Context No. 2809 of 4322 · Nehemiah

Nehemiah 5:12-19: in context

12Then they said, “We will restore them, and will require nothing of them. We will do so, even as you say.” Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise. 13Also I shook out my lap, and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that doesn’t perform this promise; even may he be shaken out and emptied like this.” All the assembly said, “Amen,” and praised the LORD. The people did according to this promise. 14Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor. 15But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people, but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God. 16Yes, I also continued in the work of this wall. We didn’t buy any land. All my servants were gathered there to the work. 17Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, one hundred fifty men, in addition to those who came to us from among the nations that were around us. 18Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this, I didn’t demand the governor’s pay, because the bondage was heavy on this people. 19Remember me, my God, for all the good that I have done for this people.

Nehemiah has just persuaded the nobles to stop exploiting their own poor, and he seals the promise with an oath and a vivid gesture, shaking out the fold of his garment as a curse on anyone who breaks it. Then he turns to his own record as governor. For twelve years he did not take the food allowance his office entitled him to, even while feeding a hundred and fifty people at his table each day.

He does not just command generosity; he models it. The governors before him had taxed the people heavily, and their servants lorded it over them. Nehemiah, entitled to exactly the same, gave it up because the burden on the people was already heavy. And he tells us the reason in five words: because of the fear of God. His restraint with the privileges of power did not come from a soft personality. It came from knowing he answered to a higher authority than his own office.

Where I am entitled to take something, does the fear of God lead me to lay it down for the sake of others?

Sources

Nehemiah 5:15: "But I didn't do so, because of the fear of God."
1 Peter 5:2: "Shepherd the flock of God... not for dishonest gain, but willingly; not as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples."
Philippians 2:4: "Each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others."