Nehemiah 5
Nehemiah faces another major problem that takes his attention away from building the wall. He has to deal with an economic crisis. … Nehemiah was following God’s Will and still faced problems. A lack of problems does not mean you in God’s Will and having problems does not mean you are out of God’s Will.
There were three reasons for the economic problem.
Heavy taxation by Persian empire
Famine
Rebuilding effort has taken people away from the harvest
The Problem (Nehemiah 5:1-5). … The people were exploiting each other. The ones who had food charged outrageous prices and those who had to buy food were being forced into debt, even into selling their sons and daughters. They also had to pay high taxes to the Persian empire.
Nehemiah’s Action (Nehemiah 5:6-11). … Nehemiah is “very angry”. Here, the same Hebrew word is used as where we saw when Sanballat was “very angry”. Sanballat had unrighteous, self-centered anger. Nehemiah has a righteous anger focused on helping others. Nehemiah spoke with the officials and nobles, accusing them. They were charging interest to their own people. He challenged them to stop charging interest and to give back what they had taken.
The People’s Response (Nehemiah 5:12-13). … The people agreed with Nehemiah and returned the money, the fields, and the slaves.
Nehemiah’s Economic Policy (Nehemiah 5:14-16). … Nehemiah was appointed governor and laxed the demands previous governors had instated. He did not demand food or money. Instead he shared what he had with his people.
What is God saying to you through this passage? How are you being led to oppose injustice and help the poor? … If God cares, so should we. God cares about the needy, the hungry, the homeless, the poor. We should also care about them and reach out to help them. … In our area, much of this population is poor due to poor choices or laziness, but that does not excuse us from having compassion on people who are poor. … There is an abundance of opportunities to help locally, nationally, and globally. Our church has ministries that server all three. … Why should we do this instead of spending the time and money on ourselves though? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 8:9 that it is because of the grace of God. By the grace of God, Jesus became poor, and through His poverty, made us rich.