Scripture: Nehemiah 5:1-13
The worse threats and attacks that will ever come against
either a nation or a Church will be from inside the organization. The people who are working to defeat all that
the group, as a whole, has always stood for, certainly have a right to express
their differences of opinion, but not as an attack on the rights of
others. We see this currently happening
in both our country and the Church, and no matter how strong a stand the
traditional side of the issues take, the opposition will use every tactic that
they can think of to advance their agenda.
In the passages that we will be considering today,
we see a similar situation at work against the people of Israel. However, in their case, it was the elitists
who were taking advantage of those who were less able to stand up for
themselves. Israel had enough problems
coming at them from the occupational authorities of Persia, and additional
internal conflict had become nearly unbearable.
What can possibly be done to bring the situation
back into a sense of respect and moral consideration toward each other? We
shall see.
Read Nehemiah 5:1-5
“the men and their wives raised … an outcry
against their Jewish” neighbors.
What might have been causing such a great controversy within a nation that
was focused so mightily on rebuilding their temple and their city? It was bad enough that the Persian
authorities were demanding a crippling tax on the land, and as the people were
straining to meet those demands, they also had to provide the necessities for
their families.
There were 3 reasons that folks were struggling just
to make ends meet.
First, with so many men at work repairing the wall,
while at the same time striving to maintain security in the event of attack,
the women who remained at home were burdened with all of the work that their
men had once been responsible for. They
worked in the fields, they maintained their homes, and still had their own work
in caring for the family. And to make
matters even worse, there was the issue of occupational taxes that had to be
paid. Many families had to loan out
their sons and daughters to work for others, if they were ever going to be able
to obtain enough food in addition to the taxes. How were they to care for it all?
The second group were in the same brutal crush that
the first group was in, so they had to take out mortgages from their fellow
Jews, with the guarantee of repayment being their fields and homes. And to compound the problem, they were
experiencing a famine which made the issue even worse! When repayment failed, the loss of home and
property was nearly a death blow for the people. And they would never be able to buy those
possessions back. Life had nearly come
to a dead end!
The third group was in an even worse situation. Not only did they lose their fields and
homes, but the provisions of the loans could also have included slavery for the
younger boys and girls. Verse 5 alludes
to a practice that was even more despicable – some of their daughters had already
been enslaved to be “farmed” out for unmentionable purposes.
The people who found themselves in such dire
conditions were helpless to do anything about it. We can only imagine the painful prayers that
were offered up to their Lord God Jehovah, seeking His intervention and relief
from the injustices – not only those imposed by their captors, but those that
came from their own country men, and in some instances, by their own relatives!
Was there any hope whatsoever?
Read Nehemiah 5:6-11
Several times in this passage, we see the term
“usury” being used. This may be an
unfamiliar word for most of us, so here is what it implies. At its most basic meaning, it is excessive interest
that is charged on a loan. But Webster
offers an even more graphic description: it is “an unconscionable or
exorbitant rate or amount of interest; specifically interest in excess of a
legal rate charged to a borrower for the use of money”.
Usury is not only immoral, but scripture has
something to say about the act, too. In
Exodus 22:25-27 –
“25 If you lend money to one of my people among you
who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a
pledge, return it by sunset, 27 because
that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep
in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”
In addition, in Exodus 21:2, we
read “2 If
you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the
seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.”
In other words, not only shouldn’t the lender charge
interest, or require a loan default that will result in a significant challenge
to their well-being, but after 6 years of servitude, the person must be
released from all obligations, including repayment of the loan!
The elite of Israel were creating benefits for
themselves to both the detriment of their families and countrymen, as well as
in defiance of God’s will and word. So
Nehemiah takes control of the entire situation, and accuses them of 1) usury,
2) conspiring with the occupational authorities to line the pockets of both of them,
and 3), especially in the sins that they were committing against their God! And there was nothing that they could say in
defense of their actions!
It makes you wonder, that if these wealthy Jews
were being allowed to carry on in this way by their Persian masters, what else
were they doing on behalf of the occupation?
Read Nehemiah 5:12-13
They accepted Nehemiah’s demand that all interest
and defaults be returned to their rightful owners, and to pledge that they
would never require anything else from the people, regardless of what may have
been agreed upon.
Nehemiah then commissions the priests to monitor
their transactions to ensure that they never go back on their promise, and he makes
a gesture that had great significance to these men. He “shakes out the folds of his robe”,
indicating that he will hold nothing back in expectation of their keeping their
covenant, and he says that he believes that the Lord will be doing the same.
What does this say about the importance of the
promises just made? And what does it say
about the oaths that pastors of today make at their ordination, or people at
their acceptance as members of the church?
Nehemiah tells us that when we lie to God, that He will shake out any
who go against His words, and they will be “emptied”. In other words, they will no longer be one of
His people!
So consider this in light of the condition that the
UMC finds itself in today. Not only are
the elites and leaders of the church in much the same condition that Israel’s
influential people found themselves to be in, but their “usury” of the
people continue to degrade the witness that the Church presents to the world. Denial of God’s word, uncharitable acts
toward those who hold to traditional Christian values and truths, and promises
that there will be even greater changes to the polity of United Methodism – it
all speaks loudly and disgracefully in an unGodly manner.
The poor of Israel had no recourse to the evil that
the money lenders were showing toward them, but many of the faithful of today
do. We now have the opportunity to find
our way into a true and fresh way of serving, living, and loving in the way of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, some are still being denied the right to move to this new
way, but I believe that God will, very soon, be “shaking out” those who
are blocking His faithful from serving Him in Truth.
May the worldly people of the Church find their way into
claiming the truth of God for both their life and their worship, and may they
find it sooner than later.
May the Lord be praised!
