Brick by Brick: Nehemiah 5-6

Thanks for joining us this morning. As you know, we're stepping through one of the, the lesser known books of the Bible where we're in a series called Brick by Brick. It's a study of the book of Nehemiah. And if you've been tuning in so far, you, you know a bit of that back backstory to where we're at right now. We know a bit of the history here.

We know that this is set after the Jewish people, the Israelites, have been conquered by Babylon and they've been exiled. And sometime after that, the Persian empire comes and they take over and they allow the Israelites to return to their homeland. And the story that we're reading now picks up about 50 years after that. Fifty years later, we're introduced to the character of Nehemiah. And he's someone who is deeply moved by the fact that Jerusalem has been destroyed and that it still lies in ruins to this day.

And so this is the place of his ancestors. It still lies in ruins. And he's in an interesting position. He's a cup bearer to the king, the Persian king, Artaxerxes. And in this context, we hear about some amazing miracles, circumstances that come together to allow him to return back to Jerusalem.

He's not just given permission to go back to his homeland, he's given the resources to do it as well. And so he sets out to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. But as we learned last week, once he reaches Jerusalem and once he starts that rebuilding project, there's lots of opposition. There's hostile people who are surrounding this city who don't want to see this steady re establish. They don't want to see those walls being built.

And Pastor Simon took you through chapter four last week and an amazing example of how Nehemiah responds in the face of hostility. And then chapter four. It ends on a high, doesn't it? It ends on a high. We find the people of God doing God's work.

They're facing all these obstacles on all sides, but despite that, they're determined not to let their enemies stop them. And from Nehemiah's perspective, he sees this as God coming through for them, as God fighting on their behalf. And so the picture that you have up to this point is one of just overcoming despite the odds. And this is the people who are unified under Nehemiah's leadership. They're excited about restoring the city.

They're not fazed by the opposition that's in front of them. But then we get to chapter five, and this stands out like a sore Thumb. It's just so different to what has come before. Just contrasts so starkly. Because we find that there isn't just opposition from outside, there's opposition from within.

There's opposition to the rebuilding of the wall coming from the Jewish people themselves. And so we're going to step through this this morning. So if you'd like to turn with me, we're going to look at Nehemiah chapter 5, starting in verse 1. This is what it says about this time, some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews. They were saying, we have such large families, we need more food to survive.

Others said, we have mortgaged our fields, vineyards and homes to get food during the famine. And others said we have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes.

We belong to the same family as those who are wealthy, and our children are just like theirs. Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters and we are helpless to do anything about it, for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others. This is quite shocking, right? This is absolutely shocking.

So here we find that there are people, they're bringing a protest against each other. They're bringing it to Nehemiah. They're protesting about how there's a food shortage. There's lots of people who are going hungry, and they're also struggling to pay their taxes to the Persian Empire. And now they're in this situation where they need to borrow money, they're mortgaging their fields, and it's not enough.

It's not enough. The people are in serious financial debt and they're really desperate. And so they do something shocking. They start selling their own children into slavery. And this is possibly to the other rich Jewish people in the community who could afford to buy servants still as a bond servant, but they're also selling them to non Jewish people as slaves outside of Jerusalem.

And so when you think about this, you think prior to this chapter, everything looked like it was going well, didn't it? The people, they're back in the city of their ancestors. The rebuilding effort is underway. Looks like everything's coming together. And then we read this.

The reality is that people are starving, they're in debt, they're desperate, and in their desperation, injustice is occurring. That's the main point Nehemiah is making here. Injustice is occurring in this setting. And so next we see Nehemiah's response to all of this.

In verse 6, it says, When I heard their complaints. I was very angry. After thinking it over, I spoke out against those nobles and officials. I told them, you are hurting your own relatives by charging interest when you borrow money. Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem.

