Over the course of this week I have engaged in a lengthy discussion with someone over the behavior of Nehemiah. Rather than rehash that debate here (as that would be rather tiresome and tedious to do so), I would like to comment today on a statement that is repeated several times in the course of Nehemiah, and that offers us great insight as to Nehemiah’s character as well as his desire to please God rather than be the self-righteous proto-Pharisee that he is often assumed to be. Let us therefore examine the specific context in which Nehemiah asks God to remember him for good, and examine what is most noteworthy about these examples in what they show us about how Nehemiah was a godly man and how we should seek to emulate his example.

In Nehemiah 5:19, Nehemiah said: “Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.” What had Nehemiah done in Nehemiah 5? Nehemiah had in fact done two remarkable things–the first was dealing with the oppression of the common folk of Judah by their nobles. Throughout all human history we can find many examples of exploitative and harsh behavior of elites towards the common people, as the elites of no nation have been known for long as being loving servants of the people, but have always fancied themselves lords seeking the honor of others without providing service and care for others. The second thing was Nehemiah’s own generosity in refusing to collect a tax that he could have demanded as governor because of the poverity of the land and of its people. In stark contrast to the rapacious behavior of selfish Jewish elites, Nehemiah himself showed generosity of spirit to the people, not seeking to enrich himself at the expense of the people he served.

Let us briefly examine these two facts and comment briefly upon them. First, let us look at Nehemiah’s response to the oppression of the Jewish elites of their brethren in Nehemiah 5:1-8: “And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore get us grain, that we may eat and live.” There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.” There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.” And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.” So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, “According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us? Then were silenced and found nothing to say.”

Here we see the classic operation of exploitative elites, who take advantage of their comparative wealth to profit from the misery of others, forcing others into debt and servitude by virtue of their possession of the goods necessary for life and living. Nehemiah had to deal with a few groups of common people who shared common concerns–namely the threat of starvation, debt, and slavery because of the exploitative behavior of the nobles and rulers of the land who acted like heathens. Nehemiah’s response to this was to rebuke those elites in tihe presence of the people themselves and their representatives, and to refuse to participate or condone their behavior, leading those elites to obey the Sabbath laws of Leviticus 25 and forgive the debts of their brethren and restore the people their families and properties.

Then, immediately afterward, Neehmiah 5:14-16 gives the stark contrast between Nehemiah’s behavior as governor from those who came before him: “Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers at the governor’s provisions. But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God. Indeed, I also continued the work on this wall, and we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.”

Here we see Nehemiah’s contrast between his own behavior and the behavior in which governors and rulers in general have engaged in throughout the corrupt course of human history. Typically, governors put heavy burdens on the people so that they may live in a high standard of living, making the common people suffer (and being indifferent or hostile to their concerns) while they themselves live a life of luxury. Nehemiah, though, as a godly leader, refused to take advantage of the people for his own wealth, nor did he acquire land as a result of his power, a very common form of behavior. In my travels around the world and in my studies of history, I have seen how America’s founding fathers (and every generation since them) has been obsessed with the acquisition and exploitation and speculation on property. Around the world one will see large companies and corrupt political elites with palaces and mansions all over countries as a result of the land-grabbing that has taken place over generations, to the detriment of the ability of ordinary people.

It is in this context that Nehemiah desires God to remember him for good, in light of his own godly conduct, in refusing to place burdens on others (itself an important aspect of the Sabbath commandment) and in his active enforcement of the Sabbath law against exploitative elements within his own society. Instead of being a chief evildoer as is often the case among corrupt authorities, or in being an agent of their desires to acquire property (even the sons and daughters of their brethren), Nehemiah rebuked the selfish and greedy elites of Judah and set an example of modest living for others to follow. In this light, we ought to remember Nehemiah for good, and follow his example when it comes to seeking social justice for our brethren as well as living in modest ways that do not serve to exploit others.

Likewise, three times in Nehemiah 13, in verses 14, 22b and 31b, Nehemiah asks God to remember him: “Remember me, O my God, c oncerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its services!” “Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy!” and “Remember me, O my God, for good!” Let us again ask ourselves what Nehemiah had done in Nehemiah 13 to desire him to be remembered by God for good. We find the answers in Nehemiah’s defense of the tithes going to to the Levite servants of God rather than being hoarded for the corrupt priests, his passioante defense of the Sabbath as well as his passionate defense of the principle of separation from the pagan nations around them. Let us briefly examine these two matters as well and comment upon why Nehemiah desired to be remembered by God for good.

First, we find Nehemiah’s passionate defense of the interests of the Levites in Nehemiah 13:10-13, after cleansing the temple from the corruption of Tobiah the Ammonite: “I also realized that the protions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. So I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their place. Then all Judah brought the tithe ofthe grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse. And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren.”

