Donald Trump is in the process of selecting people to be part of his government (Dec. 2024). Nehemiah gives us good reminders in how he governed Israel under the Persians, in the “times of the gentiles” (i.e. in the times in which we live, not as a descendent of David) and he did it right. If you want to see how, as a governmental leader (“shepherd”), to tackle a big problem, study Neh. 1-3.
· Ch. 4: Nehemiah had to deal with enemies from without. A key to this was an armed citizenry (v16-17). It was not just the 2nd amendment, the right to bear arms. It was the responsibility to protect family and neighbors.
· 5:1-13: It would be nice if all the citizens treated all the other citizens in love and as friends. But given the sinfulness of men, leaders must take action. The problems were: they were, or had been, in a famine situation (v3), were taxed by the Persians even when their lands and vineyards were not productive (v4), and were now being charged interest on loans they had taken out (v5). Nothing much could be done about the famine or taxation of Persia. But the loans were local, so Nehemiah tackled this part of it. He,
o …gave it serious thought (v7).
o …rebuked the rich for collecting interest (v7-8). The term “usery” indicates over-charging but the Heb. word just means “interest.” In the Law of Moses people of Israel were not to charge interest at all when loaning to fellow-Israelites who had fallen on hard times, Ex. 22:25. (This shows us how the Israelites were to apply the Mosaic Law while under the Gentile government: do what you can; later in Nehemiah, when they set up provision for the priests and Levites they again applied what Moses said needed to be done but in a way consistent with being under Persia and not under an Israelite king.) The point is: Nehemiah, as governor, could not just make a law. He wasn’t the “king.” But he did need to correct the problem lest the building of the wall be hindered. What he did was to appeal to the rich on the basis of what God was doing in bringing them back to the land. Enough with trying to “legislate morality” (as we often hear). Appeal to people’s conscience.
o …set the example (v10). Nehemiah had been lending people money AND GRAIN. They needed to eat, but he did it with compassion: no interest!
o …then commanded the rich with what they “should” do (v11). What they were to do would allow the poor to continue to be responsible for their own care, working their own land, etc.
I hope this is what Trump, Musk, Ramaswamy, Bezos and Zuckerberg (these names have all come up as Trump is filling government positions) are doing. The wealthy in the USA have always been willing to put massive injections of money into liberal philosophy; why not giving to fulfill a just and wise philosophy? For Nehemiah it was government involving the individual’s government of conscience.
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