Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Nehemiah 5

Nehemiah Deals with Oppression

Nehemiah 5:¹ And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren.

Nehemiah 5:² 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.”

Nehemiah 5:³ There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”

Nehemiah 5:⁴ There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards.

Nehemiah 5:⁵ 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.”

Nehemiah 5:⁶ And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words.

Nehemiah 5:⁷ After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury (charging interest) from his brother.” So I called (Lit. held) a great assembly against them.

• The brethren and brothers are terms used for other Jews.
• According to their law it was illegal for one Jew to charge another Jew interest.
  • Deuteronomy 23:20
    To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.

Nehemiah 5:⁸ 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?”

• They bought Jewish captives who were sold to gentiles in order to being them back. So – why are you causing your Jewish brethren to go into captivity because of your greed?

Then they were silenced and found nothing to say.

Nehemiah 5:⁹ Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God (‘ĕlōhîm) because of the reproach of the nations (Gentiles/Goy), our enemies?

Nehemiah 5:¹⁰ I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury (interest)!

Nehemiah 5:¹¹ 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.”

Nehemiah 5:¹² So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.”

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

Nehemiah 5:¹³ Then I shook out the fold of my garment (Lit. my lap) and said, “So may God (‘ĕlōhîm) 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 (Yᵊhōvâ). Then the people did according to this promise.

The Generosity of Nehemiah

• Twenty means The Strength and Value of a Working Man.
• Thirty Two is translated in Hebrew as Two and Thirty where…
  • Two is “there is another” such as Jesus, as the Son of God.
  • Thirty is the price of “Redemption”
• Twelve is the number of Government Perfection. See Topic: Numbers Symbolism
  • Twelve Jewish Tribes
  • Twelve Disciples
  • The Twelve Palm Trees
• Artaxerxes is a type of Christ married to his Jewish wife Esther at a time when the Jews are in danger of being annihilated. They were saved at the last minute after much affliction. This is similar to the prophecy of Jesus returning at the end of a seven year Tribulation to save the Jews from complete annihilation. Thirty Two is a number of Redemption (or an act of God) by another.

Nehemiah 5:¹⁵ 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 (‘ĕlōhîm).

• Forty: Time for a Change and/or time for testing.

Nehemiah 5:¹⁶ Indeed, I also continued the work on this wall, and we (I) did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.

Nehemiah 5:¹⁷ And at my table were one hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around us.

• One hundred is getting more from less and fifty is half of one hundred. Fifty is the number for Deliverance by turning the tables on Satan: Out with the old…In with the TRUE. Fifty as half of a whole means something is broken.

Nehemiah 5:¹⁸ 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.

• “One” ox: the number for wholeness and agreement. God is “One”
• “Six” sheep: the number of misled fallen men.
• “Ten” days is the number for Accountability, the Authority of God, and Stability.

Nehemiah 5:¹⁹ Remember me, my God (‘ĕlōhîm), for good, according to all that I have done for this people.