WEBVTT - Nehemiah 5 - The Wealthy Israelites Mistreat the Poor 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:12.080 Life Audio. How do their faithful listeners? Welcome to the 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.840 Bible Explain podcast. We are in a Namiah chapter five today. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:17.720 We're going to read the entire thing and talk about 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.800 some of the internal problems that are happening in Jerusalem 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.439 during the rebuilding of this wall. In the previous chapters, 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.080 we talked about some of the external problems that were 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.120 taking place, but now we're going to see that the 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.320 Jews were causing some of their own issues and Neamiyah 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:36.440 has to correct all of this, and there were some 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.479 pretty bad issues. So we're going to get into Niamiah 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.600 chapter five today right after a quick message from a sponsor. 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:46.920 All right, hopefully you got a chance to grab your 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.200 delicious hot beverage and also your version of the Bible, 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.080 whatever that might be. Let's go ahead and read Niamiah 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:58.200 five the entire thing and talk about the Israelites mistreating 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:00.600 their own and how this was a against the Old 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.400 Testament laws, and also how Niemiah has to put a 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:06.240 stop to all of this. Again, this is Niemiah five. 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:10.920 I'll be reading from the web as usual. Then there 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.000 arose a great cry of the people and of their 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.200 wives against their brothers. The Jews. For there are some 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.800 who said, we are sons and our daughters are many. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.200 Let us get grain that we may eat and live. 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.600 There were also some who said, we are mortgaging our fields, 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:27.360 our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain because 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.840 of the famine. There were also some who said, we 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.640 have borrowed money for the king's tribute, using our fields 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.520 and our vineyards as collateral. Yet now our flesh is 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.280 as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:41.880 we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage to 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.360 be servants. And some of our daughters have been brought 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:46.840 into bondage. It is also not in our power to 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.440 help it, because other men have our fields and our vineyards. 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.640 Then I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:55.960 and with the rulers, And I said to them, you 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.640 exact usury every one of his brother I held a 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.480 great assembly against them. I said to them, we, after 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.320 our ability, have redeemed our brothers, the Jews that were 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.360 sold to the nations. And would you even sell your brothers, 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.040 and should they be sold to us? Then they held 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.919 their peace and found not a word to say. Also, 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:16.840 I said the thing that you do is not good. 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.240 Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God? Because 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.800 of the reproach of the nations, our enemies. I likewise, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.919 my brothers and my servants lend them money and grain. 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:30.200 Please let us stop this usury. Please restore to them 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.880 even today their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.560 their houses. Also the hundredth part of the money and 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:38.480 of the grain, the new wine, and the oil that 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.800 you are charging them. Then they said, we will restore 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:44.760 them and will require nothing of them. We will do 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.079 so even as you say. Then I called the priests 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:49.960 and took an oath of them that they would do 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.840 according to this promise. Also, I shook out my lap 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.560 and said, so, may God shake out every man from 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.919 his house and from his labor that doesn't perform this promise, 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.680 even may he be shaken out and emptied. Like this, 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:06.280 all the assembly said amen and praised Yahweh. The people 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.400 did according to this promise. Moreover, from the time that 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:11.200 I was appointed to be the governor in the land 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:13.680 of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.560 second year of art Exerxes the king, that is twelve 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.079 years I and my brothers have not eaten the bread 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.840 of the governor. But the former governors who were before 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.560 me were supported by the people and took bread and 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:28.079 wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver. Yes, even 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.560 their servants ruled over the people, but I didn't do 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.200 so because of the fear of God. All my servants 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:35.880 were gathered there to the work. Moreover, there were at 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.120 my table of the Jews and of the rulers, one 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.680 hundred and fifty men, in addition to those who came 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.240 to us from among the nations that were around us. Now, 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.520 that which was prepared for one day was one ox 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.160 and six choice sheep. Also, fowls were prepared for me, 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:51.760 and once in ten days, a store of all sorts 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.440 of wine. Yet for all this I didn't demand the 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.840 governor's pay, because the bondage was heavy on this people. 