Nehemiah 5:9
Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?
Nehemiah's "it is not good" was spoken while the wall of Jerusalem was still unfinished, as a rebuke to wealthy Jews for enriching themselves from the distress of the poor. Tillage had been neglected in the unsettled state of the country, and through the selfish course of some who had returned to Judea the blessing of God was not resting on the land, so there was a scarcity of grain. To get food for their families the poor had to buy on credit at exorbitant prices and borrow on interest to pay the heavy taxes imposed by the kings of Persia, and the more wealthy took advantage of their necessities.
The not good conduct rebuked was Jewish rulers enslaving their poor brethren for worldly gain through extortion and exacting usury, in contrast with ransoming Jews who had been sold to the heathen. That course was not good because it broke what God had commanded through Moses for relief of the poor. Every third year a tithe was to be raised for the poor, and every seventh year agricultural labor was to cease with the land lying fallow and its spontaneous products left to those in need. No one was to act as a usurer to God's poor people nor lend upon usury of money, food, or anything lent upon usury to a brother, and none was 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, for the poor shall never cease out of the land. Faithfulness in these offerings would have kept fresh the truth of God's ownership of all and the opportunity to be channels of blessing, training Israel to eradicate selfishness and develop breadth and nobility of character.
The verse calls leaders to walk in reverence for God because exploiting fellow believers through unjust demands, usury, and oppression is wrong and dishonors God. Such oppression brings the reproach of the heathen enemies upon God's people, even among those who do not worship God. The appeal grounds the rebuke of extortion in the fear of God, which should restrain people from oppressing others for worldly gain.
Walking in the fear of God therefore requires stopping the exacting of usury, acting justly toward those in need, rejecting injustice, refusing oppression, and standing against violations of others' rights and plans that oppose the standard of righteousness. It means standing by God and the principles of His law with religious integrity, without turning aside from what is right and refusing to join in wrongdoing. In practice this means ceasing extortion, defending the poor, making wrongdoers remedy their injustice through restitution, restoring the lands of the poor and the increase of money exacted from them, and lending to them without security or usury. It was lived out by defending the poor and requiring remedy while continuing selfless service without using authority to punish personal betrayers.