Day 275: Nehemiah 5- opportunity for Gospel Leadership

Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. 2 For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” 3 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” 4 And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”
6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them8 and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say. 9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? 10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.”12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 13 I also shook out the fold[a] of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.
Nehemiah's Generosity
14 Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. 15 The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration[b] forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God. 16 I also persevered in the work on this wall, and we acquired no land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. 17 Moreover, there were at my table 150 men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. 18 Now what was prepared at my expense[d] for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people. 19 Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.
 
Meditation
The external animosity toward restoring the wall quickly devolves into internal tension stressing the restoration effort. The “outcry” of the people of Jerusalem (1) came from some struggling with food, others seeking to maintain land and homes during famine, and others crushed by the weight of exploitation (1-5).  The difficulties of the community are an opportunity to display gospel leadership.
 
Nehemiah’s humble leadership is exemplary. He “hears the cry” of the people (6) and personally identifies with those needing to repent (10), adding weight to the only one imperative in the whole chapter: “Return” (11). God’s people had been living more as pawnbrokers than brothers and sisters. The internal tension from injustices led to the outcry. Humility is central in gospel leadership.
 
Nehemiah feared God (15) and loved his neighbor as himself (18). He refused to add to the burden of the people by rejecting the food allowance offered to the governor (11). Nehemiah’s’ leadership points to and patterns Christ’s leadership of the Church. Jesus heard our cry from the burden of sin and numbered himself among transgressors (Isaiah 53:12). Jesus’s humble work totally removed our burden of sin. Jesus is the only bread of life that can satisfy, the only security in seasons of struggle, and his love for us demands the Church hear the cry of our cities.
 
The governor of Jerusalem points to the King of all the earth who teaches us that the greatest among us is the servant of all (Mark 10:35-45). The outcries of our culture are an opportunity for gospel leadership.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What are the “outcries” of God’s people today? Are leaders hearing the outcry of God’s people?
 
-What do we learn about gospel security in leadership by seeing Nehemiah number himself among transgressors (10)? How does this deepen the power of the gospel in leadership as Christ did the same for His people (Isaiah 53:12)?
 
-Love God. Love Others. This simple summary is impossible to live fully as fallen people in a fallen world. How can you grow in faithfulness, responding to God’s grace, by seeking to obey this simple summary in your life and leadership? Where do you need to love God and others more faithfully?
 
Key Verse
9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God…?