So how does this make Nehemiah feel? He's understandably angry about what's going on here, and he's angry in particular about the injustice that he sees occurring. And in these verses, it's, I think, important to note there that he's drawing a link between the injustice occurring and the people not following the law. So Nehemiah, he cares about the Torah, he cares about the Jewish law, he cares about upholding that law. And in verse 7 there, he's referring to Exodus 22:25, which says, if you lend money to any of my people who are in need, do not charge interest as a money lender would.

And so that's one of God's laws to the Israelites. And it's designed to stop the rich exploiting the poor. It's designed to ensure that poorer members of the community, they're not further impoverished by their financial needs. That's what it's about. So this law also builds a lot of other laws that you find in the Torah, which together give you this picture of a society that's built on generosity and compassion rather than pure financial gain.

And so those laws, they're about justice being done, about lifting up vulnerable people in their society. And so Nehemiah is saying to the nobles and officials that that's who he's talking to in particular. That's the rich people in their community. And he says to those people, you know, what are you guys doing? What are you guys doing?

You're charging interest on your loans to other Israelites. You know, that's breaking the law. And so Nehemiah sees here that the financial problems that the people are experiencing, they're being exacerbated by some people who are seeking to profit from other people's time of need. And so Nehemiah looks at that and he goes, that is unjust. That is unjust.

And so he calls a meeting to address it. And he says this at the meeting. I said to them, we are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners, but you are selling them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them? And they had nothing to say in their defense.

He says, how often must we redeem them? It's like he's saying, remember that whole slavery thing in Egypt? We're not supposed to replay that. You know, remember how God allowed Babylon to conquer us? We're not supposed to do those things.

They're going to lead to that same situation. You know, he's saying, stop acting unjustly. And so he's, I think, just highlighting the irony of the Jewish people coming back from exile and slavery to start selling their own relatives back into slavery. But also note here that he's not just giving them a good talking to, right? He's not just saying, you know, this is bad, you need to know it's bad.

He's actually making a way for those most vulnerable people in their society. That's the children who've been sold into slavery to return to their families. So for those people who have been sold into slavery, he says, we're doing all we can to redeem them. So he's not just sitting back going, oh, well, that was a dark time in our history. Let's not repeat that.

He's actively setting out to restore what has been lost. That's the important point. He's setting out to restore what has been lost in this community. And he continues in verse nine, he says, then I pressed further, what you are doing is not right. Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by our enemies?

I myself, as well as my brothers and my workers have been lending to people money and grain. But now let us stop this business of charging interest.

You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves and homes this very day and repay the interest you charged when you lent them money, grain, new wine and olive oil.

They replied, we will give back everything and demand nothing more from the people. We will do as you say. Then I called the priests and made the nobles and officials swear to do what they had promised.

So Neymar, he doesn't just tell them to stop doing the practices that they know are wrong, like charging interest to the poor and taking their land. He tells them to give back what has been lost, what has been taken. Their interest is to be repaid. The fields, the vineyards, the groves, their homes, they'll be returned. And so to Nehemiah, this is about justice.

And for justice to be done, it requires restoring what was lost. And so, to their credit, actually, I think the nobles, the officials, the rich people among them, they see that what's been happening is wrong and they actually make a commitment to restore what has been lost. They say, we'll give back everything and demand nothing more from the people. I think that's quite amazing. They're demonstrating that they have a teachable spirit, that they're open to correction.

And it's impressive, I think, especially considering that this is about money. And money has such a power and a hold over people in their decision making. And so from here, Nehemiah holds himself up as an example. All right, he says, look at my example. Look at some of the things I've done in my time as governor of this land.

So he puts it like this. From verse 14, he says, for the entire 12 years that I was governor of Judah, from the 20th year to the 32nd year of the reign of King Artaxerxes, neither I nor my officials drew on the official food allowance.

The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the people, demanding a daily ration of food and wine besides 40 pieces of silver. Even their assistants took advantage of the people. But because I feared God, I did not act in that way.

I also devoted myself to working on the wall and refused to acquire any land. I required all my servants to spend time working on the wall. I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table besides all the visitors from other lands. So Nehemiah says, look at my example. Look at my example.

