Nehemiah 5

The opening portion of Nehemiah tells of the rebuilding of Jerusalem's ruined walls. In Nehemiah 4, the work continued despite opposition from enemies outside the community. Chapter 5 sets the building narrative aside to address an economic crisis within the community itself. The account of the wall resumes in Nehemiah 6.

Outline

• Verses 1–5 The people and their wives raise a great outcry against their fellow Jews. They complain that during a famine they mortgaged their fields, vineyards, and houses to obtain grain, borrowed money to pay the king's tax, and sold their children into bondage, yet have no power to redeem them.
• Verses 6–13 Nehemiah becomes very angry and rebukes the nobles and the rulers (local officials) for exacting usury (lending at interest) from their brethren, and he convenes a great assembly. He demands that they stop taking interest and restore the fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses, along with "the hundredth part" of the money, grain, new wine, and oil. When they agree, he has them take an oath before the priests and shakes out the fold of his garment as a warning against anyone who breaks the promise. The congregation says "Amen" and does as promised.
• Verses 14–19 Nehemiah recalls that for twelve years, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, he did not eat the governor's allowance. Former governors had exacted food and wine from the people besides forty shekels of silver, but he bought no land and devoted himself to the work on the wall. Although he fed 150 people daily along with foreign guests, he did not demand the allowance because the burden of labor on the people was heavy. He closes with a prayer asking God to remember him.

Key Verses

• Nehemiah 5:9 "Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?" — Grounds economic justice in the fear of God and in concern over the reproach of the heathen.
• Nehemiah 5:19 "Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people." — One of several prayers in the book asking God to remember (Nehemiah 13:14, 22, 31).

People and Places

• Nehemiah — Governor of Judah, who narrates this chapter in the first person.
• Artaxerxes — The Persian king who appointed Nehemiah governor. He is commonly identified as Artaxerxes I, in which case the twentieth year would be about 445 BC.
• The nobles and rulers — Judah's leading class, who impoverished the people by taking interest.
• Priests — Serve as witnesses before whom the oath is taken.
• Jerusalem — "This city" referred to in the text.

Points for Reflection

• The law forbidding interest on loans to one's fellow Israelites (Exodus 22:25; Deuteronomy 23:19–20) and the provision in Leviticus 25 against treating a poor brother as a slave are read as the background of this chapter. Some interpreters also connect the passage with the spirit of the Jubilee.
• "The hundredth part" in verse 11 is commonly interpreted as a monthly interest rate of one percent, though its precise meaning is disputed.
• Interpretations of the prayer in verse 19 vary: some read it as a confession of reliance on God's grace, while others caution that it may reflect an appeal to one's own deeds.
• The leader's renunciation of what he was entitled to receive is often read alongside 2 Thessalonians 3:7–9, where Paul worked to support himself so as not to be a burden.