The Remnant in Jerusalem
Neh. 5
But in face of this zeal, courage, and vigilance, there was sin and shame where it was least becoming. One can understand relaxation in captivity where no altar stood to the true and living God, and His people had no semblance of a position. It is affecting to see and experience the most grievous selfishness among those who boasted of a return to divine ground. This Nehemiah had now to face and meet as promptly in the unworthy leaders as he had taken efficacious measures against the adversaries.
“And there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons and our daughters, [are] many: let us get corn, that we may eat and live. There were also that said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute [upon] our fields and our vineyards. Yet now our flesh [is] as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and [some] of our daughters are brought into bondage [already]: neither is it in our power [to help it]; for other men have our fields and our vineyards. And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them” (vers. 1-7).
Usury was forbidden among the Israelites one with another, not as a thing in itself wrong, but as inconsistent with their exceptional standing and their relation as brethren after the flesh. They were at liberty to lend at interest to Gentiles, not to Jews; and if a Jew sold himself into servitude, at the seventh year he was set free, as land reverted to its true tenant at the jubilee. So did the law check and regulate a failing people on Jehovah's behalf. Alas! Self-governed the nobles and rulers in the land. And Nehemiah proved his moral courage as well as faith and love in detestation of their misconduct. He conferred not with flesh and blood. “I consulted with myself” is his remarkable language and made his remonstrance with themselves. He also set a great assembly against them.
“And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and would ye even sell your brethren, and should they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found never a word. Also I said, The thing that ye do [is] not good: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? And I likewise, my brethren and my servants, might lend them money and corn on usury. I pray you, let us leave off this usury. Restore, I pray you, to them even this day their fields, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth [part] of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do, even as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. Also I shook out my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not his promise; even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise” (vers. 8-13).
How solemn a reflection! The Jews in captivity put to shame the returned remnant in unselfish care for their brethren. No wonder that the statement of such a contrast silenced the guilty chiefs. Nehemiah could challenge investigation of himself and his servants; and this with such effect, that he called on them to cease ways so beneath Israel and to restore that very day what they had taken. The priests too were called to seal their promise with an oath taken by them; and Nehemiah imprecated God's judgment of delinquency, amidst the congregation's Amen and praise of Jehovah.
Indeed from Nehemiah's appointment as Pacha or governor, he and his brethren had not even eaten those twelve years the governor's bread. Far different had it been with his predecessors. How blessed where faith and love work thus to produce disinterestedness in matters of everyday life!
“Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. But the former governors that were before me were chargeable unto the people, and took of them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people; but so did not I, because of the fear of God. Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall; neither bought we any land; and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. Moreover there were at my table of the Jews and the rulers an hundred and fifty men, besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that were round about us. Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this I demanded not the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. Remember unto me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people” (vers. 14-19).
This practical grace rising above law sprang from the fear of God. It was not mere Jewish clannishness or patriotism. It was saintly, and it recalls a greater than he, who maintained the Lord's ordinance for those that preach the gospel, yet did not use this right himself in the full spirit of the gospel he preached. It is lovely where such fruits adorn a righteous and holy walk; best of all, when the good works done attest, not merely nor so much the benevolence of the doers, but their light, their witness of Christ, shining before men, who on seeing this glorify, not them, but their Father Who is in heaven. There is ample room for doing good unto all men, and especially to the household of faith in their special need on passing through a hostile world. But the great lack among Christians is in the exercise of practical faith which the eye of man cannot appreciate, and the danger is of slipping into mere benevolence, of which a natural man is capable and views it with applause.