But out of reverence for God I did not act like that (Nehemiah 5:15).

You might remember from Nehemiah 3, the “job assignments” chapter, that some nobles from Tekoa “would not put their shoulders to the work” of rebuilding the walls.  We gave them a dismissive brush-off (“Selfish entitled jerks!”) and moved on, assuming we were done with them, that their only role in the story was to be disapproved of and dismissed.

Turns out they are still very much in the story.  These “nobles and officials” (and not just a few “bad apples” from Tekoa) are the affluent among the Jewish people, the wealthy who are in a position to “help” by lending money to their financially-strapped neighbors.  At a very “modest and reasonable” interest rate, a rate that is making the loan unrepayable and only increasing the indebtedness of the borrowers.

The walls may have been going up, but the overall health of the community is in serious jeopardy.

Nehemiah is a book about the restoration of a community.  The ruined walls of their capital city mirror the ruined condition of their communal bonds, with a particular focus on the predatory ways of the well-off towards their poorer neighbors.

Nehemiah intentionally sets a different example.  It’s not merely a “personal” or “individual” example, it is a modeling of the kind of community God has called his people to be.  He’s entitled to a monthly allowance from the government in Persia, but he refuses to take it.  He could have acquired land, possibly by participating in the predatory loan programs mentioned above; he didn’t.  He provides, out of his own pocket, daily meals for something like 600 people.  Part of that was his responsibility as the governor to entertain various dignitaries; I suspect a lot of hungry folk were grateful to be included.

He does these things “out of reverence for God.”  He’s not looking for what he’s legally entitled to or can get away with.  He’s not responding to the expectations of Persians or Jews, nobles or common folk—he is taking his cues from the Lord.  His reverence for God did not merely restrain him from doing wrong, it compelled him to do what would further shalom, even at his own expense.  When he prays, he does not ask that he would be remembered by the people or the Persians.  To be “remembered” by God is all he asks: “Remember me with favor, O my God …”

The various building and rebuilding “projects” to which we give ourselves, the undertakings that God has put it into our hearts to do, are important and necessary.  But they are designed to do something in us as a community, as well as to do something through us for the good of our neighbors.

Even as God calls for walls to be rebuilt, God does not need walls to protect his people.  We can build or rebuild the best, highest, strongest walls there are, but if what is going on inside the walls isn’t shalom, our walls will not save us.

If shalom means wholeness and flourishing for everyone, where is there a lack of shalom “within your walls”?  What is a shalom-step God is calling you to take?