Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 5:5

Yet now our flesh [is] as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and [some] of our daughters are brought unto bondage [already]: neither [is it] in our power [to redeem them]; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

5. Yet children ] The argument is, the rich are our brethren; how is it right that our children should be made slaves by our brethren on account of the calamities which ought to fall evenly upon all classes? The rich should share and not make a profit out of the common trouble.

lo, we bring into bondage ] i.e. we are on the point of selling as slaves in order to satisfy our creditors.

are brought unto (R.V. into) bondage already] A few instances of daughters being thus made ‘bondservants’ had already occurred. It was not contrary to law or custom. The complaint is that the distress arises from public causes, and that the rich creditors make an unfair use of the common crisis.

The Israelite laws upon this subject are not in perfect agreement. The earliest code of law contemplates the case of a Hebrew selling himself to be a ‘bondman;’ but he is to be released in the 7th year of his service. The special case of a man selling his daughter as a ‘bondwoman’ is dealt with and certain benevolent conditions imposed (Exo 21:2-6). The Deuteronomic law (Deu 15:12-18) is in close agreement with this; it enjoins release to take place in the 7th year, and extends the favourable terms granted in Exodus to the ‘female bondservant’ so that they should be applicable also to the male.

The Priestly Law (Lev 25:39-41) forbids any Israelite to be made ‘a bondservant.’ There is no mention of release in the 7th year of service; but a general release is to be granted in the year of jubile (Lev 25:41). The Priestly Law contemplates a less rigorous degree of service, but is less favourable than are the other codes in the matter of release.

The present passage does not recognize the distinction between ‘the bondservant’ and ‘the hired servant.’ It assumes the condition of things permitted by the law of Ex. and Deut., which is also illustrated by 2Ki 4:1; Isa 1:1; Amo 2:6; Amo 8:6; Mat 18:25. The grievance is not so much that children are sold as slaves to Jewish creditors, as that the parents are compelled to resort to this extreme measure in order to pay the high interest exacted by usurers who were their own countrymen. That the extortion and not the slavery is the offence which excited the popular indignation is shown by the measures of relief recommended by Nehemiah in Neh 5:11. The slavery of countrymen was unworthy of the people, but was not an offence against the Law (see Neh 5:8).

neither is it in our power ] The Hebrew idiom here is not common and deserves notice. The literal rendering of the words is sometimes thought to be ‘and our hand is not for ( or to) God (l),’ ‘our hand is not in the place of God, our strength is but human.’ But it is more probable that we ought to render ‘and it is not for (i.e. within the measure of) the strength of our hand,’ the word ‘l’ not being used as a Divine title. For other instances of this idiom see Gen 31:29; Deu 28:32; Pro 3:27; Mic 2:1.

to redeem them] R.V. to help it.

for other men, &c.] A general statement, describing the result which seemed inevitable. The poor Jews mortgaged their property. The interest on the mortgages was so high that they could not pay it or were compelled to sell their children into bondage. At this rate it would not be long before the mortgages were all foreclosed, and the property had passed into the hands of ‘other’ men.

It is clear that the Jews at this time either were not acquainted with the Priestly Law enacting the reversion of property in the ‘jubile’ year (Lev 25:25-28) or regarded it as a Utopian measure incapable of application to the actual needs of society.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The power of a father to sell his daughter into slavery is expressly mentioned in the Law Exo 21:7. The power to sell a son appears from this passage. In either case, the sale held good for only six years, or until the next year of jubilee (see the marginal references).

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 5. We bring in to bondage our sons] The law permitted parents to sell their children in times of extreme necessity, Ex 21:7.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren; we are of the same nature, and nation, and religion with them although they treat us as if we were beasts or heathens, forgetting both humanity and Gods law, Deu 15:7.

We bring into bondage; we are compelled to sell them for our subsistence.

Our sons and our daughters; which was an evidence of their great necessity, because their daughters were more tender, and weak, and unfit for bond-service, and more exposed to injuries, than their sons.

Neither is it in our power to redeem them; which we are allowed to do, Exo 21:7, but have not wherewith to do it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren,…. We are of the same nature, nation, stock, and religion: our children as their children; are circumcised as they, and have a right to the same privileges in church and state:

and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and daughters to be servants; shall be obliged to it, unless relieved:

and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already; sold to be servants, as they might in case of the poverty of parents, Ex 21:7, and some were sometimes taken to be bondmen in payment of their parents’ debts, 2Ki 4:1

neither is it in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards; as pledges for money borrowed.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(5) We bring into bondage.But the climax of the cry was the bondage of their children, especially of the daughters, whom they had been obliged to sell until the Jubile for money: children as precious to their parents as were the children of the rulers to them.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

5. Our flesh is as our brethren Having separately stated their several grievances, they now unitedly urge the common oppressiveness of them all. They are all one race, descendants of a common sire, and, therefore, brethren of the same flesh and blood.

