Nehemiah — Chapter 5

Domos nostras opponamus creditoribus

Let us mortgage our houses — that is, let us pledge our houses to money-lenders. For they had recently returned from Babylon and had spent all their possessions on the journey and on the construction of the city. Hence they suffered great poverty, to relieve which they planned to pledge their possessions and even sell their sons and daughters (v. 2).

In tributa regis mutuo

For the king's tribute we have borrowed money — so that we may procure what we are obligated to pay annually to the king of Persia in lieu of tribute.

Et nunc sicut carnes fratrum

And now our flesh is the same as the flesh of our brethren, and our children are the same as their children. — That is: We and our children serve here a harsh servitude similar to that served by our brethren, that is, our fellow tribesmen who remained in Babylon and Persia — and this by the iniquity and injustice of the wealthier Jews, who oppress us their poor brethren with usury and by purchasing our children, as follows. Therefore we are in a worse position than our brethren in Persia: they are oppressed by the foreigners and idolaters the Persians; but we are oppressed by our own tribesmen, who are our brothers in blood and religion. For it is more bitter to be tortured by a friend and brother than by an enemy and stranger. For while the law (Deuteronomy 23:19) commands that a loan be given to brethren freely, they exact great interest from us for their loans; hence we are compelled to sell or give our sons and daughters into servitude to pay this interest. Thus Cajetan, Vatablus, and others.

Congregavi adversum eos concionem

And I called a great assembly against them — that is, a great gathering of all the people, so that, reproved and shamed before it by me, they might remit their usury.

Centesimam pecuniae frumenti vini

The hundredth part of the money, grain, wine, and oil — namely the usury by which they exacted monthly for the use of a loan one per hundred, that is, twelve per hundred annually. Hence it is clear that this usury was common among the Jews, just as it later was among the Romans, and it was burdensome — for annually an eighth part of the principal sum lent had to be paid; for example, twelve gold coins are an eighth of a hundred. Therefore after eight years the interest nearly equalled the principal and so doubled it: for a loan of one hundred gold coins, almost two hundred had to be paid (196 precisely), and after another eight years the debt tripled, and after yet another eight, quadrupled. When half of this interest — six per hundred annually — was paid, it was called \"semissal\" (half) interest; when four per hundred was paid, \"trientalian\"; when only one per hundred, \"uncial\" — the minimum, while the duodenary (twelve per hundred) was the maximum. \"GIVE FOR THEM\" — that is, remit it, and moreover restore and give back what you have already received, as was previously said. Since usury is against commutative justice, it does not pass into the ownership of the usurer; hence it must be restored to the one who gave it for the loan.

Et dixerunt reddemus et

And they said: We will restore, and we will require nothing of them; we will do as you say. — Moved partly by shame, partly by Nehemias' authority and example, partly by love of the common good, partly by compassion for the poor, they said: \"We will restore\" — the fields, vineyards, and olive orchards which the poor had pledged to us as security for the loan received — \"AND WE WILL REQUIRE NOTHING MORE OF THEM\" — that is, we will exact nothing for interest. \"AND I CALLED THE PRIESTS (guilty of this usury) AND (privately, out of respect for the priesthood, lest I shame them before the people) ADJURED THEM\" — to remit the interest and in this matter go before the lay usurers as an example of justice and charity.

Sic excutiat Deus omnem

So let God shake out every man who does not fulfill this word from his house (so that, stripped of his house, he is compelled to wander as an exile and vagrant) and from his labors — so that he may be deprived of the fruit and reward of his labors, just as I shook out my lap. For those who shake out others through usury deserve themselves to be shaken out from their houses and wealth, exiled and impoverished, as often happens by God's just judgment.