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:00.480 Remember me, my God, for all the good that I 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:04.840 have done for this people. So in the previous chapter 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.920 we talked about some of the external problems that were 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:12.080 affecting the Jews trying to rebuild this wall, specifically, all 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.000 the other nations that hated the Israelites and did not 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.279 want them to build the Jerusalem Wall. In fact, we 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.839 talked about this one guy named san Ballitt, who was 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:24.800 the governor to the north of Jerusalem, who actually was 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:28.240 going to use the Samaritan army to fight against Jerusalem 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.039 so that they stopped building the wall because this was 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.240 bad politically for all of these different governors around the world, 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:38.279 and plus everybody wanted their piece of that land and 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:40.160 did not want to give it back to the Jews, 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.960 even though the Persians specifically gave it back to the Jews. 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:48.240 But unfortunately, there's not just external problems happening in Jerusalem. 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.600 There's also some internal problems that we see right here 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.359 in this chapter. Now this was affecting, i am sure, 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.720 the rebuilding of this wall, but it was also affecting 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:02.240 the unity of Jerusalem and of Jews in general, specifically 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:07.039 because the upper classes were abusing the low and middle classes. 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.279 It sounds like, and there are some problems happening, like 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:11.800 a famine was taking place during this time as well. 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.680 It says in verse one, there arose a great cry 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.880 of the people and of their wives against their brothers, 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.760 the Jews. And so these poor people are coming to 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:26.200 Nehemiah with four specific complaints, the first one being there 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:28.680 were some who said, we are sons and our daughters 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.400 are many, let us get grain that we may eat 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.880 and live. So basically they had no food. They were starving. 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:37.760 Then there were some who said, we are mortgaging our 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.280 fields and our vineyards in our houses. Let us get 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:43.320 grain because of the famine. So in order to take 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:45.839 care of their families, they actually had to mortgage out 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.960 their land and their houses and basically live in poverty. 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.919 And because they had no land, they weren't able to 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:55.960 grow any of the grain necessary to feed their families. 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:57.960 They didn't have enough land to do it, and they 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.159 also didn't have enough money to buy the Then the 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.479 third complaint in verse four, we have borrowed money for 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:08.520 the king's tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral. 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.200 So most likely what happened there. You know, the Persian 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.720 king art Exerxes was in charge of everything at this point, 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:19.200 and he demanded tribute and taxation obviously from all of 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:24.520 the people. But the governors who existed before Niamayah apparently 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.840 were charging the people way too much. That's what Niamiyah 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.719 goes into in verses fourteen through nineteen. So the governors 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.080 had so much power back in these days that they 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:36.640 could kind of charge the people whatever they wanted. As 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.000 long as the king got his tribute and his share, 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.320 he didn't really care what the governors did after that. 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:46.520 So the governors could potentially charge exorbitant taxes to all 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.160 of these people, forcing them to pay it and then 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:53.159 live very comfortably himself. And Niamiah goes into how nasty 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.560 of a practice. This was apparently before Niamiah came as 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.480 the newly appointed governor, the other governors were doing this, 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.679 and it could be that some of the governors before 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.080 Nihemiah also governed Samaria, which could have been why san 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.720 ballot in the previous chapter. The governor of Samaria was 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:14.960 so upset that Niemiah was in Jerusalem now because again politically, 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:16.880 that was not good for him, especially if he had 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:20.440 control of Jerusalem and suddenly does not anymore. Now you 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:22.840 might be like, well, what about the governor we talked 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.680 about in Ezra Zerubabyl. He was a good governor, Yes 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.160 he was, but that was what eighty to one hundred 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.960 years prior to Nehemiah showing up. A lot can change 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.520 in one hundred years, so we don't know exactly what happened. 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.720 To Jerusalem during that time period. But apparently they had really, 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.200 really bad governors, and it could be that the Persian 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.840 king just didn't care who the governor of Jerusalem was 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.040 as long as he got his fair share. So maybe 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.400 Samaria at some point in time took control of Jerusalem 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:54.800 after Zerubabyl had died and started demanding all these taxes 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.040 from the people and gaining political power in Jerusalem and 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:00.520 Israel as a whole. So if that's case, you can 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:03.240 see now why Niamiah threatened them so badly and why 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.840 they hated Niamiah and wanted to kill him, because Niamiyah 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.040 was the newly appointed governor and he was not going 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.920 to give them the power that they wanted. But here's 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.320 the fourth complaint that the poor people bring forward in 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.720 verse five. Our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.160 and our children as their children. Behold, we bring some 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.000 of our sons and daughters into bondage to be servants, 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.640 and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:28.680 It is also not in our power to help it, 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.080 because other men have our fields and our vineyards. So basically, 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.600 some of these parents were resorting to selling their children 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:39.240 as servants. Now this was allowed according to the Old 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.320 Testament laws, but with some pretty strong guidelines around it. 