On Sunday evenings, we’re listening in to Nehemiah’s memoirs, as he rebuilds the city of Jerusalem in the 400s BC. Nehemiah had been born in exile, in Persia, but he had heard of the state of the city from others who had returned to their homeland. And so, under God’s call and the king’s command, Nehemiah is in Jerusalem, rebuilding the city. But, as we’ve seen in recent weeks, there were problems and difficulties galore.
Last week, we saw him deal with the opposition from outside - the ridicule, the threats, and the attacks from his neighbours. Perhaps by the end of chapter 4, he thought that with those threats sorted, things would be easier. Tonight, though, we come up against an even bigger problem within the walls, within the people of Israel.
It’s a problem that we all may face at one time or another, but it threatened the entire building project. It was the problem of money - or rather, the lack of it. Money might make the world go round; and money, money, money might be funny in a rich man’s world (Abba); but it’s not much fun when you’re without. In fact, it’s life or death, as we see in the outcry that comes to Nehemiah’s ears from verse 1 onwards.
In these opening verses we have three distinct groups, each with their own particular problems, but the uniting theme is the lack of money. Verse 2 is the outcry of the first group. ‘We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.’
They were facing a shortage of food. They didn’t have any grain, and in those days, no grain meant no food, meant no life. Hunger is their daily reality, and they’ve no means of getting grain.
The second outcry comes in verse 3: ‘We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain during the famine.’
So they have fields, vineyards, and homes, but with famine conditions, they are having to mortgage their property in order to get food to eat. Now, I know that the board game Monopoly isn’t everyone’s favourite, and it can lead to more rows than enough, but it’s probably in Monopoly that you first get to grips with the idea of mortgaging property - when you turn over the card to get some money, but then you can’t profit from the rent if anyone lands on it. It’s yours, but in a sense, it’s not really yours, the bank has a say as well.
And so, these people were in desperation, mortgaging in order to survive. Except, it wouldn’t have been the Ulster Bank or the Danske Bank they were dealing with - it would have been someone with money in the city.
The third group also cry out to Nehemiah about their situation. Do you see what they say in verse 4: ‘We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards...we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.’
They have property, but they’re not benefiting from it. So, when they need more money, they’ve had to put their daughters into slavery. Working for someone else, with no way out.
It’s the outcry of the poor; those who are needy; yet they are suffering at the hands of their own people. So what will Nehemiah do?
Well, we see his reaction in verse 6. ‘When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials.’
To hear of the situations that people find themselves in - that makes Nehemiah very angry. Why? Because what was happening was against God’s law. These people were suffering, because other people were profiting from their loss. We see that as Nehemiah confronts the nobles and officials: ‘You are exacting usury from your own countrymen!’
Now, that word usury - we may not really hear it much these days, but it basically means the charging of interest on a loan. And while we’re familiar with the rate of interest on loans and mortgages, back in the Old Testament law, usury on loans to fellow Israelites was forbidden.
So, Exodus 22:25 ‘If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a money-lender; charge him no interest.’ Or Leviticus 25: 36-37, speaking about your countrymen who becomes poor, ‘Do not take interest of any kind from him... You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit...’
So you see, this practice of usury, or profiting from people in need is outlawed. that was what was happening. It’s the reason why the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has been speaking out against payday loans - Wonga and so on.
So Nehemiah confronts the nobles and officials. Look at verse 9: ‘What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?’ In the face of something so obviously wrong, he calls for it to stop. And more than that, he calls for restitution - for things to be put right.
‘Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the usury you are charging them - the hundredth part of the money, grain, new wine and oil.’ (11).
The interest rate was low - 1% - and yet even at that, it was wrong. So how much more the payday lenders, where some interest rates can be 40% and some even as high as 99% or more!
The nobles and officials promise to give back the property, and also to not demand anything more from them. But even then, Nehemiah wants to make sure that they’ll really do it. So he gets the priests to administer oaths for them to obey; and he dramatically acts out the consequences.
Now, maybe I should have worn my robes for this tonight, but you’ll get the idea. He shakes out his robe, so that anything caught up in it would be flung out. And he says: ‘In this way may God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!’
Notice that it’s the man’s own house he would be shaken out of - initially I had thought it said shaken out of God’s house, but it’s the man’s own house and possessions. These men who have sought profit at the misfortune of others - their consequences would be to suffer the same fate, being emptied and shaken out.
Notice also, that this isn’t a private thing. The whole assembly is there, witnessing what’s happening; rejoicing at the restoration of justice, the good news for the poor. It’s a forerunner of the good news for the poor prophesied by Isaiah and proclaimed by the Lord Jesus. You see, God cares for the poor and needy - and so must we. It’s been good to help Craigavon foodbank in recent weeks, but could we be doing more? Are there other ways in which we can help those in need in our community? Do we hear the outcry of the poor? Do we care?
Nehemiah shows that he goes even further, so that he personally doesn’t add to the exploitation or suffering of others. From verse 14 on, he notes that the earlier governors placed a heavy burden on the people, taking forty shekels of silver as well as the food and wine allowance; their assistants lording it over the people.
But Nehemiah didn’t do that. For the twelve years he was governor, he didn’t eat the food allotted to the governor. He worked away at the wall, and didn’t go about acquiring land. All this he did, verse 15 ‘out of reverence for God.’
Instead, he paid for his own food bill, feeding 150 people at his table (it must have been a big table!). now, if you haven’t had your tea yet, you might get a bit hungry in verse 18. Every day there was one ox, six choice sheep, some poultry, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine. That was his daily and ten-dayly shopping list at Tesco. But he paid it himself ‘because the demands were heavy on these people.’
Nehemiah isn’t out for himself, and what he can get. Instead, he models the servant leadership of the Lord Jesus, who from the riches of heaven became poor for our sake, so that we might be come rich. He came to serve, not to be served.
The statistics about personal debt and foodbank use are scary; the need is all around us, and even within our church family. Are there ways we can speak up for the poor and oppressed? That we can act for justice. That we can live out God’s good news for the poor, the release of captives. May we know God’s Spirit leading us and empowering us to live out this good news. Amen.
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 28th October 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment