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Nehemiah's problem

The greatest problem that the church has faced during its iron yoke captivity to Babylon is that it has tended to adapt to the new ungodly culture. This is especially true of the next generation of people who grow up in this new culture. Babylon’s culture and laws are the new normal, shaping the children’s outlook. Kingdom culture is seen as strange and out of touch with reality.

It is difficult to maintain a vision of a normal Kingdom way of life when one has no daily example to follow. This is why one must study the Scriptures, for “in them you have eternal life” (John 5:39). This must include a study of the laws of God, which are the foundations of Kingdom culture, morality, and even prophecy. The law reveals the nature of God and of Christ, and when read through the lens of the New Covenant, it reveals what we are becoming as we put on the nature of Christ.

The first group of immigrants from Babylon arrived in the old land in the summer of 534 B.C. We know this, because this is when they began counting their sabbath years, even as they had done many years earlier when Joshua led them into the same land. History provides us with three specific events that occurred during sabbath years, which allow us to establish 534 B.C. as the start of the first rest-year cycle after the captivity.

The temple was rebuilt and completed in 515 B.C. (Ezra 6:15). Ezra was sent to Jerusalem in 458 B.C. to offer sacrifice to God, paid for by the Persian king (Ezra 7:20). This was the 7^th year of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:7), and it marked the time when Daniel’s 70 weeks began, leading to Christ’s crucifixion.

Thirteen years later, in the 20^th year of the same king (445 B.C.), Nehemiah, the king’s butler, was sent to build the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1). This began another cycle of 70 weeks leading to the launch of Paul’s ministry in 46 A.D.

As you can see, these events took place years apart, and it gives you a better perspective of history and each person’s place in it.

The Problem of Usury

When Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, he had to overcome much opposition from Sanballat and others (Nehemiah 4:7, 8). An internal problem arose in Nehemiah 5:1-5,

¹ Now there was a great outcry at the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. 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.” ³ There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain because of the famine.” ⁴ Also 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 like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

Nehemiah became very angry at this, saying, “You are exacting usury, each from his brother!” (Nehemiah 5:7). We then read in Nehemiah 5:8, 9, 10,

⁸ I [Nehemiah] said to them, “We according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. ⁹ Again, I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? ¹⁰ And likewise, I, my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please let us leave off this usury.”

Nehemiah was able to put a stop to this practice during the 12 years that he was the king’s governor (445-433 B.C.). See Nehemiah 5:14. Yet it is clear that the Jews had forgotten or ignored the law of God forbidding usury. Deuteronomy 23:19 says,

¹⁹ You shall not charge interest to your countrymen; interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest.

This is repeated in Exodus 22:25 and in Leviticus 25:36, 37.

Babylonian law (i.e., the law of Hammurabi) allowed 30 percent interest on loans. Hence, our own Babylonian system today allows interest on credit cards up to 29 percent, which tends to impose perpetual debt upon the people. Even though the Jews in Nehemiah’s day had been inspired to immigrate to the Promised Land and to rebuild the nation and city, it is clear that they had been practicing the ways of the Babylonians.

Biblical Laws on Usury

Debt is slavery, because “the borrower becomes the lender’s slave” (Proverbs 22:7). The law does not forbid poor people from borrowing money; it only constrains the lender in order to protect the poor.

But if the law forbids interest on money, would this not dry up all credit? After all, why would anyone loan free money to the poor? Interest, after all, is his motivation to loan money. That is the difference between Babylon and the Kingdom of God. Babylon is motivated by greed and fear; the Kingdom of God is motivated by love. One should not make money by enslaving the poor.

But what if I loan a man interest-free money and he loans it out at interest to others? The law deals with this in Deuteronomy 23:20,

²⁰ You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countryman you shall not charge interest; so that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.

Who is a “foreigner”? A foreigner is one who is not subject to the laws of God but to a set of foreign laws—such as Babylonian law. It is not a racial term but has to do with nationality. As citizens of the Kingdom, we are not to charge interest on loans to fellow Kingdom citizens who are subject to the same laws of the Kingdom.

For this reason, we are allowed to charge interest to a foreigner who is subject to Babylonian laws. But if that same Babylonian repents, turns to God, gains citizenship in the Kingdom, and follows the laws of God, then he is able to enjoy the blessings of obedience. If he becomes poor, he could expect to be given an interest-free loan to help him remain free.

The Law of Equality

This is made clear in Leviticus 25:35-37,

³⁵ Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. ³⁶ Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you. ³⁷ You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain.

The laws of God forbid oppressing foreigners but are to treat them as equals under the law. So Leviticus 19:33, 34 says,

³³ When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. ³⁴ The foreigner who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

The Israelites should have known how it felt to be treated unequally during their time in Egypt. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Israel was forbidden to treat foreigners unequally if those foreigners wanted to reside in the Kingdom and to be subject to its laws. So the law allowing Kingdom people to charge interest to foreigners does not apply to foreign people who are part of the Kingdom of God.

The law of equal rights is expressed clearly in Numbers 15:15, 16,

¹⁵ As for the assembly [kahal, “church”], there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the Lord. ¹⁶ There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.

The law applies equally to all ethnicities. This principle was never fully understood among the Jews, for they kept foreign converts in the outer court and treated them as second-class citizens. Christ, however, abolished this dividing wall (Ephesians 2:12-14), not by putting away the law, but by enforcing the law of equality. Many in the early church continued to have this lawless mindset, and Paul even had to rebuke Peter for this (Galatians 2:11).

There are people even today who have not learned the law of equality. This is why it is important to study the laws of the Kingdom.

Nehemiah had to deal with the problem of usury in a time that foreshadowed the rebuilding of the Kingdom that we are engaged in today. We too are coming out of a Babylonian captivity, and it appears that the problem of usury (and banking as a whole) is a key issue that needs to be resolved. We can hardly expect the church as a whole to resolve this problem, because most Christian denominations are active participants in usury and see nothing wrong with it.

Nonetheless, when we apply the law of usury to our present circumstances, we should understand that the banking system is a “foreigner,” that is, a foreign system. It is not a sin to have an interest-bearing account in a Babylonian bank, because one is allowed to charge interest to foreigners. Yet one must be careful not to charge interest to a fellow Kingdom believer who respects the law of God.

The day will come when the Kingdom will be fully established, and in that day the entire manner of banking will have to change. Banks will no longer be the place to buy slaves, but they will be used to set people free.