THE DISREPUTE OF DISUNITY

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 29, 2023 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: November 29, 2023 from Nehemiah 5:1-19

Theme: We must reverence God in how we treat one another; so that the work of Christ is not hindered by disunity among us.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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In Chapter 4 of Nehemiah, we were shown how the great work of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem had been challenged by opposition from the outside—that is, from surrounding hostile nations. But often, when the devil fails to discourage God’s workers by attacking them from the outside, he shifts his method and seeks to defeat the work through challenges within. And so, in Chapter 5, we see that a new challenge to the work arose from within the midst of those who were working on the wall.

The problem had to do with the way the Jewish people were mistreating their fellow Jewish brethren. Greed had caught hold of some; and injustice was being done by them. As a result, the people were distracted from their work by the poverty into which they had been brought. And the reputation of the people of God was being brought to shame before the surrounding nations.

We should always remember that the world judges the truthfulness of our faith in Jesus by how we treat each other. Jesus set this down for us as ‘a new commandment’ when He said;

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

Similarly, the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians;

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God (Philippians 1:27-28).

The devil knows that, when it comes to the church, disunity produces disrepute. And so, this chapter teaches us much about how our unity in Christ may be brought to dishonor—and our work for His kingdom may be hindered—by an irreverent mistreatment of one another.

For the sake of the cause of Christ in this world, we must reverence God in how we treat one another; so that the work of Christ is not hindered by any disunity among us.

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Notice first that Nehemiah tells us how …

1. THE MISTREATMENT WAS REVEALED (vv. 1-5).

It was made known because of ‘a great outcry of the people’. He wrote;

And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.” There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.” There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards” (vv. 1-4).

The work on the wall was hard and demanding. It required great sacrifice. But apparently, in addition to the sacrifice that the work on the wall itself required, there was also the crisis of famine. And what’s more, there was the ongoing requirement to pay taxes to the king—most probably the king in Persia. People were brought to a place of serious financial and material need. What lands, property, and assets they possessed had to be sold in order to pay their debts—and some even had to borrow money from their Jewish brethren to do so.

This created a very desperate situation. And if the hearts of God’s people had been right, they would have stepped forward to help one another. But sadly, it turned instead into an opportunity for some to take advantage of their brethren. Nehemiah went on to report the outcry of the people;

“Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards” (v. 5).

To say that ‘their flesh was as the flesh of their brethren’ and that ‘their children were as the children of their brethren’ was a way of saying that they had sold themselves to their brethren, had lost everything, and were now brought to a state of indentured servitude. Jewish brethren had become the slaves of Jewish brethren! And this was after they had already been released from the oppressions and slavery that they had been under while in captivity in Babylon! They were set free from a foreign nation … only to then become slaves of their own kinsmen!

What shame this would have brought upon the work God had called them to! What a bad reputation it would have exhibited to the Persian king who allowed them to return to build the wall … and to the surrounding nations! What a dishonor it would have brought upon God’s grace to them! Such a thing should never have happened among God’s holy people!

Now; Nehemiah was a just and godly leader among his people. And so; he took immediate action. We go on to read of how …

2. A REBUKE WAS ISSUED (vv. 6-11).

He wrote;

And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.” So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, “According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?” (vv. 6-8a).

Note Nehemiah’s careful pattern in dealing with this. First, we’re told that he was angry when he heard about this. But he didn’t immediately act upon the impulse of that anger. He only took action ‘after serious thought’. What a wise leader! As it says in Proverbs 13:16;

Every prudent man acts with knowledge,
But a fool lays open his folly (Proverbs 13:16).

Just think of how many foolish and reckless actions could be avoided by leaders if they did as Nehemiah had done, and only acted ‘after serious thought’! And then, after a time of careful reflection—and most likely, after equally careful investigation—he then rebuked the nobles and rulers; stating carefully his charge against them. And then, he called an assembly against them and laid his charge before all. As a result, Nehemiah’s rebuke was a careful, measured, informed, and accountable one.

Now; looking at the larger context of this situation, it doesn’t appear that the offense came from the fact that money was being lent to those who were in need. As we’ll go on to see, even Nehemiah himself lent money to those in need. Rather, the offense seems to have come because of ‘usury’—that is, the kind of high and oppressive interest that resulted in the lenders taking possession of the victimized debtor’s property. This is something that God had strictly forbidden His people from doing to one another in His word through Moses. It says in Leviticus 25;

“If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God (Leviticus 25:35-38).

Note that in His law, God established this principle for the Jewish people because He Himself had brought them out of bondage. How could they, whom God had graciously redeemed from out of slavery, then place their own brethren in bondage? And what’s more, note from this passage in Leviticus that the failure to keep to this law—and to disobediently extract usury from their brethren—came from an attitude of heart that did not fear and reverence God or remember the deliverance He had graciously brought about for His people.

