Nehemiah 5:1-11

How can we say we are a Christian nation and yet treat the very creation of God with such disregard? What we do to the least of His we do to God. Who does Jesus say we should care about in the same manner that we do our own families? Everyone. He broke the barriers of exclusion with His birth, death and resurrection. 

God will not be mocked.

One of the staples of Israel’s economy were wineries. The nation was famous for its wine—especially the area surrounding Gibeon, situated just north of Jerusalem.

This conflict posed a threat not only to the rebuilding project but to the unity of the community of returned exiles. Societal mistreatment originally tore the nation apart when Jeroboam led the 10 northern tribes to secede from the rule of Rehoboam. Nehemiah courageously opposes the selfish behavior of the strong in the community. This kind of unjust treatment of the weak was in part what led to the exile in the first place. Faithlife Bible.

Nehemiah’s first response to the sins of the Jewish people was anger. Deliberate disobedience to the Word of God ought to make a person indignant toward the sin—but not toward the sinner. After getting angry at the sins of the Jewish people, Nehemiah spent some time in serious thought. He then confronted the guilty people. After rebuking the guilty parties privately, Nehemiah confronted them in public with the same charges. Two issues were at stake here—fear of God and the reproach of the nations. When Israel, a nation called by the Lord, stopped honoring and obeying Him, it became a scandal because God’s name was being dishonored. NKJ Bible.

Nehemiah 5:1–11 (NKJV): And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.” So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, “According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?”Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury! 

Leviticus 25:35-36 If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 

Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.

Deuteronomy 15:7 “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother,