In last week's study, we considered that when the work we engage in is worth doing and pleasing to God, It will be opposed by God's enemies. This week, the narrative shifts its focus inward, to the internal problems faced by God's people.
Have any of you experienced conflict in your church, or perhaps witnessed, or learned about conflict in your church or someone else’s church? What was it like, how did it affect the church or its people? Was it resolved?
Perhaps, there was a contentious issue which people disagreed on. Or maybe a person or group of people were engaged in sin, and hurting others in the church. Whatever the case, it probably took a lot of attention and energy to deal with, maybe even distracting or disrupting the good work the church was doing.
How do we deal with division within the church, amongst God's people? It's an important question, considering the damage that division can do to the good name and image of God and his church. That is the key question we shall consider in this passage.
(A) Division Within: Sin and Oppression (Neh 5:1-5)
The people and their wives raise an outcry against their Jewish brothers (Neh 5:1). Up to this point, we have seen the people united in their work to rebuild the wall and defend against it. Why mention their wives? In a patriarchal society, where male voices dominated, if even the women are brought up specially you can imagine how great the outcry must be!
In a time where there is a common task which God’s people are called to, and with the threat of a common enemy, the oppression comes not from their enemies but from their own people!
Do we think of opposition to God’s work and God’s people as only coming from outsiders? Nehemiah 5:1 tells us that God’s people themselves can become hindrances to God’s work. The church may be the redeemed people of God, but until Jesus comes again they remain sinners who are capable of doing injustice and hurting others. If we are not aware of this, then we may be in for a rude shock.
The people living in the city and working on the walls needed food to survive. There were external pressures that made it hard for them to get food, including scarcity due to the famine, and the imposition of taxes by the Persian empire.
We see from our passage that there were essentially three categories or degrees of neediness and indebtness:
The first group are begging for food. They have many children, and asked to “let us get grain, so that we may eat and keep alive” (Neh 5:2).
The second group have mortgaged their property to borrow money to buy food (Neh 5:3). These properties would normally yield food and drink and provide shelter. Yet due to the famine, these did not produce crops or food and so these people used that for food.
The third group have not only mortgaged their property to pay taxes, but sold their children into slavery to get food (Neh 5:6)! And they “cannot help” doing so because they have already given their property to others, and have nothing else to borrow on or sell.
These people are poor and needy, and are crying to Nehemiah for justice from their fellow Jews.
In Israel’s civil law, God has laid out provisions for protection of the poor. In Leviticus 19:9-10, 25:35, God had commanded provision for those with fields to not harvest completely, but to leave grain for the poor and needy to glean. The Israelites are also to support those who are poor and let the poor stay with them. In other words, those who have the (financial) means to do so are to provide for the needs of the poor in their midst, whether it is food, clothing, or shelter.
God gives land to his people, which they may sell for money but can redeem through payment or in the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:23-28, 36-38). However, there is nothing mentioned about mortgaging their property — mortgages are loans taken with property held in security, and usually involving a high interest rate. This contradicts God’s command to support or lend to those who are poor without charging interest or profiting from them.
We also see how Israelites who sell themselves into slavery due to indebtedness are to be treated as hired workers and sojourners (Lev 25:39-43, 53-55). Unlike foreigners they are not to be treated as slaves. The ‘masters’ are reminded of their servants’ status — they are fellow brothers. Furthermore, they are to be released in the year of Jubilee.
We can see from God’s law that the Lord is a God who cares for the poor and needy, cares for their needs, and specifies how the community should provide for and protect them. In short, the reason for the predicament of the poor is the disobedience of the whole Jewish community and failure to care for the poor!
What rationale is given for these laws? In these verses, the phrase “I am the LORD your God” is repeated (c.f. Lev 25:38, 42-43, 55). It is anchored in who God is, and therefore, how they relate to Him. This covenantal God stakes His claim over His people because He brought them out of Egypt into Canaan, to serve Him and Him alone. The people are to remember their identity in relation to God. They are not to serve themselves. Their fellow brothers who are poor have also been saved and redeemed by God. As fellow servants of God, they are deserving of care, honour and protection.
At the heart of it all, the Jew’s predicament is because those with power had chosen to serve themselves and ignore God’s commands to provide for the poor. They had forgotten that they were once slaves, but have been redeemed by God to serve him. They forgot that their fellow brothers were redeemed by God as well, and are fellow servants of God, deserving of care and honour and respect.
James 4 tells us that quarrels and fights amongst God’s people is caused by the sinful and worldly nature of their hearts. "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
The Levitical laws remind the people of God that they are not their own. They were redeemed to serve and obey God. If you are a Christian, then you too have been bought and redeemed by Christ. You are not your own, you were bought with a price (cf 1 Cor 6:20)! We are not to serve ourselves, but to serve God. Part of serving God is serving his church, serving his people who are in need.