So; in keeping with the passage from Leviticus, Nehemiah called upon his people to—once again—reverence God. After hearing this very measured rebuke from Nehemiah, we read;

Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury! Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them” (vv. 8b-11).

It would not be enough to merely stop the usury. The lenders had to restore all that they had unjustly taken; and they were to add to it a hundredth of the interest they charged. These usurious lenders would not only fail to profit from their greed; but they would actually suffer a punitive loss because of it. And there was to be no delay. They were to do this “even this day”.

Now; it would take a work of the Holy Spirit for the lenders to be willing to part with what they had taken—and to even add to it to make up for their unjust actions. But it must be that the Holy Spirit had indeed worked upon their hearts. We go on to see that …

3. THE INJUSTICE WAS FULLY REPENTED OF (vv. 12-13).

After Nehemiah’s rebuke—and even after he demonstrated that he was taking some of the burdens upon himself and lending money to those in need without interest—we read this concerning those who had taken advantage of their brethren:

So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say” (v. 12a).

The serious level to which this oppression had descended—and how it had reached even into the hearts of those in whom it should least have been found in—is shockingly demonstrated to us when we go on to read;

Then I called the priests, and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise (v. 12b).

It must have been a very humbling thing for the priests themselves to admit their wrongdoing. It’s a terribly shameful thing when the very servants of God prove themselves to be the ones who are bringing disrepute to God’s own cause! And though the people made the promise to return the money, Nehemiah went even further and bound them—as it were—under a curse if they did not do so;

Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise (v. 13).

Given the kind of man Nehemiah was, we can be sure that he saw to it that this promise was fully kept. But he did more than that. We also see that, through him …

4. AN EXAMPLE WAS ESTABLISHED (vv. 14-18).

You see; Nehemiah truly stood as a great leader among his people. If there was anyone who might easily have taken advantage of his position to the loss of his people, it could have been him. But he was very careful not to do this. He went on to write—not as a matter of pride, but as a matter of principle;

Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the governor’s provisions. But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God (vv. 14-15).

Nehemiah had ministered twice in Jerusalem—the first time from the years 444-432 B.C.; and the second time from the year 430 B.C. and beyond. And during that first twelve-year period, he could testify to his integrity before the people. Former governors had no problem living highly on the provisions given to them by the people. But Nehemiah would not take what was his right to take, if it would mean further oppression to his people. What a rebuke this would be to those who had just placed them under onerous debt! And note that he did this “because of the fear of God”.

Furthermore, he wrote;

Indeed, I also continued the work on this wall, and we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work (v. 16).

Nehemiah would not even take advantage of the people by using his position as an excuse for exempting himself from the work. Instead, he labored right alongside the people—and indeed, suffered with them to the degree they also suffered in the labors. Far from taking advantage of them, he himself shared in their burdens. And he further added this;

And at my table were one hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around us. Now that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this I did not demand the governor’s provisions, because the bondage was heavy on this people (vv. 17-18).

He and his leaders learned to live within the provision that was made for them; and he himself did not demand any special treatment. What an example! This is like Paul; who, in order to advance the cause of the gospel among the Corinthian believers, refused to be paid for his work. He ministered out of his own expense and from the support of others; “that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:18).

May we learn to know—by God’s guidance—when to suffer loss temporally; so that the cause of the gospel may be advanced in order to bring eternal life to others!

And we need never fear that our sacrifice will be forgotten. As the last verse shows us …

5. A TRUST IN GOD WAS DECLARED (v. 19).

Nehemiah could pray;

Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people (v. 19).

Such faith revealed where his heart’s treasure really was! And God will not forget when we seek to protect the work of His cause by carefully and sacrificially loving one another. As it’s promised in Hebrews 6:10;

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister (Hebrews 6:10).

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Every day that we live in this world as followers of Jesus, we find that we must navigate through matters of justice and fairness in our treatment of others. And if we keep a careful eye on the reverent fear of God, these matters become opportunities for us to testify of our Savior. This is especially true with respect to how we treat each other in the household of Christ before the watching world. And it’s even more necessary as we do what the people of Nehemiah’s day were doing—’rebuilding the walls’ of our distinction from this world as God’s holy people.

Knowing then that disunity produces disrepute, let’s allow the Holy Spirit to teach us and empower us to treat each other with loving and careful justice—always ready to repent and make restitution whenever we’re shown that we’ve done wrong—always in the love of Jesus Christ.

May our unity thus show the world that we truly belong to Him.

AE