently hired to frighten Nehemiah into taking refuge in the temple, which as a layman Nehemiah could not enter. Nehemiah had only contempt for this attempt to frighten and discredit him.
Repopulation (7:1-73). Walls were necessary, but the fundamental issue was repopulating the city. People, not buildings, remain as the key to the continuation of God’s work.