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The Histories · Old Testament

Nehemiah 5

Nehemiah 5: the outcry against usury and Nehemiah's conduct as governor

General context

A great cry rises from the people and their wives against their brethren the Jews. Some say their families are many and they need corn to live; some have mortgaged lands, vineyards and houses to buy corn in the dearth; some have borrowed for the king's tribute on their lands. They say their flesh is as their brothers' flesh, yet they are giving their sons and daughters into bondage, some daughters already, and cannot redeem them because others hold their lands. Nehemiah is very angry, rebukes the nobles and rulers for exacting usury from their brothers, and sets a great assembly against them. He says the community has redeemed brethren sold to the heathen and asks whether the nobles will now sell their brothers; they are silent. He says he and his men could also exact money and corn, and asks them to restore that day the lands, vineyards, oliveyards, houses and the hundredth part of money, corn, wine and oil. They agree. Nehemiah takes an oath of them through the priests, shakes out his lap as a sign that God will shake out anyone who fails the promise, and the congregation says Amen; the people do as promised. Nehemiah then reports that for twelve years as governor, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, he and his brethren did not eat the bread of the governor, unlike former governors who took bread, wine and forty shekels and whose servants ruled the people. He kept at the wall, bought no land, and fed a hundred and fifty Jews and rulers daily, yet did not claim the allowance because the bondage was heavy. He asks God to think on him for good.

Cited passages: Nehemiah 5:1, Nehemiah 5:2, Nehemiah 5:3, Nehemiah 5:4, Nehemiah 5:5, Nehemiah 5:6, Nehemiah 5:7, Nehemiah 5:8, Nehemiah 5:9, Nehemiah 5:10, Nehemiah 5:11, Nehemiah 5:12, Nehemiah 5:13, Nehemiah 5:14, Nehemiah 5:15, Nehemiah 5:16, Nehemiah 5:17, Nehemiah 5:18, Nehemiah 5:19

Nehemiah 5 (KJV)

1And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.

2For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live.

3Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.

4There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.

5Yet 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 unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

6And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.

7Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them.

8And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer.

9Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?

10I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury.

11Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, 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.

12Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.

13Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this 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.

14Moreover 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.

15But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.

16Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work.

17Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us.

18Now that which was prepared for me daily 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 required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.

19Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

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Historical context

The complaint is internal, Jews against Jews, and the text places it in the middle of the wall narrative without a date. The people describe three separate pressures, hunger in a dearth, mortgages for corn, and borrowing to pay the king's tribute, and the text does not say which was most widespread. The word usury is Nehemiah's; the people speak of mortgages, borrowing and bondage. The nobles' silence and their promise are reported, and the narrator adds that the people did according to this promise, but no later check is described. Verses 14 to 19 step outside the wall story to cover Nehemiah's twelve years as governor, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, so the chapter's second half looks forward well past the fifty-two days of building. The title governor is here applied to Nehemiah for the first time, and the former governors are unnamed. The forty shekels of silver and the daily provision of one ox and six sheep are Nehemiah's figures for others' exactions and his own table. The closing request that God think on him for good is the first of several such appeals in the book. Nothing is said about where the food for his table came from if not from the governor's bread.

Cited passages: Nehemiah 5:1, Nehemiah 5:3, Nehemiah 5:4, Nehemiah 5:7, Nehemiah 5:5, Nehemiah 5:13, Nehemiah 5:14, Nehemiah 6:15, Nehemiah 5:15, Nehemiah 5:18, Nehemiah 5:19, Nehemiah 13:31

Literary context

The chapter opens with a cry rather than an enemy, and the three voices of complaint are set out in parallel, each introduced by the same construction, there were that said, and together they build to the loss of land and children in verse 5. Nehemiah's response is told as inner deliberation followed by public confrontation, and his argument turns on a single contrast, redeeming brethren from the heathen against selling brethren to one another. The silence of the nobles is the hinge; after it the chapter moves quickly through request, promise, oath, curse and Amen. The shaken lap is an acted sign whose meaning Nehemiah states aloud. The second half changes register from scene to self-report, using the language of accounts, years, shekels, oxen and sheep, to make a case for his own conduct, and it closes with a direct address to God that reads like a note in a ledger. Placed between the armed building of chapter 4 and the plots of chapter 6, the chapter shows the wall threatened from inside as much as from outside.

Cited passages: Nehemiah 5:2, Nehemiah 5:3, Nehemiah 5:4, Nehemiah 5:7, Nehemiah 5:8, Nehemiah 5:13, Nehemiah 5:14, Nehemiah 5:18, Nehemiah 5:19, Nehemiah 4:23, Nehemiah 6:2

Key moments

  1. A cry against their brethren (Nehemiah 5:1). The people and their wives raise a great outcry against fellow Jews.
  2. Children into bondage (Nehemiah 5:5). Families report giving sons and daughters as servants and being unable to redeem them.
  3. Nehemiah's anger (Nehemiah 5:6). He is very angry at the cry and confronts the nobles and rulers.
  4. Will ye sell your brethren? (Nehemiah 5:8). Nehemiah's question leaves the nobles with nothing to answer.
  5. Restore this day (Nehemiah 5:11). He asks for lands, houses and the hundredth part to be returned at once.
  6. The shaken lap (Nehemiah 5:13). Nehemiah acts out a curse on any who break the promise, and the congregation says Amen.
  7. Twelve years without the governor's bread (Nehemiah 5:14). Nehemiah reports refusing the governor's allowance throughout his term.

For reflection

The people say their flesh is as the flesh of their brethren, yet their children are going into bondage to those same brethren. What makes the nobles fall silent when Nehemiah puts the matter as selling their own kin, and why might that argument land where others would not?

People in this chapter

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