10,000 BRICKS: Anger and Justice
Nehemiah 5:1-19
#10000bricks
INTRODUCTION
Today, we are continuing a series of sermons from the Book of Nehemiah all about some building efforts because our church is thinking and praying on some building efforts. The Book of Nehemiah is the 16th book in the Old Testament and is a historical memoir written by a man named Nehemiah. Nehemiah lives after the Babylonian armies smash Jerusalem to pieces (2 Kings 25) and devastate the countryside (Jeremiah 32). Nehemiah lives after the Babylonians killed many of the priests and leaders (2 Kings 25) and deported the young, the skilled, and others deemed of use. Nehemiah lived after some of the Jews had returned home from exile. Nehemiah was born in exile as he had never seen Jerusalem or even been there. We need to review just for a moment before we forge ahead.
Chapter 1 shares that Nehemiah gets news that Jerusalem’s walls are still broken down. This wrecks Nehemiah emotionally, spiritually, and even digs into his identity as a Jewish person. He fasts and prays. Chapter 1 ends with the words: “Now I was cupbearer to the king” (1:11, ESV).
Chapter 2 shows us that eventually Nehemiah let’s his broken heart through and the king notices. Nehemiah is bold asking to be let go of his royal court job as cupbearer to go rebuild the walls in Jerusalem. The king grants his request. A key verse in chapter 2 is verse 8 which ends: “And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me” (ESV).
Chapter 3 showed us that everyone had a part to play in rebuilding the walls. Many heard the call of God and responded by taking a portion of the wall near their homes and built. They did not worry about the whole wall, just their part. Nehemiah planned it out. The people responded.
Last week, in chapter 4, we saw that not everyone in the surrounding area was happy that Jerusalem was being rebuilt. There was much opposition to the work. There is always opposition to what God is doing because God’s will often requires us to surrender, change, and follow. I think a key verse from chapter 4 was verse 11 which said (MSG): “And all this time our enemies were saying, “They won’t know what hit them. Before they know it we’ll be at their throats, killing them right and left. That will put a stop to the work!”
We now come to chapter 5. Chapter 5 looks at some of the events and issues that were going on while the wall was being rebuilt. Chapter 4 was all about the attacks that were coming on the people of Jerusalem from outside. Chapter 5 addresses problems inside the community that were threatening God’s work. Lying, unfairness, and hard hearts stifle the work of God. Integrity, fairness, and compassion sustain the work.
Let’s read from Nehemiah 5 and find out what the issue was internally that was causing so many issues for Nehemiah and the wall building.
READ NEHEMIAH 5:1-19 (ESV)
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 them 8 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 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. 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 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 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.
TRANSITION
So, what is happening in Nehemiah 5?
SITUATION AND NEHEMIAH’S RESPONSE
Nehemiah 5 shares with us that there is a severe economic crisis in Jerusalem as the people there are just trying to survive. Most likely the increased economic pressure to rebuild the walls brought to light some financial issues for the people. Several avenues of injustice are occurring all at once.
Nehemiah takes time to listen. Nehemiah hears that:
Families are starving and can barely make ends meet.
Land is being taken and/or mortgaged to pay for taxes.
Children are being sold into debt slavery to pay bills.
Exploitation happens to God’s people as Jews are charging much interest to other Jews.
All of these issues facing the people of Jerusalem are addressed in the Law of God in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy which means a whole lot of people are ignoring the will of God for this many people to be in dire straits. God has specific directions in His Law to head off all of these issues before they become catastrophic. There are laws about leaving harvest for the poor, boundaries for slavery and debt, and guidelines for land transfer. All ignored.
Nehemiah takes time to listen. Nehemiah knows that:
Families starving is preventable and unnecessary. Unnecessary.
Land is being taken is unfair. Unfair.
Children being sold into slavery is injustice. Injustice.
Exploitation of interest on loans is complete disobedience. Disobedience.
