I. Introduction
A. Segway
Theme of Nehemiah:
We need to trust, serve, and obey
the sovereign God
who keeps His covenant
and restores His people.
What is the plumbline,
the summary statement of the Law?
Deuteronomy 6.4-5
4 "Hear, O Israel
II. Content of the Command
A. Believe
1. Yahweh’s relational nature.
2. Yahweh’s singular and self-existent nature.
3. Yahweh’s unique oness.
II. Content of the Command
B. Observe
1. The singular object of our devotion.
2. The object of all our devotion.
APPLICATION:
How many gods are you trying to serve?
"No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Matthew 6:24
D. Nehemiah overview
I. Reconstruction of Wall (1-7)
II. Renewal of the People (7-13)
Reconstruction of Wall (1-7)
Nehemiah’s prayer and request. (1) Phil
Nehemiah returns and inspects. (2) Jim
Construction organized. (3) Paul
Defensive provisions on the wall. (4) Ryan
Conspiracy foiled and wall finished. (6) Jim
Hanani placed in charge of city. (7) Jim
What is missing?
Why is it missing?
Nehemiah 5.1
1 And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren.
The Second Command
Luke 10
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?"
27 So he answered and said, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' "
28 And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Nehemiah is the chapter that shouldn’t be here not because it was written centuries later or misplaced by a scribe, but because God’s people should not mistreat each other.
This is the chapter we get stuck on to often.
Chapter Five Outline
1. The Outcry (1-5)
2. The Rebuke and Restoration (6-13)
3. The Example (14-19)
I. The Outcry
1 And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. 2 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." 3 There were also some who said, "We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine." 4 There were also those who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our lands and vineyards.
5 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."
There was an economic meltdown caused by
A famine (exasperated by the work on the wall)
The heavy tax by King Artazerxes
Exorbitant interest rates charge by the rich.
A. The three groups of needy
1. The Hungry
2 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."
2. The Mortgaged
3. ..."We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine."
3. The Taxed
"We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our lands and vineyards.
B. The hopeless condition
5 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."
...When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). —-NET Bible Translation Notes
Deuteronomy 23.19-20 Statutes about interest
19 "You shall not charge interest to your brother--interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. 20 To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.
Leviticus 25 Statutes about slavery
35 '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. 36 Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. 37 You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
39 'And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. 40 As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee.41 And then he shall depart from you--he and his children with him--and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt
Application:
Are you really loving God.
"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' " Luke 10:27
II. The Restoration
A. The Selfish Hearts Rebuked
6 And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 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. 8 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.
-> angry ... After serious thought
-> a great assembly against them
Many of these were probably the ones who would have judged cases in the courts.
1. Usury was against the covenant.
2. Nehemiah and others had apparently had worked to redeem Israelites sold in slavery to the surrounding nations.
Now these were undoing their sacrifice and efforts.
3. “...will you sell your brethren?”
B. The shameful conduct Rebuked
9 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?
It was a shame to have all the Hebrews slaves of the nations around. They would be very vulnerable to the whims of owners who disliked Israel
10 I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury!
Some think Nehemiah included himself in charging interest by the “let us stop. His shocked reaction in verse six leads me to believe that he was probably involved in their excesses. In the next verse he doesn’t say we should restore, but directs an imperative toward them.
11 Restore now to them, even this day,
their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses,
also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them."
(a 100th is a little obscure, but seems to refer to interest)
12 So they said, "We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say."
Then I called the priests, and required an oath from them (the rich) that they would do according to this promise.
C. The warning
13 Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, "So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen!" and praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise.
In those days people kept some of their personal belongings in the folds of their gowns or garments. We may call it the pocked to the gown. Nehemiah emptied the pocket before the people , shaking out everything. —F. Charles Fenshem
Deuteronomy 6
3 Therefore hear, O Israel
No Application Here
III. The Example
A. Did Not Burden the People
14 Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah
15 But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God.
B. Active in the work
16 Indeed, I also continued the work on this wall, and we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.
C. Generous Provisions
17 And at my table were one hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around us. 18 Now that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this I did not demand the governor's provisions, because the bondage was heavy on this people.
D. Plea to God
19 Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.
The example of Job
A. Job took pride in always sharing with the poor.
16 “If I have kept the poor from their desire,
Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 Or eaten my morsel by myself,
So that the fatherless could not eat of it
So that the fatherless could not eat of it
18 (But from my youth I reared him as a father,
And from my mother’s womb I guided the widow);
And from my mother’s womb I guided the widow);
16 desire חפץ Strong's H2656 - chephets khā'·fets desire or will
16 the eyes of the widow to fail
ylt—eye of the widow to consume;
kjv, nasb, nkjv, esv—eyes of the widow to fail
niv—eyes of the widow to grow weary;
nlt— crushed the hopes of the widows
That is, I have not frustrated her hopes, or disappointed her expectations, when she has looked intently upon me, and desired my aid. The "failing of the eyes" refers to failing of the object of their expectation; or the expression means that she had not looked on him in vain; see chap. xi. 20. ——Albert Barnes in Notes on the Old Testament
B. Job took joy in receiving their gratitude.
19 If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
Or any poor man without covering;
Or any poor man without covering;
20 If his heart has not blessed me,
And if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
And if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
20 heart חלץ Strong's H2504 - chalats khä·läts' loins-the region of the hips
ylt, kjv, nasb—loins; nkjv, niv—heart; esv—body
...loins is a synecdoche for the whole person. —John E Hartley in NICOT
The force of the parallelism is lost unless one can feel the pathos of a shivering body thankfully warmed by Job's fleece. —Elmer Smick in Expositor's Bible Commentary
20 blessed me
ylt, kjv, nkjv, esv, niv—blessed;
nasb—thanked;
nlt—praise
21 If I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
When I saw I had help in the gate;
When I saw I had help in the gate;
22 Then let my arm fall from my shoulder,
Let my arm be torn from the socket.
Let my arm be torn from the socket.
23 For destruction from God is a terror to me,
And because of His magnificence I cannot endure.
And because of His magnificence I cannot endure.
C. Job took honor in protecting the helpless.
The expression "raised my hand" refers to a threatening manner or gesture in the court rather than a threat of physical violence in the street. —translations notes in the NET Bible
1 Heb "gate," referring to the city gate where judicial decisions were rendered in the curlture of the time. —translations notes in the NET Bible
The curse of the arm (that was raised against the fatherless) has a strong sense of poetic justice.
NIMY stands for "not in my backyard." That should describe our attitude to the poor, disenfranchised, and helpless. We don't need to be in a constant state of angst over all the "poor in the world," but we should be moved with compassion by those that cross our path.
Application:
The Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
… let him labor…
that he may have something
to give him who has need.
Ephesians 4:28
28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
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