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COMPASSION AS WISDOM - by Rev Gilbert Wong
Nehemiah 5:9-12
29 June 2008

Introduction

When we say that some is wise, we meant to say that that person has the ability to make sensible decisions and give good advice because of the experience and knowledge that that person has. That ability to make sensible decisions will obviously increase with the passage of time as we encounter challenges of life and turned them into personal experience and knowledge as they are overcome.

But the Bible seems to want us to have experience and knowledge of one definite body of ability – the ability of being compassionate. This I believe is the message Nehemiah has for us this morning as we look at the broader heading of leadership and wisdom and the lesson Nehemiah seems to exemplify is the ability to use compassion as the basis for his wisdom.

We can cultivate this compassionate wisdom by noting four areas:

First, we cultivate compassionate wisdom by fearing the Lord (vv.9-11)

9 So I continued, "What you are doing is not right. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? 10 I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let the exacting of usury stop! 11 Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the usury you are charging them—the hundredth part of the money, grain, new wine and oil."

The situation was dire; because of the reconstruction of Jerusalem, many people were not able to produce enough grain to stay alive. They had to buy grain but did not have enough funds, causing them to mortgage their property (fields, vineyards, and houses). Furthermore, the Persian kings imposed a real estate tax on them. And often in Israel, parents sold their children into slavery to enable them to meet their material needs, hoping to redeem them at a later date (see Exodus 21:2-6).

Usury in its purest sense was the charging of interest for a loan. An individual was forbidden to charge a fellow Israelite interest on a loan (see Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:38; and Deuteronomy 15:1-11). It was however permissible to charge a foreigner interest and usually these were commercial loans. But this was not to be for Israel. An Israelite loan was considered a charity and was done to help a needy fellow countryman, not to help a merchant build up his business.

But even Nehemiah seemed to have missed that point. 5:10 seems to suggest to us that Nehemiah not only loaned money to fellow Israelite but also exacted an interest. What woken him up was not the wisdom of profit margin but the wisdom of the fear of the Lord. 5:9 So I continued, "What you are doing is not right. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?

Nehemiah realized that God was not pleased with the exacting of interest on his own people when it should be done in the name of charity not usury! This charitable or compassionate wisdom is also well taught in the NT. 1 Corinthians 13 considers human superlative acts as nothing worth if they are not done in love.

Second, we cultivate compassionate wisdom by resolution (vv. 12-13)

12 "We will give it back," they said. "And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say."
Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised. 13 I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, "In this way may God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!" At this the whole assembly said, "Amen," and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.

I don’t think it is easy to be compassionate when the opportunities are plenty to make money. It takes moral courage and resolution to be compassionate. There are always reasons not to do anything about the poor around us. The Good Samaritan is a case in point. The Samaritan has every right to bypass the injured man – most likely a Jew. But he did not. He was moved by compassionate to help the battered man in desperate need. He resolved within himself to take the heart of compassionate to rule his heart.

Similarly, Nehemiah exemplified the same virtue. He required the nobles and officials to take an oath or pledge to act out in compassion. It takes will power to act out in love when they are many reasons why we should not or cannot.

I remembered a Christian who had pledged to wake up early in the morning to pray but he failed miserably until one day he decided to pledge to give away some money whenever he could not wake up in time for his daily devotion. He finally succeeded after several attempts. He took a vow and he meant it!

Third, we cultivate compassionate wisdom by solidarity (vv. 14-16).

14 Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. 15 But the earlier governors—those preceding me&