Bring into bondage to be servants Literally, tread down to servants; that is, subject to the condition of slaves. The law allowed such sale of children. See Exo 21:7; Lev 25:39.

Some of our daughters The subjection of these weaker and more helpless ones to the condition of bondmaids is emphasized as something specially severe.

Neither is it in our power to redeem them Literally, and nothing to the power of our hand, or, nothing of power [is in] our hand, having here its genitive, or possessive sense. The word , here rendered power, is commonly rendered God, and Bertheau translates and explains the words thus: And not to the God is our hand; that is, we have not the power, as that of a God, to change or put an end to our wretched condition. But the more natural and simple meaning is that given above; these oppressed ones had no power to help themselves. Comp. the same expression in Gen 31:29; Deu 28:32; Pro 3:27; Mic 2:1.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Neh 5:5 Yet now our flesh [is] as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and [some] of our daughters are brought unto bondage [already]: neither [is it] in our power [to redeem them]; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

Ver. 5. Yet our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren ] i.e. Nevertheless we are men as well as they, though poor men, and therefore slighted (but why should they hide their eyes from their own flesh? Isa 58:7 . “Have we not all one Father?” Mal 2:10 ). Yea, we are men of Israel, such as fear God, Act 13:16 . Hewn out of the same rock, digged out of the same pit, Isa 51:1 , cut out of the same cloth, the shears only going between. What if God have given them more wealth (as the shepherd bestows a bell upon his bellwether), should they therefore insult and domineer over us, as if not worthy to breathe in the same air?

Our children as their children ] viz. As dear to us, and as freeborn every way as theirs are; why then should their unmerciful dealing enslave them? He that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker; but he that honoureth him, hath mercy on the poor, Pro 15:31 . There is a writ in England which beareth this name, Ne iniuste vexes, Vex not any man unjustly; but law without execution is like a bell without a clapper. It was done directly against law that is here complained of. See Lev 25:39 , and therefore there is an Ecce Behold set upon it in the next words; And (lo) we bring into bondage, &c. These cruel cormorants thought to bear out and justify the most monstrous misdemeanor, because it was the fact of a noble, who could as easily break through the lattice of the laws as the bigger flies do through a spider web; as Anacharsis once said concerning his Scythians.

We bring into bondage our sons and our daughters ] This went to the hearts of them, and well it might. For, 1. Our children are a chief part of ourselves, even the seed; as though now there were nothing left in us but the chaff. 2. Bondage is very grievous, as liberty exceeding sweet. Did we but live a while in Turkey (saith one), in Persia., yea, or but in France, a dram of that liberty we yet enjoy would be as precious to us as a drop of cold water would have been to the rich man in hell, when he lay broiling in those flames. 3. They were necessitated to do this with their own hands, We bring into bondage, &c., hard hunger driving us thereunto, though as ill-willing thereunto as ever Jacob was to part with his Benjamin into Egypt; he would not do it till there was no remedy. 4. They sold them for slaves, not to strangers, but to their own friends and countrymen, where we looked for more courtesy. But a man had as good a deal with a Cossack or Cannibal as with a truly covetous captive, and as much favour and fair dealing he shall find. For such a one respecteth neither friend nor foe; nor regards at all how he cometh by it, by hook or by crook, by right or by wrong, be it short or long.

And some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already ] So that our complaints are neither false nor causeless; for that weaker sex is every way subject to more abuse, their chastity (which is their honour) was much hazarded, Castus, quasi, ornatus.

Neither is it in our power to redeem them ] Would we never so fain. What would not a tender hearted father give or do for the redemption of his dear child? To let go many other examples, Fredericus Barbarossa, emperor of Germany (when as in the wars between the pope and himself, his youngest son was taken prisoner by the Venetian fleet), Vehementi amore commotus erga filium captum, saith mine author, through an earnest desire of getting his son’s liberty, he concluded a peace upon most unequal terms, viz. that he should come in person to Venice, and there, prostrate at the pope’s feet (who trod upon the emperor’s neck), he should beg pardon; and then having settled peace in Italy, led his army into Asia against the Turk. All this he did for his son’s liberty.

For other men have our lands and vinevards ] Even those men that so lately came out of captivity themselves, and know the misery of want and slavery. Those that partake now of so much liberty and liberality from the kings of Persia, and yet, behold, they pull up the bridge before us that themselves have gone over. Surely there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land, Hos 4:1 . Lo this was Vox oppressorum mercesque retenta laborum.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)