Nehemiah 5:1-5 - Do not exploit the needy

The challenges Nehemiah and the Jews faced in the rebuilding of the wall were both external and internal. They had to contend with the external threat, and they also had to cope with their demoralized workers.  Now in Nehemiah 5:1-5, we find another problem Nehemiah had to handle. The problem of dissension.  There was discord among the Jews.   

In verse 1 we learn that some of the poorer Jews, especially the farmers were being exploited by their fellow brothers. They were poor because they could not produce enough food to sustain their big families. Many of them had to mortgage their land, their fields, and even their houses to get grains for their families. This was aggravated by the famine. There were those that had to borrow to pay the king’s tax. In their desperation, they were forced to sell their children into slavery. Their daughters were forced into mindless marriages. They were totally helpless now that their properties were sold, and they were no longer owners.

Of all people, we expect the Jews who were well disposed to be sympathetic toward the poorer v brethren. This apparently was not the case. The poor were being exploited. They had to sell their children, mortgage their properties, and borrow money for their needs. As believers, we must not allow greed to overtake us till we have no compassion for the needy.  We must instead take to heart Paul’s exhortation in Galatians 6:2. Let us “Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”