After Nehemiah listens, he then responds. I happen to like his response. His response is in verses 6-8 which I find to be the point of the passage. I would like to re-read his response from chapter 5:
RE-READ NEHEMIAH 5:6-8 (ESV)
“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 them…”
The way Nehemiah describes his response is: “I was red hot!” His anger was blazing. He was displeased to the uttermost. This is the same phrased used to describe Potiphar when he heard how his wife lied about Joseph (Genesis 39:19, interpretation added); to describe King David when Nathan tells him a story about a man stealing a poor man’s sheep (2 Samuel 12:5), and God’s anger against Uzzah when he touched the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6:7). This is not annoyance or something that goes away, but hot fiery anger.
You know, anger isn’t always the enemy. We are taught in church or when we read the Bible or we listen to sermons that anger is a sin and to be calm and have peace is spiritual maturity. That is true. It is not ALWAYS TRUE. The Bible makes a distinction between selfish anger which we would put in the “sinful” category and righteous anger which we would put in the “non-sinful category.”
How do I know there is a difference?
There is a difference in Samson’s anger at the beginning of his life and at the end.
Jonah was a prophet and yet his anger ruled his heart to sin.
John the Baptist railed against Herod for adultery and he did not sin.
Jesus flipped tables in anger. WWJD? He’d flip some tables.
The question isn’t: “Is anger bad?”
The question is: “What is your anger doing?”
In Nehemiah 5, we see a leader whose anger comes from seeing the unnecessary, the unfair, the injustice, and the disobedience and seeks to remedy it. His anger began with listening to the oppressed and then decided to be part of the solution.
What did Nehemiah do?
In Nehemiah 5, Nehemiah addressed severe economic injustice by confronting wealthy nobles who were exploiting poor hungry Jews with high interest and debt slavery. He demanded they stop charging interest, restore seized land and property, and act in the fear of God. He basically told them to act like the followers of God they already claimed to be!
Nehemiah confronted the oppressors. Nehemiah was in a unique position in that he could confront those who were doing unjust things. Nehemiah became angry and directly confronted the nobles and officials in a big assembly for charging interest which violated Mosaic Law.
Nehemiah also demanded restitution. He commanded the wealthy to immediately return all fields, vineyards, houses, and the interest for money and food taken from the poor. As I read this and interpret, Nehemiah was not saying that people could not be in debt, but many of the lands and money taken were done so unethically. The interest and loans were designed for the people never to be able to pay them off and have restoration.
Nehemiah forced accountability for those in leadership. Nehemiah held a public assembly where he made the nobles take an oath before the priests to return property. Nehemiah performed a grand symbolic gesture… he shook out his robe… to warn that God would remove those who broke the promise. Jesus Christ talks about the same type of symbolic practice to the Apostles (Matthew 10:14, Mark 6:11, Luke 9:5) when He commands them to “shake the dust off your feet” when a town rejected the Gospel.
Nehemiah also led by example in that he refused to take the governor's food allowance to relieve the financial burden on the people. He fed 150 people at his own expense for 12 years to avoid burdening the struggling population.
Nehemiah takes time to listen. Nehemiah acts:
Families starving is preventable and unnecessary. He acts on their behalf.
Land is being taken unfairly. He demands fair actions.
Children being sold into slavery is injustice. He demands justice.
Exploitation of interest on loans is complete disobedience. He calls for obedience.
The man who was given a holy burden from the Lord to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem finds himself in a situation where his countrymen are facing unnecessary hunger, unfair land deals, unjust selling of people into slavery, and disobedient banking practices. He leaned into what we would call… social justice. He demonstrated that protecting the community and upholding justice was important while they were rebuilding the walls.
TRANSITION
I want to learn from Nehemiah. I hear all the time in the news about events and issues that I am supposed to be outraged about. I hear of families and laws and issues that make me shake my head, but I don’t always know how to feel. I know sometimes what happens and I get angry, but it doesn’t seem to help or fix anything. I want to learn from Nehemiah. I want to learn from Nehemiah because he listened, he saw there was injustice, he got hot angry about it without sin, and then was part of the solution.
RE-READ NEHEMIAH 5:6-8 (ESV)
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 them…”
APPLICATION
I want to learn from Nehemiah.
I want you to learn from Nehemiah.
