SPEAKER_00: It's Thursday, May 21st, and I'm Dan.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah chapter 5 deals with Nehemiah handling a conflict related to Jerusalem's poor by reinstating the no usury clause from the Mosaic Law.
SPEAKER_00: What was that clause?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's found in Exodus 22, 25, where it says, If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal.
SPEAKER_00: Charge no interest.
SPEAKER_00: So you could also call it the no interest law if you like.
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that be wonderful to not be charged interest?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, this is true, but I'm thinking that many of you listening to me actually have the means to pay interest when it's required.
SPEAKER_00: However, if you are in a financial bind, just having that little burden of not having to pay back a loan with interest is a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: If you read Nehemiah 5 too quickly, you might miss the heart-wrenching drama that's going on with God's people, raising an outcry against the nobles and officials of Jerusalem who were keeping their people in bondage in so many ways.
SPEAKER_00: Besides charging interest on the poor, verse 3 says the people were mortgaging their fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain during a severe famine that was happening at the same time Nehemiah was building the wall.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 speaks of the people having to borrow money just to pay the king's taxes.
SPEAKER_00: And tragically, some of them were even having to sell their sons and daughters into slavery.
SPEAKER_00: No wonder Nehemiah was very angry after hearing the outcry of his own people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I ask you today, does it make you angry when you see the poor of our society oppressed?
SPEAKER_00: More importantly, does it lead you to action?
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to do to help?
SPEAKER_00: The whole chapter reminds me of the oft quoted Micah 6.8, which says, He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?
SPEAKER_00: It's my prayer today that we have the will for justice to be done for the oppressed and a heart of kindness that reaches out to all in the name of Jesus.