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:46.440 Exodus twenty one one through three says this, Now, these 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.680 are the ordinances which you shall set before them. If 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:53.040 you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:55.520 and in the seventh he shall go out free without 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.959 paying anything. If he comes in by himself, he shall 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.640 go out by himself. If he is married, then his 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.680 wife shall go out with him. So this was something 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:09.040 called indentured servanthood. A Jewish person was never supposed to 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:14.680 purchase a permanent Jewish slave. Instead, what they did was 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.880 indentured servanthood, where they would basically purchase the services of 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:22.240 a person for seven years, and that person was technically 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.439 the slave. But a lot of times families to get 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:27.680 out of debt would do something like this, and even 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:29.760 whole families could do this. Like it wouldn't just be 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:33.680 one individual, but even entire families could go and serve 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:38.439 somebody that's wealthy and basically sell their services for seven years. Now, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:40.640 after the seventh year, though they were to be let 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:44.360 go completely free. They owed nothing anymore, and this was 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.120 a way for them to get out of debt to 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:50.800 curb poverty in Israel. So in Niamiah chapter five, that 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:54.120 is unfortunately what was happening. Some of these parents were 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:58.560 selling their children as slaves just to feed their other children. 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.800 But it kind of sounds like these children being sold 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.920 were not being released after seven years, and we're being 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.080 mistreated as slaves, and that was something that never was 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.200 supposed to happen in Israel. So when Niemiah hears all 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:14.040 of this, he is extremely angry. That's what he says 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.880 in verse six. I was very angry when I heard 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:21.320 their cry and these words. So they have a point. 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.199 These poor people are being deeply mistreated by the Jewish 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:29.559 elders and nobles. He says in verse seven, I consulted 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.040 with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers, 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:38.199 and said to them, you exact usury everyone of his brother. Now, Niemiah, 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.960 we've discovered in the previous chapters was a very bold individual. 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:47.079 He was not afraid to engage in conflict or in 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.280 hard conversations. You can see that from the very first 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.000 chapter essentially, So he calls a meeting with all of 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.880 these nobles and rulers and he's like What the heck 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.760 are you guys doing. You are going against the Old 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:04.600 Testament laws by mistreating your fellow countrymen. You are exacting usury, 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.080 is what he says. And I had to look up 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.400 what usury is, and I feel kind of dumb that 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.320 I had to look that up. But it's basically charging 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:17.360 so much interest to almost like a criminal kind of level. 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.920 And these poor people were already poor enough. And by 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:23.280 the way, interest was never supposed to be charged on 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.920 a fellow Jew. That is what Exitus twenty two twenty 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.760 five says. If you lend money to any of my 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.960 people with you who is poor, you shall not be 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.680 to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest. 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.720 So basically you were only supposed to loan them money, 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.040 and all they were obliged to do was to pay 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:45.240 you back the exact amount that you lent them. There 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.960 was not supposed to be any interest charged to any 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:51.520 fellow Jew because these people, if they needed a loan, 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.000 were already poor enough, and how are they going to 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.120 pay it back with interest if they couldn't pay it 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.680 to begin with. So it's just an unfair system that 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:04.040 God completely forbade. And yet Namiah not only are they 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:08.040 buying slaves and possibly not letting them go, but they're 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.360 also charging interest to these poor people and making it 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:15.200 like a business. And Niamiah continues in verse eight, I 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.720 said to them, we, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers, 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.240 the Jews that were sold to the nations, And would 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.360 you even sell your brothers? And should they be sold 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.960 to us? So right there you can actually see how 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.480 indentured servanthood could be a good thing, because Niamiah admits, 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.880 He's like, look, even I redeemed some of my brothers 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.760 and sisters of the Jews. Indentured servanthood, if done the 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:40.719 right way, could have been a very good thing. And 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.440 apparently some of the wealthier Jews, like Niamiyah were doing this. 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.960 They were paying for poor Jews probably still stuck in 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:52.319 Babylon or Persia, so that these poor Jews could come home. 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.800 And this was honestly a really kind thing that Niamiyah 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.520 was doing. But all of these nobles weren't doing it 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:02.640 like that. They were purchasing slaves people that they owned. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:06.120 And that is when Niamiah gets angry. He's like, should 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:10.920 you sell your brothers and should they be sold to us? 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:14.040 As if they're just commodities. So unfortunately, it looks like 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:18.360 some of these nobles were actually selling their slaves as well. 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:22.360 This was completely wrong, and Niamiah continues in verse nine, 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.880 the thing that you do is not good. Shouldn't you 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:27.719 walk in the fear of our God? Because of the 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.679 reproach of the nations, our enemies. He's like, look, we 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.480 have enough problems with all of our enemies trying to 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.200 come up against us. We have problems from the north, south, east, 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:40.600 and west. Nobody wants us to build this wall. Are 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:43.199 you going to add to all of these problems by 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:47.000 doing this to the poor people of Jerusalem. And Niami 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.880 understood something very important here as well. Not just that 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.640 these nobles were going against God's laws, which is bad enough, 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.600 but this was causing a divide in Jerusalem, something that 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.520 shouldn't have been there. You know, Jerusalem was supposed to 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:04.160 be unifi. One of the reasons why God allowed Jerusalem 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.320 to be taken over by the Babylonians to begin with 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.880 was because of the lack of justice and the mistreatment 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:14.079 of poor people and widows and fatherless. He kept saying 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.080 to his people, if you don't act correctly, if you 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:20.560 don't stop mistreating my children, then I am going to 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.400 cause the nations to come up against you. And sure enough, 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:27.240 the wealthy Israelites would not listen, and God brought the 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.480 Babylonians up. And interestingly enough, if you read through that story, 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.240 only the poor people, like the poorest of the poor, 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:36.040 the ones that were being mistreated, they were the only 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.840 ones allowed to stay in the land. All of the nobles, 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.360 all of the wealthy people got dragged away to Babylon, 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.480 and the poor people were allowed to stay in their homes. 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:50.040 But Nehemiah knows his history, and he's like, this is 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.680 the exact thing that allowed Babylon to take us over 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:54.840 to begin with. Right now we have enemies on all 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.000 four sides of us. Are you going to act like 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:01.520 this and potentially allowed them these enemies to take us 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:07.000 over again. I likewise verse ten, My brothers and my 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:11.760 servants lend them money and grain. Please let us stop 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.520 this usury. Please restore to them even today their fields, 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.960 their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, and also 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:20.880 the one hundredth part of the money and of the 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:22.960 grain and the new wine and the oil that you 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.560 are charging them. So he tells them he says, stop 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:30.920 with the interest, cancel all interest, cancel a good portion 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.440 of the debt, give these people their land back. And 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.840 by the way, Nehemiah admits several times in this chapter 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:40.440 alone that he was very wealthy, which makes a lot 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.280 of sense because he was extremely close to art Exerxes, 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:46.880 the Persian king. He was the cupbearer, and that was 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:49.800 a very prominent position, so he probably had a very 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.960 good amount of wealth. And his brothers, like his siblings, 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.600 also had an immense amount of wealth as well. They 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.560 were lending to all of these people, but they weren't 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.960 charging interest, and he tells the nobles that he says, look, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:04.880 it's a good thing to lend to these people. Let's 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.440 not stop lending to them if that's what they need, 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.600 but quit with the interest, give them back their land, 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.560 let them thrive. And the people will respond to this. 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.200 The nobles say, we will restore to them and will 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:20.440 require nothing of them. We will do so even as 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.520 you say so. Niamiyah in verse twelve called the priests 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:26.720 and took an oath of them that they would do 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:30.320 according to this promise. So he brings the priests in 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.520 for this last part here where he has the priest 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.600 basically write up an oath that everybody is going to take. Now. 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:38.840 I should mention right here the priests weren't part of 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.200 this meeting initially, which means that they probably were not 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.440 doing what the nobles and the rulers of Israel were doing. 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.480 They were acting correctly, but they were brought in to 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.400 perform this oath, I suppose, in front of God. So 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.000 Niamiah in verse thirteen does something kind of weird. It 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.480 says he shook out his lap and said, so, may 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:00.560 God shake out every man from his head and from 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:02.760 his labor that doesn't perform this promise, even may he 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.080 be shaken out and emptied like this. A lot of 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.040 times in the Old Testament you'll see people do this. 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:12.600 They'll perform some sort of act to demonstrate something that 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.399 could happen in the future, almost like a object lesson, 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.040 I suppose. So when it says that Niamiah shook out 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:23.240 his lap, that probably means his entire garment, because there 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.520 were pockets on the inside of these garments where the 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.920 men would keep all of their personal belongings, like their 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.960 money and whatever else they needed. So Nehemiah took that 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.080 garment off and shook it out, shook out all of 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.760 the pockets and emptied them. And he says, just as 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.119 I am doing this to this garment and shaking it 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.040 out and emptying it of everything that it has, may 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.040 God do this to you. If you do not perform 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:51.919 this promise and help these poor people, may you be 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.400 shaken out and emptied like this. So all the assembly 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:59.480 said amen, and they praised Yahweh, and the people did 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:03.760 awarding to the promise. So actually Niami had nothing negative 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:05.960 to say about anybody. They actually went home and they 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.680 canceled all of the debts, which is fantastic. That is 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:11.080 exactly what they should have done. And now, in verses 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.000 fourteen through nineteen, kind of continuing on the same theme, 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:18.440 Niamiah talks about all of the evil governors that came 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.719 before him. He says, moreover, from the time that I 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.280 was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:26.640 from the twentieth year even to the thirty second year 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.000 of art Exerxes the king, that is twelve years, I 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.280 and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor. 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.240 Now that gives a bit of a background as to 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:40.600 how long Niemiah was in Jerusalem, for he was there 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.160 for twelve years and he was appointed as the governor. 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:44.800 Now that makes a lot of sense if you go 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:49.080 back to Niamiah chapter two, when he's first talking to 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.199 King art Exerxes, he mentions to the king that he 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.119 wants a house to be built in Jerusalem so that 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:57.040 he can live in it. That makes a lot of 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.960 sense if Niamiyah is going to be there for an 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:04.880 extended period of time. Art Exerxes apparently granted Niemiyah twelve 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.160 years to go to Jerusalem and be the governor there 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:10.639 and make sure that this wall is built and make 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.840 sure that the people are safe and everything else. So 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.520 this was actually a significant length of time that art 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:20.560 Exerxes gave to Niemiah, even though historically he was not 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.280 a nice king. Again, I talked about this before, but 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.400 art Exerxes came to power because he killed his two 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:31.280 brothers who were before him. He just murdered him dead 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:33.960 so that he could become the next king. Yet, you 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:37.080 can see how God was working on art exerxes heart 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.840 to allow Niemiyah to go back to Jerusalem to build 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.080 that wall, which is amazing in and of itself. Like politically, 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:46.880 you would think that a king would not want a 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.880 city to have its own wall built because they could 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.600 potentially rebel, and also to allow Niamiyah to go for 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.119 that length of time. And yet all of this was 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:01.280 happening because God was with Niamiah Mayah, and God was 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.359 with the Israelite people. He promised them that he said, 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:06.200 you're going to be back in that land and you're 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:08.639 going to build it up once again. So God was 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.960 with his people. But in verse fifteen, Niamiah goes into 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.680 these nasty governors. He says, the former governors who were 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:19.359 before me were supported by the people. They took bread 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:23.240 and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver. Yes, 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.720 even their servants ruled over the people, but I didn't 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.840 do so because of the fear of God. So all 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:33.199 of the previous governors before Nehemiah were completely abusing the 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.480 people financially. In fact, they were abusing the people so 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:40.560 much that even the governor's servants had more wealth than 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:43.840 the average Jewish individual and were ruling over the people. 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:49.119 That is how bad everything was in Jerusalem. And Niamiah says, 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:51.040 from the time that I was the governor for the 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.960 whole twelve years that I was in Jerusalem. I did 0:20:54.000 --> 0:21:00.000 not accept payment from anybody because of the fear of God. 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.399 And he continues in verse eighteen to say that he 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:06.159 didn't demand the governor's pay because the bondage was heavy 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.960 on this people. And in verse nineteen he says another 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.359 prayer to God. He says, remember me, my God, for 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.600 all the good that I have done for this people. Now, 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:17.520 it was important for Namiah to write all of this 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:21.919 down because you know, governors always get a lot of 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:25.280 speculation and a lot of rumors and gossips said about them, 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:28.800 and Namiah wanted to make it very clear that he 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:31.760 cared about the people of Israel, that he was not 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:35.440 going to demand payment from them, that he was acting 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:39.360 differently than the governor's before him. In fact, Niamiah himself 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.560 was shelling out money and not demanding a paycheck and 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:44.679