Title Rather/Nehemiah 5:1-19
Content Neh 5:1-19 On the contrary
Nehemiah's construction of the city of Jerusalem is not smooth. We had to face the disturbances of Sanballat and Tobiya from the outside, and we had to deal with the frustration and resentment of the poor people from within.
1. Diagnose Nehemiah's Problem
Most of the people who work to rebuild the walls are poor people who have returned from their captivity in Babylon. These are people who lost their country and lived a miserable life as slaves to foreigners. However, returning to the land of their dreams, but welcoming them to the poor was a miserable reality that could not help but reduce them to slavery for their own people. The returned homeland was difficult to live in due to the famine, and the people's hearts were only hardened.
Families with many children without even a home were starving to death because they had no food to eat. Those who own fields, vineyards, and houses are all mortified to find food. Moreover, the taxes were so high that they had to pay taxes with fields and vineyards as collateral, and they had to sell their children as slaves. At that time, the tax was paid according to the number of people in the family, so it was impossible to pay the tax corresponding to the number of family members, so it had to be handed over to slaves.
Nehemiah was angry. Don't think of anger as an outburst of anger and anger. “When I heard the cry of the people and these words, I became very angry and made plans in my heart” (Nehemiah 5:6-7). Nehemiah knows that anger cannot change a person. So I went to God. Because he knows well that only God who made man can heal man. He lays down his heart before God and seeks God's will. And, as the strength and power of the answer that God gives, he boldly stepped forward before the people, civilians, and nobles.
“We have redeemed our brothers, the Jews, who were sold into the hands of the Gentiles, with all our might. Do you want to sell your brothers or will you sell them into our own hands?” (Nehemiah 5:8). Nehemiah persuades and appeals to this issue as a brother. What is a brother? It is a relationship that shares the same blood. We are all spiritually the same children of God. It is said that blood is thicker than water. But what is thicker than blood is a spiritual relationship. Why? This is because blood establishes a 60-year life at the most, but the spirit establishes an eternal relationship. We are inseparable brothers and sisters who are united in God. But why is it that, among believers, there is no care, just like the people of the world, and only fills my stomach? It is the question of whether he would commit such a mortal act unless he had forgotten God or was filled with pride that made him laugh at God. So, Nehemiah is solving this problem by emphasizing that he is a brother with God in between.
' And I said, 'Your word is not good. Shall we not walk in the fear of our God, considering the slander of our enemies, Gentiles?” (Nehemiah 5:9).
If the church gathered in the name of God does not realize God's justice but becomes a marketplace that pursues selfish gains and losses, how will the world view the church? Why do we still have to live on this earth? If it is to glorify God, how can we glorify God?' So let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven' (Mt. 5:16). The saints have a mission to show God to the people of the other world. Therefore, there should be no profanity in the name of God. Our actions in the church must never destroy our testimony or obscure the glory of God. We must show what brotherhood is in God.
That's right. Community justice is not achieved through the physical force of man called bloody struggles and revolutions. It is achieved through faith to fear God and faith through absolute obedience before Him. Faith does not consider those who do evil to the community as enemies and not as an object of anger. It is to be treated and renewed by the grace of God, and to be considered those who will receive the inheritance of glory together. Community justice is achieved through faith reformed by the inspiration of love that comes from God's love.
2. Nehemiah's prescription
'...Let us stop receiving the transplant. Therefore, even this day ye shall return the fields, the vineyards, the olive groves, and the houses, a hundredth of the money, grain, new wine, or oil that you have taken.
If something is not right in the sight of God, it must be stopped immediately. What is sin? It's just that you're going to quit gradually, and you're just going to get away with it. Some revivalists said that hell is a place where people who say hello to each other are gathering.
What is Accounting? The wrong thing is to quit right away and turn around. And to make amends is to make amends. What is to be returned must be returned. We deal with sin so easily. Don't deceive yourself as if it's all over, passing it on in moderation. It is important whether or not God has received the account, so don't think that a one-sided report works. How terrifying is sin that even the Son of God, Jesus, cried out three times so that his sweat became drops of blood? Sin, even in its shape, must be cast away. However, if you make a mistake and commit a sin, there must be a cry of mourning and pain like David, who wiped out food and drink by soaking the bed with tears. You must pay the price thoroughly for how terrible sin is, so that this body does not fall into sin.
“I shake off the hem of my robe and say, “He that does not do these words, God will also shake off from his house and his property” (Nehemiah 5:13).
3. On the contrary
Nehemiah is a man who buys and suffers. If the wall of Jerusalem is broken or not, if no attention is paid to it, the family will be favored by King Artaxerxes and will be able to live without lack in the world. But because he loved God, because he loved the country and people, he gave up all his privileges and went down to the scene of suffering with the people.
'I was appointed governor of the land of Judah, from the 20th year to the 32nd year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither me nor my brother ate of the governor's rust' (Nehemiah 5:14). What does this mean? Like the other governors of Persia, he did not live on the taxes he had collected from the people of the land he ruled. This is his own right established by the law of Persia. But Nehemiah renounces this privilege. Why? '...I did not ask for the governor's rust, because the people's labor is great' (Nehemiah 5:18). He is a person who makes the pain of the people his own pain. He has a good life and never goes back and is full. Every day he had to feed 150 Jews, chieftains, and numerous Gentiles, visiting guests (Nehemiah 5:17-18).
Nehemiah did not regard the position of governor as a privilege, but as a servant to serve the people. He does not buy any land, even though he has the power to buy it. Furthermore, Nehemiah gave up the privileges he had with all his servants, eating and drinking with the people, sharing in the work of God alike. Those who could enjoy it, took on a more difficult work than the people and put all their effort into the work of God.
When the election time comes, everyone should fall behind. When I see politicians who claim to be patriots and servants of the people, what I feel is that it is heartbreaking that there are only people who are all so different from each other. So, I think we will yearn for Nehemiah's beautiful leadership even more.
This beautiful leadership of Nehemiah is, in a word, contained in the word ‘rather’. Thomas Carlyle said: ‘If there are about a hundred people who can control adversity, only one can control success. ’ Nehemiah knew how to manage his success well! How could this be possible ? Because he feared God. “The former governors extorted the people for bread and wine and forty shekels of silver, and their servants also oppressed the people, but I did not do this out of the fear of God” (Nehemiah 5:15). It was also because he did not expect a reward from men, but expected a reward from God. Referring to Moses, the man of God, 'By faith Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and preferred to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy short-time iniquities, and to receive reproach for Christ's sake. It was regarded as greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, for it looked to the reward' (Hebrews 11:23-16).
Nehemiah comes boldly to the throne of God's grace and prays. ‘Remember all that I have done for this people, my God, and be gracious to me’ (Nehemiah 5:19).