It is one thing to confront foreign enemies and quite something else to deal with your own people when they fight one another. Young Moses learned that it was easier to dispose of an Egyptian master than to reconcile two Jewish brothers (Ex. 2:11–15). Nehemiah showed true leadership in his responses to the problem.
Anger (v. 6). This was not the flaring up of a sinful temper but the expression of righteous indignation at the way the businessmen were oppressing their brothers and sisters. “In your anger do not sin” (Eph. 4: niv; see Ps. 4:4). Nehemiah was not a politician who asked, “What is popular?” or a diplomat who asked, “What is safe?” but a true leader who asked, “What is right?” His was a holy anger against sin, and he knew he had the law of God behind him. Moses expressed this kind of holy anger when he broke the stone tables of law (Ex. 32), and so did Jesus when He saw the hardening of the Pharisees’ hearts (Mark 3:5).
Why didn’t Nehemiah know about this scandalous economic problem sooner? Probably because he was so immersed in the one thing he came to do—the rebuilding of the walls—that he had no time to get involved in the internal affairs of the community. His commission as governor was to repair the walls and restore the gates, not to reform the community. Furthermore, Nehemiah had not been in the city long enough to learn all that was going on.
It is important to note that the building of the wall did not create these problems; it revealed them. Often when a church enters into a building program, all sorts of problems start to surface that people didn’t even know were there. A building program is a demanding thing that tests our faith, our patience, and our priorities, and while it brings out the best in some people, it can often bring out the worst in others.
Consultation (v. 7). “I consulted with myself” means literally “My heart consulted within me.” A friend of mine calls this “putting my heads together.” Actually, Nehemiah put his heart and his head together as he pondered the problem and sought God’s direction. He got control of his feelings and his thoughts so that he could give constructive leadership to the people. “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Prov. 16: nkjv). If a leader can’t control himself, he will never be successful in controlling others.
Nehemiah decided to call a great assembly (Neh. 5:7) and publicly confront the people whose selfishness had created this difficult and painful situation. Theirs was a grievous public sin, involving the whole nation, and it demanded public rebuke and repentance.
Rebuke (vv. 7–11). Nehemiah’s rebuke of the exploiters consisted of six different appeals. First, he appealed to their love by reminding them that they were robbing their own fellow Jews, not the Gentiles (v. 7). The word “brother” is used four times in this speech. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1). “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me,” Abraham said to Lot, “for we are brothers” (Gen. 13: niv).
His appeal was based solidly on the Word of God, for the law of Moses forbade Jews to exact interest from one another. The Jewish nation went into Babylonian captivity an agricultural people, but some of them came out a mercantile people, having learned how to use money to make money. There is certainly nothing wrong with lending money (Matt. 25:27), providing you don’t violate God’s Word and exploit those who are helpless.
It is remarkable how much the Bible has to say about the right and wrong use of money. It is also remarkable how many professed believers ignore these truths and use their resources without consulting the Lord. They think that because they tithe, or give offerings to the Lord, they can do what they please with the rest of their income. They forget that we are stewards of all that God gives us, not just of what we give Him, and that He will hold us accountable for our stewardship.
In his third appeal, Nehemiah reminded them of God’s redemptive purpose for Israel (Neh. 5:8). In the past, God redeemed Israel from Egypt, and more recently, He had redeemed them from captivity in Babylon. But this verse informs us that Nehemiah and others of the leading Jews had helped redeem some of their people, and now their fellow Jews were putting people into bondage just to make money. These selfish money lenders were tearing down everything that God and Nehemiah were trying to build up.
What is freedom? It is life governed by truth and motivated by love. But the Jewish brokers were motivated by greed and ignoring the truth of God’s Word. Their selfishness put both themselves and their creditors into bondage.
Israel’s witness to their Gentile neighbors (v. 9) was the fourth appeal Nehemiah presented to the guilty money lenders. God called Israel to be a “light to the Gentiles” (Isa. 42:6; 49:6), but their conduct was certainly anything but a witness to their pagan neighbors. How could some of the Jewish citizens build the city wall on the one hand but enslave their neighbors on the other hand? If we truly fear the Lord, then we will want to honor Him before those who don’t believe in Him.
Paul used a similar approach when he censured the Corinthian Christians for taking one another to court. “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? … But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!” (1 Cor. 6:1, 6 nkjv). Far better to lose money than lose the privilege of your witness to the lost. You can always earn more money, but how do you restore a damaged testimony?
“The fear of our God” is not the servile dread of a slave toward a master but the loving respect of a child toward a parent. To fear the Lord means to seek to glorify God in everything we do. It means listening to His Word, honoring it, and obeying it. “The remarkable thing about fearing God,” wrote Oswald Chambers, “is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” Because Nehemiah’s life was motivated by the fear of the Lord (Neh. 5:15), he did not fear what the enemy might do (vv. 14, 19). The fear of the Lord moved Nehemiah to be a faithful servant of the Lord.
To walk in the fear of God, of course, means to walk by faith, trusting God to deal with your enemies and one day balance the accounts. It means claiming Matthew 6: and having the right priorities in life. “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil” (Prov. 19: nkjv).
In Nehemiah 5:10–11, Nehemiah appealed to his own personal practice. He was lending money to the needy, but he was not charging interest or robbing them of their security (Ex. 22:25). Unlike some leaders, Nehemiah was not saying, “Do what I say, not what I do!” He was not a hypocrite; he practiced what he preached. In fact, this chapter will conclude with Nehemiah pointing out all that God had enabled him to do for his people (Neh. 5:14–19). He was a good example as a believer and as a leader.
“The hundredth part” in verse 11 was the interest charged for the money, probably applied monthly, making a total of 12 percent interest a year. This practice had been going on before Nehemiah arrived on the scene and now the people were in despair as they tried to balance the family budget.
A man of action, Nehemiah told the brokers to restore both the interest and the security they had taken from their fellow Jews, as well as the property they had claimed in foreclosure. This drastic step of faith and love would not immediately solve all the economic problems of the people, but it would at least keep the problems from getting worse. It would also give the suffering people opportunity to make a fresh new start.
Nehemiah’s sixth appeal was to remind them of the judgment of the Lord (vv. 12–13). The brokers promised to obey, so Nehemiah had them take an oath in the presence of the priests and the other officers of the city. This meant that their promise was not only between them and their neighbors, but between them and the Lord, and this was a serious thing. “When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it” (Eccl. 5:4–5 niv).
The great assembly was concluded with three actions that emphasized the seriousness of the occasion. First, Nehemiah shook out the folds of his robe, symbolic of what God would do with the money lenders if they didn’t fulfill their vow. Shaking your robe or the dust off your feet was a typically Jewish act of condemnation (Acts 13:51; 18:6; Matt. 10:14).
Then the congregation responded with a collective “Amen,” which was much more than a Jewish ritual. It was their solemn assent to what had been said and done at the assembly (see Neh. 8: and Deut. 27:14ff.). The word amen means “so be it”; in other words, “May the Lord do all that you said!” It was an act of worship that made the entire assembly a part of the decisions that were made.
Then the whole congregation together praised the Lord. Why? Because God had enabled Nehemiah to help them begin to solve their problems, and he had directed the money lenders to acknowledge their sins and make restitution. This great assembly was not an “economic summit”; it was a worship service where Nehemiah had lifted a financial problem to the highest possible level. God’s people need to follow his example and deal with every problem in the light of the will of God as declared in the Word of God.