Nehemiah 5:1-13--Nehemiah Stops Oppression of the Poor

Nehemiah 5:1-13
English Standard Version

Nehemiah Stops Oppression of the Poor
5 Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. 2 For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” 3 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” 4 And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

​6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them 8 and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say. 9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? 10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11 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.” 12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.

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It would seem that things aren't going as planned, and the people of Israel are having a hard time getting food.  The people are put into a hard place.  They are not talking about going back into slavery in order to have food like the Israelites did with Moses as they were coming out of Egypt, but they are talking about selling their children into slavery in order to have a little money now so they can feed themselves.

While the Levites were living tax-free, it would seem the common people were dealing with an abusive tax system that charged so much in tax that they had to mortgage their fields (so that they no longer owned the Land promised to them) in order to pay the taxes on the land and produce.  (We'll find out later that this is not really an issue with the king, but the king is getting blamed for it).

Nehemiah meets with the nobles and officials (the ones who the king had allowed to be chosen to be over the Jews, chosen from among the Jewish people so that they could be self-governed).  It was these officials that were taxing their brothers and sisters into poverty, then giving high-interest loans to them once they were too poor to pay the tax, knowing that they could not get out of that situation, and hoped to use their political power to steal the land and resources from those that they were governing.  (Sound familiar?)

All of this was against the Law of Moses, especially a loan that charged interest--no usuary or interest was to be charged to fellow Israelites.  Not only that, but the LORD was in the process of bringing the Exiles back to the Land, and here these officials are selling them back into slavery to enrich themselves.  The officials deserved to die for what they did.  They were silent before Nehemiah when he accused them of these charges because they knew they were all guilty individually and collectively.

Nehemiah points out that they are sinning and not walking in the fear of God.  They are causing the LORD, the God of Israel, and all of Israel to be a mockery among the nations.  Nehemiah being quite wealthy decides to put the nobles (who are also rich) to shame and starts loaning money and grain without interest (and really without expectation of being paid back.  He is doing what the Law told him to do--to use what the LORD had blessed him with to make sure that his family is taken care of first, and then his neighbor, and then the stranger that lives among them.  Nehamiah commands the nobles to return to the people all the land they have stolen and all the "tax" they have illegally collected and all the interest they have charged the people in opposition to the Law of the LORD.  They said they would do so that day and would stop these practices of using their position to oppress the people like the leaders of the Gentile nations did.

Nehemiah told them that if they did return to these practices to expect the LORD to use His power against them to take away their lands and money and resources so that they would get the same treatment from the LORD that they were giving to His people.  Everyone agreed and said, "Amen" and the people once again feared the LORD and obeyed Him, doing as they had promised.