From the moment the king made me governor of Judah, I've acted in a way that's with integrity, with fairness. And so he mentions how, in particular, as governor, he's entitled to a lot of things. He's entitled to this huge food allowance. He's actually allowed to personally benefit from the taxes on the Israelites. He's entitled to that.

And the previous governors had certainly taken those things up. They had taken those things to make themselves wealthy. But not Nehemiah. And not only did he not take what he could have, he also gave when he didn't have to. So the food he received from the king's provisions, he could have profited from that which people had done in the past.

He gave those things away. He says, I fed as many as 150 people regularly. And that's an amazing example of generosity. These are the things that he's doing to lift up his community, to prevent people slipping into poverty. And in his eyes, this is what it takes to be just.

That's why he's giving you this example. He's not just going along with the status quo, with what previous people had done before him, what was perhaps legal and okay by their culture and time. He's saying, I'm not just going along with the status quo, but he's actually going to lift Others up with the resources that he has. All right, and what does it say that his motivation is for doing this? You know what motivates him to behave in this way?

He says, because I feared God. He says, because I feared God. Nehemiah has this deep reverence, this awe, and this respect for who God is, for his holiness and his power. And with that comes an awareness that his actions and. And the motivations behind those actions are accountable to God.

He's accountable to God. And so at the end of the day, he knows that he's accountable for how he acts. And this heavily influences his decision making. It actually motivates him to advocate for the vulnerable. It motivates him to change social structures that might cause injustice.

It motivates him to seek justice. That's what it's about. And so Nehemiah, he could have been like those that came before him. He could have taken more than he needed. He could take what he was entitled to, actually.

But a fear of the Lord has changed his perspective. It's given a totally new perspective on what's important. It's no longer about him. It's no longer about his personal gain. It's about seeing justice done.

And that's the end of chapter five. That's the end of chapter five. And from here I'm going to very briefly cover chapter six because it links in nicely with the theme that's going through chapter five here. But it also highlights, I think, or has probably the highlight of the story. It's the fact that the wall is completed.

And you might be noting that we're only at chapter six now. We're about halfway through the book. There's a roller coaster ride of ups and downs that happen after this. The story's not done yet, but let's have a look quickly at two verses from chapter six. If you just jump down with me to verse 15.

So despite the continued opposition that they face to the rebuilding of the wall, there's still this hostility from people outside the city. Despite that, despite the desperate situation that the people are in, you know, within Jerusalem that we saw in chapter five, the work is completed. And it says this in chapter 6, verse 15. So on October 2nd, the wall was finished just 52 days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated.

They realized this work had been done with the help of our God. And so these walls had lain in ruin for over 100 years. Over 100 years. And then in just 52 days, they are restored. And We've seen in the chapters leading up to this some of the reasons why that's probably the case.

There's the permission of the king that's required to do something like this. Of course, you've got a bunch of hostile people surrounding the area, preventing them from. From actively rebuilding anything. And lots of resources are required. This is no small feat.

It's no small feat. But now we see it completed in such a short amount of time, decades of waiting. It's now completed in under two months. That's amazing. And in Nehemiah, he tells us how that is possible.

He says this work had been done with the help of our God. And this ties in nicely to chapter five, I think, because this is an example of God's restorative justice. So if you think about this setting here that the Jewish people are the vulnerable and the marginalized at this point in time. They are the ones who are under the rule of the Persian empire. So they don't have authority.

They aren't the ones with power. And despite being given permission to go back and rebuild, they're surrounded by hostile people, people who are instilling fear in them about rebuilding. They're also struggling through famine and poverty. Right? That's what's revealed to us in chapter five.

This isn't a picture of a flourishing society, right? But God has been at work in the background here, making things happen. And in this part of the story, we see God come through for them and he restores to them what has been lost. God made a way for his people to return to their homeland. The exile is now over.

