The Pulpit Commentary on Nehemiah 5:6

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

I was very angry. It is not clear that the letter of the law was infringed, unless it were in the matter of taking interest (Nehemiah 5:11), of which the people had not complained. That men might sell their daughters to be concubines or secondary wives is clear from Exodus 21:7; and it is therefore probable that they might sell their sons for servants.

But the servitude might only be for six years (Exodus 21:2); and if a jubilee year occurred before the sexennial period was out, the service was ended (Le Exodus 25:10). Land too might be either mortgaged or sold (ibid.

Exodus 21:14-16), but under the condition that it returned to the seller, or at any rate to his tribe, in the jubilee year (ibid. Exodus 21:10, Exodus 21:13). The spirit, however, of the law—the command, "Ye shall not oppress one another" (ibid.

Exodus 21:14, Exodus 21:17)—was transgressed by the proceedings of the rich men. It was their duty in a time of scarcity not to press hard upon their poorer brethren, but freely to alleviate their necessities.

Nehemiah, his near relations, and his followers had done so to the utmost of their power (verse 10, with the comment). The rich men had acted differently, and made all the profit that they could out of the need of their fellow-countrymen.

Hence Nehemiah's anger.

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