FEATURED STUDY | September 2, 2026 | A Study on Chapter 5 of the Book of Nehemiah
Nehemiah Helps the Poor
Since chapter 5 of Nehemiah deals with the financial condition of some of the Israelites in Jerusalem, I thought I would begin with a few quotes about money.
Money is the fruit of evil as often as the root of it, Henry Fielding
If you would know what the Lord God thinks of money, you only have to look at those to whom He gave it, Maurice Baring
What some people mistake for the high cost of living is really the cost of living high, Doug Larson
And my favorite: I ain’t never been in no situation where having money made it worse, Clinton Jones
In chapter 4, Nehemiah had successfully dealt with opposition to the wall from without. In chapter 5, he had to deal with an unexpected impediment from within. While he was busy overseeing the construction of the wall, some poorer residents came to him with complaints about their money troubles. There was a famine causing a shortage of grain which weighed heavily on larger families. The high prices caused people to mortgage their properties to borrow money for grain and some were forced to sell their children into slavery. It is likely that construction of the wall had interrupted the employment of many people and they looked to the man responsible for the wall to provide some relief.
Nehemiah rebuked the nobles and officials for their conduct. He told them that many of their fellow Jews had been sold into slavery, but they had been successful in buying some back from the Gentiles. Now he said they were having to buy back slaves from their fellow Jews. He also told them that they had to stop exacting usury. The rich Jews had been charging the poorer Jews what Nehemiah referred to as the hundredth part, that is 1% per month. He ordered them to give back all the houses and fields they had taken as collateral. They agreed and Nehemiah quickly sent priests to have them swear oaths to do as they promised.
The remainder of the chapter is devoted to Nehemiah recording how he had worked for 12 years without being a burden to the locals. Unlike governors before him, he did not collect taxes from the people. He also provided for the maintenance of a large number of workers and officials who regularly ate at his table, apparently from his own finances.
Like Ezra before him, Nehemiah had to deal with the consequences of the Israelites not obeying the law that God gave them through Moses. God prohibited charging interest to fellow Israelites who were poor (see Ex. 22:25). A passage from Leviticus goes further, saying that food should not be sold to the poor at a profit (see Lev. 25:37). The charging of interest had the effect of violating another law, the right of redemption (Lev. 25:25-27). The interest charged, particularly if compounded, made it more difficult for a seller of land to redeem it later. Finally, the charging of interest and selling food for a profit led to parents selling their children into slavery and being unable to redeem them due to the high costs.
I looked at some conversation threads on the internet and found that numerous people believe that collecting interest is evil. As a banker, I take exception to that. Certainly, we are called to help fellow Christians (and non-Christians, see Gal. 6:10) in need and we should be generous, however loans are normally obtained for wants, not needs. The abolition of interest would collide with another law, the law of unintended consequences. If lenders are not allowed to charge interest, there will be no lenders and there will be no borrowers. Consider the consequences of that.
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