“We are equals!”

So far, we’ve laid a foundation for the biblical pro-life ethic, covering major themes and passages. From now on we’ll attempt shorter posts about single passages, adding color and depth to the framework. Nehemiah 5 is one such passage that adds depth to our understanding and demonstrates how pervasive the ethic is throughout scripture. 

In Nehemiah 5, we have a picture illuminating once again how God cares about the physical needs of His people, which was the subject of our previous post, and and has been the subject of several others. In this case, He provided that care through His law and through the people He positioned as leaders.

The people protest properly (Neh 5:1-5) 

“Our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children.”

The people returning from exile found life back home to be very difficult. They were not only disillusioned, but were becoming desperate. The situation was dire, truly a matter of life or death.

Three groups came together for the protest. It’s likely they overlapped:

1) People who did not have enough money to buy grain because they had large families. They were adding to the population of Israel, but grain prices were too high. They simply could not make ends meet. 

2) People who did not have enough money to buy grain because they had borrowed against future income from crops. When famine hit, they were unable to make their loan payments, adding to their already heavy burden. 

3) People who didn’t have enough money because they had temporarily forfeited to creditors the rights to their inherited land in order to pay the Persian king’s exorbitant taxes. Perhaps they were allowed to work their own land, but the bulk of its produce would go to the creditors. When the land failed to produce enough crops, farmers got deeper into debt. To survive, they sold the labor of their children to other farmers, so the family lost their labor.

If things continued in this way, many people would starve to death. If they’d appealed to their creditors, they’d gotten nowhere. They had to go higher up. This was similar to the protest that would arise to the apostles in Acts 6:1 when Greek-speaking widows were not being given their allotted food. 

It’s important to note what the protesters in Nehemiah 5 did not do. They did not attack their oppressors with physical violence, and did not steal what they believed was rightfully theirs. Instead, they took their complaint to the governor. 

Theirs was an urgent, yet peaceful, protest. And they appealed to Nehemiah on the basis of the brother-keeping principle, a wise and compelling argument: We’re your brothers and sisters. Whether an Israelite is rich or poor, early or late to return from exile, God’s law applies to all of us equally. We deserve consideration and the help of our community.

Israelites were not to think of themselves as being independent of one another. As family members, they should look out for the well-being of others, particularly those who were most vulnerable. They should not allow a tribe or clan to dwindle away to nothing but help them keep their inherited land. 

Because they made their appeal so well, and because the governor  was a godly man, he listened to their plight. Even if Nehemiah had not heard their plea, we can be sure God did.

The government responds appropriately (Neh 5:6-13) 

“The thing that you are doing is not good.”

Governor Nehemiah knew how the system was supposed to work. God’s law allowed Jews to “buy” other Jews as indentured slaves, but the provision was intended to be temporary (no longer than seven years). Similarly, Jews could legally “buy” the land of other Jews on a temporary basis. Debts were also to be forgiven in the Sabbath year, Deuteronomy 15:1ff, and loans from one Jew to another had to be made charging no interest (Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:36-37; Dt 23:19-20).

The system was broken. Because he took to heart the dictates for leaders in Proverbs 31:8-9, it not only frustrated Nehemiah, but made him angry, and the text makes it obvious he knew exactly where to lay blame. (See also Prov 14:31, 21:13, 29:13; Jeremiah 9:23-24.)

Note that Governor Nehemiah “took counsel” with himself. Why didn’t he convene a roundtable of advisors and other lower-level leaders? The answer is in the next part of verse 7. He was bringing charges against the nobility and officials. They were the problem! They had a conflict of interest. Any advice they gave would be suspect. 

So Nehemiah’s anger is understandable. People coming out of slavery in other lands were again becoming slaves in their own land. He probably couldn’t help thinking of how an earlier leader of Israel, Moses, had led Israel out of slavery in Egypt so they could freely serve God—not to live in servitude to one another.

What infuriated Nehemiah even more is that he and his family and servants had supported the recent arrivals financially. Their generosity had gone into the pockets of the money-gauging nobles and officials! One travesty on top of another!

Nehemiah publicly shamed these leaders and required them not only to comply not only with the letter of the law but also with its spirit. “Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them” (vss 10-11). The guilty princes and rulers had to swear an oath in front of the people they had wronged. Imagine their relief and joy.

Nehemiah practiced what he preached (Neh 5:14-19) 

“Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.”

A predatory economy was not sustainable, and Nehemiah wanted no part in it. Not only would he enforce the law, he would continue to live it. Indeed, his practice was to quietly go well beyond the requirements of the law. 

Up until this time, the general public may have been unaware their governor was refusing his paycheck from the Persian king. His aim was to lighten the people’s tax burden. Instead, he paid all his personal expenses and the expenses of his office as governor. How could he afford it? It could not have been easy. Truly, he lived by faith and stored up treasure in heaven.

Note that he didn’t even tax just the rich for his upkeep. Neither did he accept bribes. If he had done so, they might expect favors. He did not want to owe them anything, or make money from his tenure as governor. Neither did he want to neglect the poor and powerless. Nehemiah was far more conscientious than the kings or governors who ruled Israel before him. 

Conclusion: This ancient account is relevant to what people and governments face today. While America is not Israel, the first amendment to the Constitution says we have the right to protest: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Although God did not promise Christians all that He promised Israel, we derive principles of behavior from His word, such as the pro-life ethic and the principle of brother-keeping. Because we all bear God’s image, we avoid killing each other AND do what we can to help keep each other alive. 

Failed brother-keeping resulted in the first murder. Since Cain’s time, mankind has invented varied means of failing that principle, some of which are lucrative. This account demonstrates one fairly sophisticated and, dare I say, systemic way brother-keeping is violated.

Image credit: The Holocaust, Alexander Bogan, 1970, https://www.wikiart.org/en/alexander-bogen/the-holocaust-1970.