Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

5:1 Nehemiah's story of the restoration is not triumphalistic, for it tells of serious shortcomings in the community. great outcry. This is typical language of protest under oppression (see Ex. 2:23). The people are the rank and file of the Jews. And of their wives adds to the picture of families made desperate by hunger. Jewish brothers shows the strong bond among all Israelites, such that, by Mosaic law, none should permanently enslave or exploit another (see Deut. 15:1-18).

5:2 Several kinds of complaints emerge in vv. 2-5, each concerning some cause of hardship, all made worse by the preoccupation with the walls, and apparently by a bad harvest. let us get grain. This cry, perhaps coming especially from the women, probably arises because the men who are fully engaged on the building project are not able to do their usual work and are therefore unable to feed their families.

5:3 We are mortgaging, that is, raising money by temporarily forfeiting the use and fruit of their property, which means that they also risk becoming insolvent. Some are borrowing to pay the heavy tax on produce levied by the Persians.

5:5 our flesh . . . our brothers. The complaint emphasizes the close relationship among Israelites (see note on v. 1). forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves. Temporary debt-slavery (but not permanent chattel-slavery) was permitted in Mosaic law among Israelites, and was often the only way a debt could be paid, either after six years (Deut. 15:12) or at the Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:39-40). But even this practice might hit families hard in the current situation; there is also a suggestion that those taken into debt-slavery are not being treated properly.

5:7 The nobles and the officials within the Jewish community are accused of oppressing their own people, showing that the danger to the community comes not only from outside but also from within. Oppression of the weak by the strong had been one of the reasons for God's anger that had brought about the exile (see Isa. 5:7, 8-10; Amos 2:6-8). exacting interest. While property might be taken in pledge, pending repayment of a loan, taking interest from a fellow Israelite who borrowed out of poverty and need was forbidden (Deut. 23:19-20).

5:8 our Jewish brothers. See vv. 1, 5. Nehemiah stresses this kinship in order to drive home the people's neglect of this great principle underlying the law. sold . . . sell . . . sold. In his anger, Nehemiah brings out the irony of the Jews being redeemed from exile only to be sold into slavery by their own brothers.

5:9 fear of our God. See note on 1:11. taunts. See 4:1-4.

5:10 Nehemiah admits that he and his closest associates are implicated in the injustice and therefore presents his moral challenge as something to which he himself must respond.

5:11-12 Return . . . their fields. This appeal not only commands a return of the interest that was illegitimately seized, but is apparently a general amnesty, occasioned by the crisis and going beyond the provisions for debt-release (Deut. 15:1-11) or jubilee (Leviticus 25), since it is to be done without delay. The people agree, and solemnly undertake to keep their word.

5:13 shook out the fold. A symbolic action matching the words of the curse that follow. So may God shake out. This type of curse-formula was a solemn, conventional way of compelling commitment to a course of action. By saying Amen, the whole assembly took upon itself the terms of Nehemiah's curse.

5:14 governor. This is the first indication that Nehemiah held this official post in the province of Yehud (i.e., Judea), within the larger province of Beyond the River, and indeed that others had done so before him. twentieth . . . thirty-second year. 445 to 433 b.c. food allowance of the governor. Governors apparently had the right to raise taxes for their own use, but Nehemiah has not taken this due.

5:15 former governors. Nehemiah's predecessors, however, had used the people for the enrichment of themselves and their servants. fear of God. Nehemiah might mean that he respects God's law requiring all Jews to regard themselves as "brothers" (see vv. 1, 5, 8).

5:16 I also persevered. Nehemiah has put himself on a par with his fellow Jews, laboring with them and not using his position for gain.

5:17 at my table. This seems to refer to obligations that fell to Nehemiah by virtue of his position as governor. Those who came . . . from the nations may have been diplomatic visitors.

5:18 This heavy burden (v. 17) makes Nehemiah's self-sacrifice concerning the food allowance all the more remarkable. He does not wish to live comfortably while his people are in need.

5:19 Remember. See note on 1:8-9. This is the first of Nehemiah's prayers for God to remember: asking God to remember Nehemiah and his deeds, cf. 13:14, 22, 31; and to remember his opponents, cf. 6:14; 13:29. These prayers reflect the awareness that a merely human judgment might not achieve full justice. Nehemiah's deeds demonstrate his sincere faith, while the schemes of the opponents demonstrate their opposition to the well-being of God's people.