Nehemiah 5

Additional challenges arose as Nehemiah had to deal with problems related to finances.  The nobles and officials, contrary to God's commands, were charging usury against their poorer brethren, causing hardship to the point subjecting their children to slavery due to mounting debt.

Nehemiah reacted with righteous anger against this oppression of the poor, and its effect of disrupting their unity and the work of God in rebuilding the wall.  Yet, he stopped to ponder what should be done before taking action.   He rebuked the oppressors, based on the Word of God; so that they had no response to defend their guilt.  He also encouraged them to do right, to fear God, to not hurt their testimony, and to follow his example. Then, he had them publically swear an oath to right their wrongs.   As a result, unity is restored and the LORD is praised.

Then, when Nehemiah becomes governor of Judah, he continues to reverence God and not place any additional burdens on the people, by not taking the food typically alloted to governors.  The passage closes with Nehemiah's prayer to God, demonstrating that he is able to effectively lead because his own walk with God is right.

This passage reminds us that when we are doing God's work, we can often face many challenges.  They had previously overcome ridicule from enemies, tiredness, threats, and internal fears; and now this.  Nehemiah shows that we should be angry against sin; but, he also shows us that we can more effectively deal with problems when we seriously think about it, lovingly confront the offenders, turn to the truth in God's Word, and encourage fixing problems through leading by example.  Most importantly, our walk with God should be consistent and right.