After an absence from Jerusalem, Nehemiah found that the corrupt rulers and priests had again engaged in their dallying with corrupt political rulers around them, like Tobiah the Ammonite (who had even been given a room in the temple, against God’s law, by a corrupt high priest named Eliashib who happened to be allied to him by marriage). By appointing faithful priests and Levites over the work of distributing tithes to the Levites, Nehemiah kept the Levites from having to abandon their hard work in the temple to farm their own lands to eat. We are often used to thinking of tithing as being something for ministers (who would correspond to the priestly elites), but in reality, tithing was meant to support the broader base of Levites who did the physical work of cooking, security, music, logistics, and teaching for Israel. In turn, this fairly broad base of servants was to tithe for the priestly elite. All too often in history the priests (or their equivalents) have sought to gain great wealth and power and have not properly provided for the needs of those who serve the people of God as God has commanded, by seeking to serve only themselves and their own interests.

Likewise, Nehemiah’s defense of the Sabbath prompted his second request in Nehemiah 13 to be remembered by God for good, in Nehemiah 13:15-22a: “In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on whcih they were selling provisions. Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on theSabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, by whcih you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day. Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. Then I warned them, and said to them, “Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay my hands on you!” From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day.”

Here we see Nehemiah asking God to remember him for good for his passionate defense of the Sabbath. We see again how the corrupt nobles of Judah were exploiting their employees by inducing them to carry burdens on the Sabbath, and that they were in cahoots with heathen merchants who sought to profit off of the Sabbath day. However one applies this particular passage to contemporary Sabbath practice, it is clear that Nehemiah’s godly character led him to recognize the evil of the burdens that the nobles were placing on the people, and the historical curse that followed flagrant and unrepentant Sabbathbreaking among God’s people. I myself often puzzle and wrestle with questions of Sabbath practice, and wish that I could be as faithful and godly as Nehemiah in these matters. That said, we ought to recognize that Nehemiah’s concern about the Sabbath was not a pharisaical desire to place burdens on people that they would not bear themselves, but rather a desire to free the people of Judah from the burden of servile labor on the Sabbath in obedience to God’s commandment which brings mankind freedom from exploitation.

The final time in that Nehemiah asks God to remember him for good is in the context of his hobility to interfaith marriages, in Nehemiah 13:23-27: “In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people. So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin. Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?””

Here we see Nehemiah again pointing to Israelite history (just as he does with regards to the Sabbath in the previous example) as a reminder to corrupt Jews not to engage in interfaith marriages. The problem was not one of ethnicity (see, for example, Ruth, Psalm 87, or Isaiah 56, among other places) but one of faith. The people of God have always had the covenantal responsibility of being a light and a model to the world. Part of this responsibility requires a certain feeling of separateness from others, lest we be corrupted and contaminated by the evil example of the world, rather than being a model of godly behavior to the world. By marrying uncoverted spouses, or choosing unconverted spouses for their sons and daughters, these Jews (most of whom appear to be elites, again) had failed to teach the ways of God to their families and raise up godly offspring, and failed to set an example of holiness to the surrounding peoples who were supposed to be provoked to repentance by their godly conduct. Instead, there was assimilation and a weaking of the evangelical appeal of righetous and godly living.

In the interests of balance, let us briefly discuss the fact that Nehemiah did not only ask God to remember him for good. He also, at least twice, asked God to remember the work of those who opposed him for evil. In Nehemiah 6:14, Nehemiah says: “My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to their works, and the prophetess Noaadiah and the rest of the [false] prophets who would have made me afraid.” Likewise, in Nehemiah 13:29, Nehemiah says: “Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.” While Nehemaih sought for God to remember him in mercy and for good, Nehemiah asked God to remember the deeds of the wicked who had oppressed others, had sought to behave corruptly and use fear to manipulate others, and judge them accordingly. Let us act so that we are remembered by God for good rather than for evil.

Therefore, in conclusion, let us sum up why Nehemiah asked God to remember him for good. The fact that we have Nehemiah as an account of his life and conduct and still ponder on it and reflect on it to this day indicates that Nehemiah’s prayer for remembrance by God (and the people of God) was heard and accepted, making his conduct an example for us. In looking at the occasions where Nehemiah asks God to remember him for good, which is a consistent motif in this particular book that serves to unify it, we are prompted to reflect on the fact that God’s commandments and laws and ways were so deeply embedded in Nehemiah that he saw God’s laws as enforcing standards of freedom and justice against the exploitation of corrupt civil and priestly elites. As we too live in an age of corrupt political and religious elites, let us as well understand the purpose of God’s laws and commandments (especially the Sabbath) in defending the best interests of others, and let us examine Nehemiah’s behavior with the aim of applying it to ourselves as we can, since we too wish for God to remember us for good.