Introduction Introduction Slide - 1 Most bibles have the heading at the start of this chapter as something like… Nehemiah Helps the Poor…the NRSV gives it…Nehemiah deals with oppression…which I prefer but either way…how do we define poverty…not easy but here is one definition… "There are basically three current definitions of poverty in common usage: absolute poverty, relative poverty and social exclusion. Slides – 2 & 3 Absolute poverty is defined as the lack of sufficient resources with which to keep body and soul together. Relative poverty defines income or resources in relation to the average. It is concerned with the absence of the material needs to participate fully in accepted daily life. Social exclusion is a new term used by the Government. The Prime Minister described social exclusion as "a shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown"."(The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee – October 2014) So...it’s a complex matter…but its clearly about more than lack of money…
Verse 1-5 What made them poor? Slide - 4 That may be true of our day…but what was the problem then? The problems are spelled out in verses 1-15…they had large families…and it is likely that the people who were working for Nehemiah had left other jobs…such as farming…therefore there was a serious lack of grain… There was a famine going on…so they had taken to mortgaging their fields…vineyards and property …in order to survive… Thirdly…and importantly…they had to pay taxes…but…there is mention of having to pay sums of money to other Jews…probably…those in places of power within the King’s court…who were Jewish nobles…such as Nehemiah was… They are being oppressed by their own kind…and by the economic climate of the time… According to one commentator…Persia was under a post war recession…constantly expanding and having to increase you army and government bodies does that…so the system sucks more and more from the ordinary person… It’s the old story the poor get poorer… We know from the prophets of their time that God was opposed to that…furthermore…they often link together…the two things…oppression and famine…Haggai 1:10… Slide – 4 X 2
Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops… (Haggai 1:10) Haggai links the famine with the oppression which led to the exile…but…war…in the Persians expanding their empire…would have led to an economic recession… Human Greed does that…and God confronts that…especially when it was happening among His own people… Verses 6-11… A Righteous Judgement Slide - 5 So…Nehemiah spells out the problems and makes a righteous judgement… that is…these practices are not in keeping with God’s best plans and purposes… Nehemiah was angry at the charges for he knew well that these actions contradicted Old Testament Law… Jews were not meant to charge other Jews interest…the practice of selling one’s labour…or that of your family…was permitted…in extreme circumstance…but…only until the families debt was paid off…or for a maximum of 6 years… Slide 6 x 2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything… (Exodus Verse 5 seems to imply that…they had even sold their daughters…but because they were working on the walls…presumably unpaid…how could they raise the income to pay off the debts…
No wonder then…Nehemiah is angry… In verse 6-11 he appeals to their consciences…and asks for compassion…how can you do this to people who have already been sold to the gentiles…above all…they are your own people… At least drop the interest and give them back their fields in order to be able to start paying things off… Now…its difficult for us to make direct comparisons with our own time but clearly we would be operating within God’s best plans and purposes for His community of believers…if we were in any way oppressing our own… That’s probably unlikely here at DBC…but what about the systems in place in our country…which keep people oppressed…and in a position of not being able to pay back debt…or to get work… As we said at the start…poverty is difficult to define…but…if a proper definition of poverty includes…Social exclusion which is what happens through…unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown... Then…surely a righteous judgement has to be made…in holding those in high places accountable for any actions which make it harder and harder for people to get out of these circumstances… Where is the voice of Nehemiah…and the prophets today… Verses 12-13 Putting it right communally Slide - 7
But…when we are embraced by the God of love…and His love really moves our hearts… We too…like Nehemiah…can seek ways to embody that love…in action… For sure…it’s a complicated business deciding who really is poor… But…with the Cross at the centre of the bible story…we have to ask ourselves…how is that changing my life…as? Verse 19 Righteous action finds favour with God… Slide - 11 Finally…be encouraged…because…its as an individual…built into the community of God…that we can work together with our own community… And find favour with God… Remember me with favour, my God, for all I have done for these people… (Nehemiah 5:19) God favours those…who favour the poor…and our definition of poor can include those who are poor in spirit and need salvation…and those who are trapped by a system of oppression and help in poverty of exclusion and needs… Nehemiah…embodied what he believed…And what better way for us to live and serve…than…in God’s favour… May it go with you as you embody His will…in all that you do this week… Amen…