A die autem illa qua

From the day that the king commanded me to be governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes — twelve years — neither I nor my brethren ate the bread provided for the governor. — Governors customarily received from the citizens of Jerusalem, over whom they presided, provisions — that is, necessities for food: a certain measure of grain, wine, oil, money, etc. But Nehemias refused to accept these, both in order not to burden the poor people with this contribution, and to give the rich an example of remitting usury; and this he did for the twelve years during which he presided over Jerusalem as governor. Hence many think he continuously stayed in Jerusalem for twelve years. However, this does not accord with the desire of the king and queen wishing Nehemias to return immediately within the short time he had appointed (chapter 2:6). Therefore it seems Nehemias returned to the king shortly after completing the construction of the walls (about 52 days, chapter 6:15), leaving a deputy in Jerusalem to govern the people. For Artaxerxes had appointed him governor of Jerusalem for twelve years, whether absent or present; therefore even absent, he could rightfully have demanded these provisions as a stipend of his office, especially since his absence was due to the king's summons — but he refused to accept them for the reasons stated. Thus Salianus and Sanchez. This will be clearer in verse 17 and chapter 13:6, where Nehemias, returning in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes, corrected many abuses that had crept into Jerusalem during his twelve years of absence.

Duces autem primi qui

The former governors who were before me (appointed by Esdras by the king's command, as was said in Esdras 7:25) burdened the people and took from them in bread and wine (a certain measure of bread and wine), and besides forty shekels of silver each day. — From the Hebrew it is clear that besides bread and wine they took forty shekels in silver; for the Hebrew reads: \"They burdened the people in bread and wine after forty shekels of silver\" — making forty Brabantine florins, or forty French francs — an enormous sum and unaffordable to people so poor.

Quin potius in opere

But rather I worked at the construction of the wall and bought no land — In chapter 3 we did not hear of any particular section assigned to Nehemias, but he himself, as leader, was present at all those building in their assigned sections, presiding over and directing all, and assisting the work personally and through his men. \"AND I BOUGHT NO LAND\" — that is: I did not increase my property and estates, but rather expended myself and all I had for the benefit of the city and citizens. This was a remarkable continence of Nehemias, as well as charity and generosity toward his citizens. For many governors and prefects plunder their subjects to enrich themselves; hence after a few years of office they return home loaded with wealth. Not so Nehemias, whose memory is therefore blessed. Thomas More did the same — after having served as Chancellor of England for several years, he had not increased his wealth and annual income beyond two hundred gold coins, as Stapleton narrates in his Life.

Judaei quoque et magistratus

Moreover the Jews and the magistrates (whom I had appointed by the king's command throughout Judaea) — 150 men, and those who came to us from the nations (envoys of neighboring peoples) that were around us — were at my table. — That is: I fed all these at my own expense and from my resources which the king had granted me. Hence it is clear that Nehemias did not stay in Jerusalem for twelve years. For he could not have provided such great daily expenses for so many dinner guests for so many years — indeed it would have exhausted royal resources.

Inter dies decem vina

Every ten days wine of all kinds. — This passage is obscure. First, Pagninus translates thus: these dinner guests consumed in one day as much wine as would have sufficed me and my household for ten days. Second, Vatablus, more aptly according to the Hebrew and Greek, translates: \"On every tenth day wine was provided in abundance for all; on the other nine days a fixed measure was given.\" Third, Sanchez: \"Ten kinds of wine were served, one on each day, so that after ten days the ten wines had all been served and the same kinds and sequence recurred in the same order.\" This third interpretation is more conformable to the Vulgate, if \"ten\" is referred not to wines (for it is unusual in one banquet to serve ten kinds of wine — not even kings and the greatest gluttons did this) but to days: that is, various wines were given each day for ten days, after which the casks were emptied and other wines of varied kinds had to be supplied. Nehemias was therefore a great and magnificent governor, excellent in all things. Rightly says Bias: \"Office reveals the man.\" And Cicero in De Senectute says of the great Cato the Censor: \"He was a good senator, a good general, a good farmer.\" The same and more may be said of Nehemias.

Memento mei Deus meus

Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people. — That is: Grant me, O Lord, what I granted your people and mine, so that you may be as generous to me as I was to them.