Nehemiah 5:8
And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer.
The verse is a direct confrontation of wealthy Jews for exploiting their poor brethren while the wall of Jerusalem was still unfinished. The poor were in distress from scarcity of grain, because tillage had been neglected in the unsettled state of the country and God's blessing was not resting on the land because of the selfish course of some who had returned to Judea. To obtain food for their families they were forced to buy on credit at exorbitant prices and to borrow on interest to pay the heavy taxes imposed by the kings of Persia, and the more wealthy Jews took advantage of their necessities to enrich themselves.
It sets two courses in contrast: Nehemiah and others using their ability to redeem brethren Jews who had been sold to foreigners and heathen, while Jewish rulers were selling and enslaving their own brethren and people for worldly gain. To sell brethren instead of redeeming them breached what God had commanded Israel through Moses for the poor, for the rich should have relieved need rather than enriching themselves from it. That command included the third-year tithe for the benefit of the poor and the suspension of agricultural labor every seventh year, with the land lying fallow and its spontaneous products left to those in need. Faithfulness in these offerings would have kept fresh the truth of God's ownership of all and man's opportunity to be a channel of blessing, training Israel to eradicate selfishness and develop breadth and nobility of character.
God further instructed His people not to act as an usurer toward His poor, not to lend upon usury of money, victuals, or anything lent upon usury to a brother, and not to harden the heart or shut the hand from a poor brother but to open the hand wide and surely lend him sufficient for his need, because the poor shall never cease out of the land. The rulers' oppression violated their fellow Jews' rights and their duty to protect their brethren, violated the principles of God's law and biblical righteousness, and was unjust and not good because it violated walking in the fear of God. Fear of God should have restrained them from oppressing their brethren, and Nehemiah urged them to examine their own wrongdoing and stop their extortion.
Such extortion was especially wrong because it brought reproach from heathen enemies and even among the heathen, and Nehemiah confronted the wrongdoers and required them to remove that reproach on their countrymen. He called those guilty to cease their iniquitous work, to restore the lands of the poor and the increase of money exacted from them, and to lend without security or usury. In this he set his own example as one invested with authority from the Persian king who might have demanded large contributions but did not take even what justly belonged to him and gave liberally to relieve the poor in need, refusing to join the unjust course or tolerate the oppression of the poor.
His conduct is an example of religious integrity and defense of the poor and oppressed: though some later met his efforts with ingratitude and treachery, he did not use his authority to punish them or to serve his own interests but continued his work for the people without slackening. The rebuke was spoken before the whole congregation and left the rulers holding their peace with nothing to answer and no excuse. It led them to declare they would restore and require nothing, to bind themselves by oath before the priests, and to have the whole congregation say Amen and praise the Lord and do according to the promise.