He's established a city for them. They've got their own hub for work and prosperity, and they've rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. He's given them security in this place. So God has restored to them what has been lost. And this is an example of God lifting up vulnerable and marginalized people.

This is what God calls justice. That's what God calls justice. And that's the theme that ties all of this together, that God's justice is restorative. And we see that first in how Nehemiah responds to a crisis among his own people. At the start of chapter five, we see people, they're starving, they're in debt, and they're desperate.

And this whole situation is being exacerbated by the rich, the nobles and officials living among them. They're charging interest, they're taking people's land, they're taking from the most vulnerable in their society. And Nehemiah gives a clear command to Those people, he says, restore everything that's been lost. Nehemiah doesn't tell them to just stop practicing the things that they know are wrong. He tells them to give back what was taken.

And he even sets about bringing back those people who had been sold into slavery, redeeming those people who were the most vulnerable. That is restorative justice. And then we're given Nehemiah's own personal example of how he conducted himself. And we find that as governor of Judah, actually he's entitled to a lot. He's entitled to a lot.

He had the opportunity to make himself wealthy at the expense of others, but he doesn't do that. And not only doesn't he take what he could have, he. But he gives when he doesn't have to as well. So in an amazing act of generosity, he feeds as many as 150 people regularly, and he does what he can to prevent people falling into poverty. That's restorative justice.

And then you see it again in the rebuilding of the walls. For more than 100 years, they lay in ruins. And then God comes through in the background. He's been at work in the background restoring to his people the things that were lost to them. Their homeland, their city, their security.

That's restorative justice. And so for you this morning, there are really two key points that I want to take you to take from Nehemiah's example here this morning. He mentions two really important things about how he responds to these situations. Two important things that allow him to respond in a way that brings about restorative justice, Right? The first, there is a knowledge of the law, and the second is the fear of the Lord.

And so you saw that when people started disobeying the law, injustice started occurring. That's the link Nehemiah wanted you to see there. People started disobeying the law, injustice started occurring, and it actually resulted in poverty and enslavement. But when the people are reminded of the law, you know, when they're reminded of God's Word, there's transformation. The people there, they're convicted and they make a commitment to change.

That's actually quite amazing. And so for you this morning, it's that knowledge, knowing that God's Word has the power to do that in your life and in the world, right? For you, the equivalent to the law is your Bible. Your Bible has the power to reveal things about your own life and about the world around you that are unjust things that need to change. God's Word will make you aware of Those things, aware of the injustices that are occurring.

And so if you want to see justice done, it begins with the knowledge of what's written in your Bible. And the second thing that Nehemiah points us to is the fear of the Lord, which means this deep reverence and awe, a respect for God's holiness and his power, for who he is. And it's about knowing that you're accountable to God for your actions and letting the knowledge of that influence how you behave. Right? If you know that God desires justice to be done, then you're naturally going to seek that out in your own life.

If you're accountable to him, you're naturally going to seek justice being done, even when it's hard or even when it's costly. And so for you this morning, if you want to see justice done in this world, the kind of justice that brings about restoration, the one that advocates for the vulnerable, that changes social structures that are unjust, it begins with a knowledge of God's word and with a reverence and awe for who God is. Let's pray.

Dear Lord, I just want to thank you so much for who you are, Lord, that you are a God of justice and that you seek that and that you work through us in amazing ways, Lord, to see that happen. So I pray, Lord, that for each one of us this morning, that you would help us just to commit ourselves to reading your word, to let that reveal things in our own lives, let that reveal things in the world around us that are unjust, Lord, that you would stir something in us to want to change those things. And, Lord, in line with that, I pray that you would just remind us of your holiness and your power, that we would recommit ourselves to you this morning and just acknowledge who you are, the amazing character that you have, Lord, that is there working behind the scenes, Lord, and. And that knowledge that we are accountable to you, Lord, I pray that you would just work through us in amazing ways to see justice done in this world. But we would start from that firm foundation, Lord, of knowing your word and living in fear of the Lord.

Amen.