How does this look like for us? Who are the ‘poor and needy’ in your church?
They might be those who are less well off. You may not need to be giving them money directly, but maybe inviting them to your place for a meal, treating them hospitably, and blessing them with things they need.
Do we perhaps, take advantage of the people who serve? Your pastors, church staff, supported missionaries. How well are they provided for? Do they have enough? Do you give and contribute to support those who labour?
Beyond financial means, perhaps you have people in your church who have difficulties getting to church for service, maybe due to age or illness. Would you avail yourself to serve them, whether by offering them a lift to church, or visiting them and bringing the word of God?
Do you give of your time to serve others in church, who may be struggling? Or do we default to our own convenience and comfort?
Friends, when you go to church – are you there as a consumer, or are you there to contribute to the community?
(B) Walk in the Fear of God: Call to Repentance and Reform (Neh 5:6-13)
Nehemiah, as it is written, was “very angry” upon hearing the outcry and these words (Neh 5:6). Yet, he first “took counsel with [him]self” (Neh 5:7). What does that mean? It means, he paused, took time to consider the problem, and then went about taking action.
Friends, how do you deal with problems or conflicts? Do you ride your emotions? Do you jump right into the action? Consider the wisdom of Nehemiah, who paused despite (or perhaps being aware of) his anger to consider his plans before taking action.
He calls them out on their sin according to the Word of God: Nehemiah is strategic in confronting the offenders, who are the nobles and the officials. These are the people who have power, wealth, and property. He brought charges against them in public, before the assembly of the rest of Judah. (Neh 5:7b, d). He laid out the specifics of their oppression of the poor in charging interest (Neh 5:7c) and trading their fellow Jews as slaves, as property (Neh 5:8b). The nobles and officials have nothing to say for themselves, only silence (Neh 5:8c). He points out the hypocrisy of their behaviour in profiting off the poor – even as Nehemiah and other Jews have been trying to help the poor by redeeming them from slavery to foreign nations (Neh 5:8a) and lending the poor money and grain (Neh 5:10a).
He rebukes them to restore them and bring them to repentance: Aside from being strategic in pointing out their sin, he calls them to turn back on their ways, and instructs them on how to make things right. He points out that what they are doing is “not good” (v9a), and tells them to “abandon this exacting of interest” and to return the property to the poor and turn over the profits or interest they have made and restore them to the poor brothers they had oppressed. Their repentance needs to follow up with action.
Nehemiah 5:9 gives us a glimpse into Nehemiah’s priorities. “Ought you not walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunting of the nations our enemies?” Do we realise that when God’s people are divided, the name of God and his beloved bride are dragged through the mud?
How is this instructive for us in dealing with sin in the church? On what basis do you call out your brothers’ or sisters’ behaviour? Do you use your own yardstick or values, or do you hold them to what God requires of His people, as laid out in His word?
When confronting sin in your fellow brothers, do you tend to beat about the bush, be apologetic, or try to smooth things over? Do you even point out their sin? Or do you go the other way, and lash out at them, forgetting that the point of rebuking sin is to bring your brothers to repentance? Nehemiah gives us an example of the balance required – being bold and firm in holding others accountable, with a mind toward restoring them to repentance (c.f. Gal 6:1-2).
When we confront sin in the church, is the glory of God our foremost concern and priority? Do we ourselves consider that we as his church are His image-bearers? Consider Jesus’ commandment in John 13:34-35 to “. . . love one another one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”.
Nehemiah makes the nobles and officials swear an oath to keep their promise (Neh 5:12-13). Why does Nehemiah make them swear an oath? Nehemiah had them swear oaths before the priests of God as witnesses. He pronounced a curse over those who would break their promise, that God would cut them off from the people of God and be emptied of his possessions (Neh 5:13). These convey the solemnity and severity of what they have done, and what they need to do. Why is this necessary? Much is at stake – the lives of many Jews, the unity of God’s people, and the integrity and holiness of God’s name!
Who ultimately holds God’s people to account? Look at the curse Nehemiah pronounces – who will act if the people disobey? It is God! This shows the balance of practical action and faith in God that we see throughout the book of Nehemiah. Only God is able and qualified to carry out judgment on those who break their oaths God ultimately is the judge.
The response of the people is instructive too. The assembly say Amen, and praise God (Neh 5:13b). The words of the rich are consistent with their actions. they say “we will do as you say”, and at the end it is noted that “the people did as they had promised.” They follow through. As Jesus had called us to do – let our yes be a yes and our no be a no. It is not only the offended people who are praising God, but the whole assembly. Including those who had sinned and called to repentance. This is a picture of unity amid brokenness and repentance.
Friends, if you are part of God’s redeemed people, know that the church is still fallen and in the process of sanctification. It’s important that we confront sin and hold each other to the standards God has laid out for us as His holy people, trusting in God to work in their hearts and bring people into repentance and restoration.