As we have seen, the returned exiles had enemies on the outside continually plotting against them – Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem are especially mentioned (Nehemiah 4:1, 3; 6:1), along with Shemaiah and Noadiah (6:10, 14) – yet there was almost as much trouble from within their own ranks.

Among those who had returned from slavery in Babylon to Jerusalem, as it turned out, there were those who were well off and those who were struggling to make ends meet. When the harvest was not plentiful, people began to go hungry: those who were wealthy had food, and they made those who were hungry mortgage their lands in order to avoid starvation. The poor reported to Nehemiah, “We are having to pledge our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine” (5:3). Then, when the famine continued, the rich foreclosed and claimed the land of the poor, and the children of the poor were sold into slavery (5:5, 5:8).

Nehemiah was very upset about this (5:6), and confronted those who were gaining wealth out of the dire need of their fellow citizens. “You are taking interest from your own people … you are selling your own kin … the thing you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of the Lord?” (5:7-9). The wealthy could not defend themselves against these charges; “they were silent, and could not find a word to say” (5:8). In the end, they agreed that they would restore the property that they had gained (5:12).

This may be a hard story for us to hear. We are so used to the idea of making a profit from every transaction, it may well seem normal that those who are hungry or impoverished are just another economic opportunity to take advantage of. Yet as Nehemiah insisted, we ourselves are God’s people who have been bought back from slavery, and so it is unacceptable for us to exploit for our own gain the hunger of those around us. Our intention in dealing with one another must always be redemption, rather than profit (5:8).

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Restore to us, O Lord, that sense of kinship with one another: for we have lost it, and think that the hardships of others are the problems of strangers who have nothing to do with us. Teach us that they are our brothers and sisters: for all of us belong to you.

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