Page 50 - Principles of Leadership - Nehemiah

daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless because our fields
and vineyards belong to others.”

Remember that before Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, the governors in this area governed very differently
from Nehemiah. This problem preceded his tenure as governor. Yet the people have witnessed his problem-
solving skills and are looking to him to be the problem solver again. Fair or unfair, this demand will be made of
all leaders. Nehemiah begins by pointing out a problem with the governors in verse 15. The governors who
preceded me had heavily burdened the people… Nehemiah has evidently gained the trust of the people, and
they feel that they can come to him with their problems. Do the people have this same kind of trust in your
leadership? I will say more about this issue in later comments on this chapter. However, I must raise this
question at the beginning of this chapter. Four different kinds of people are mentioned in these verses. First,
there was the working poor described in verses one and two. 1There was a widespread outcry from the people
and their wives against their Jewish countrymen. 2 Some were saying, “We, our sons, and our daughters are
numerous. Let us get grain so that we can eat and live.” The people described in these two verses are people
who were living by a standard we call hand-to-mouth. This made up well over 90 % of the people in ancient
societies. Because the primary breadwinners came to help Nehemiah with the building project, it took a major
toll on the family’s ability to feed itself. We also see that there was a famine, which also compounded the
problem. The second group of people is found in verse three. 3 Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our
fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain during the famine.” This group of people was forced to sell their
fields and vineyards to get grain during the famine. The third group is mentioned in verse four. Still others
were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. This group had
evidently borrowed money in the past to pay the heavy taxation that Sanballat had collected as the governor.
The final group is mentioned in verse five. 5 our children, and we are ⌊just⌋ like our countrymen and their
children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already
enslaved, but we are powerless because our fields and vineyards belong to others. These last groups of
people were composed of nobles and officials who were exploiting their own countrymen. This exploitation
had led to the enslavement of children and feelings that caused them to say; we are powerless. Or, to put it
another way, we see no hope. Nehemiah, can you do anything to help our plight? Once again, Nehemiah would
have to become the giver of hope to those who saw no hope.

Today, this same cry is coming from developing nations who look to Christians in the West and ask us, can you
please do anything to help us? Developed nations are forced to look at the 26,000 people who die daily from
starvation or preventable diseases and ask ourselves, what would Jesus do? “Only as we become more aware of
the extent of human need are we likely to respond and do something about these huge global injustices of our
time.” 158 The majority of those in the Western church today are subconsciously saying, this is not in our
backyard, so why should we be concerned. Again, people do not say this consciously, but by our inactions, we
are saying, you know, out of sight, out of mind. Today, many pastors are trying to move their congregations to
heightened states of awareness. Will the global church respond with an enthusiastic outcry that people are
more important than possessions? I do not know if we will. However, it breaks my heart when pastors in the
West tell me that I will not allow you to come into my church and play on the heartstrings of my people with
this message.

The book Globalizing Theology acknowledges that “western evangelicals are still suspicious of liberationist
views, even though evangelical leaders within poorer countries acknowledge the importance of liberation
concerns.” They close their comments out by asking if “we are willing to work toward becoming a global
hermeneutical community, where each part of the body of Christ listens to the other?” 159 As we are entering
the age of global Christianity, more and more Western writers sound this drumbeat for a global theology. For
example, Ronald Sider dared to accuse Western Christianity of allowing “Millions of people to die unnecessarily
every year because rich folk like you and me have ignored the Bible’s clear teaching that God measures the
integrity of our faith by how we respond to the poor.” 160 Or Richard Stearns believes that “your faith-and mine-
has a hole in it… If it does not entail a public and transforming relationship with the world.” 161 But Larry
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