# 1 of 3 Righteous anger against that which is unnecessary, unfair, unjust, and disobedient to God starts with listening. Verse 6 tells us that he listened to the people. He was busy rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, but he also listened to the people.
If we want righteous anger, this means we need to sit down and listen. Listen to stories. Listen to the pain of others which is going to be uncomfortable. Listen to people different than us. Sit with them in their pain. We probably need to suspend judgment about what we think goes on and avoid assumptions about suffering we haven’t lived. I cannot help but notice that Nehemiah took time to listen.
The Book of James in the New Testament tells us this:
READ JAMES 1:19-21 (ESV)
“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
Nehemiah is a fine example of these verses from James in action.
#2 of 3 Righteous anger against that which is unnecessary, unfair, unjust, and disobedient to God continues with directing our anger properly at sin. Verse 6 tells us that he listened to the people and then got angry about the sin and the injustice. He’s not mad at them for complaining. He’s angry at the injustice being done. He also directs his anger squarely at those who sin.
Righteous anger targets exploitation, abuse of power, systems that crush image-bearers, and even spiritual hypocrisy. Nehemiah focuses on the sin leading to the systemic problems in Jerusalem. Literally Jesus does this in His ministry. Matthew chapter 23 is 39 verses of the Son of God railing against the Pharisees and Sadducees for that which is unnecessary, unfair, unjust, and disobedient.
READ FROM MATTHEW 23 (VARIOUS VERSES) (ESV)
VERSE 4
“They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.”
VERSES 13-15
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
VERSE 23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”
VERSE 25
“…you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”
VERSE 28
“… you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
VERSE 34-35
“I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth…”
#3 of 3 Righteous anger against that which is unnecessary, unfair, unjust, and disobedient to God continues by being surrendered to God in His control. This is very important and perhaps most important. Anger is one of those emotions by nature that can be out-of-control. Nehemiah: feels anger, pauses (I think to pray), processes (I think with God), and then acts wisely (I think surrendered to God). Righteous anger is not out-of-control, but is in control because we are surrendered to the will of God. I know that verse 6 says that Nehemiah “took counsel with myself” which seems the opposite of what I am trying to say, but what we see here is Nehemiah “mastering his feelings” (meaning of the Hebrew) and then acting in accordance with what God wanted him to do. Because of what we’ve seen from Nehemiah in chapters 1-4, my firm belief is that he went to God to master his feelings and then acted in self-control with God’s help.
Righteous anger reflects the will of God. Righteous anger is bathed in prayer. Righteous anger seeks justice, not revenge. Righteous anger looks for restoration. It expects repentance, structural change, actual change, and protection of the vulnerable.
I want to learn from Nehemiah.
I want you to learn from Nehemiah.
* We should have righteous anger that starts with listening.
* We should have righteous anger that is directed at sin and sinners.
* We should have righteous anger surrendered to God.
I want to learn from Nehemiah.
I want you to learn from Nehemiah.
When I think about this in our context in our nation or in our state or in our county or in our families or in ourselves:
Children should not be abused.
Human trafficking and sex trafficking is quite prevalent in our world.
Men and women should not be paid differently because of their gender.
Power or position should not be used to crush the weak or abused to go after enemies.
Protecting unborn children and providing for mothers should be a priority.
Racism takes many forms and should be uncovered.
The poor should not be preyed upon by unfair practices.
The church should not protect abusers or systems of harm.
Workers should not be exploited.
These are just some issues that I read about and hear about and I know I left out important topics. We hear and see and know that these issues are present in our nation or in our state or in our county or in our families or in ourselves. You and I can be people who follow Nehemiah’s example:
We can actually listen and care to get to the truth of an issue.
We can pray to feel deeply and love boldly about things we do not fully understand.
We can decide to confront evil in the places we live, work, and worship.
The goal is not to be less emotional or less informed or more political or more nosey.
The goal is to be angry at the right things, in the right way, for the right reasons.
May God give us:
Eyes to see injustice.
Hearts that break for the oppressed.
Courage to confront sin.
Wisdom to pursue restoration.
PRAYER
INVITATION
