Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Nehemiah rebukes the wealthy Jews for exacting usury from their poor brethren, compels them to restore fields and remit debts, and describes his own generosity as governor.
Vulgate Text: 2 Esdrae (Nehemiah) 5:1-19
1. And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their brethren the Jews. 2. And there were some who said: Our sons and our daughters are too many: let us get grain for the price of them, that we may eat and live. 3. And there were some who said: Let us mortgage our fields and vineyards and houses, and let us get grain in the famine. 4. And others said: Let us borrow money for the king's tribute, and let us give our fields and vineyards: 5. and now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, and our children as their children. Behold, we are bringing our sons and our daughters into bondage, and some of our daughters are already in servitude, nor do we have the means to redeem them, and our fields and vineyards others possess. 6. And I was exceedingly angry when I heard their outcry according to these words: 7. and my heart thought within me, and I rebuked the nobles and magistrates, and said to them: Do you each exact usury from your brethren? And I gathered a great assembly against them, 8. and said to them: We, as you know, have redeemed our brethren the Jews who had been sold to the nations, according to our ability: and will you then sell your brethren, and shall we redeem them? And they were silent, and found nothing to answer. 9. And I said to them: The thing you are doing is not good: why do you not walk in the fear of our God, lest we be reproached by the nations, our enemies? 10. Both I and my brethren and my servants have lent money and grain to many: let us not exact this debt in common, let us forgive the debt that is owed to us. 11. Restore to them this day their fields, and their vineyards, and their olive groves, and their houses: and rather give them the hundredth part of the money, grain, wine, and oil, which you are accustomed to exact from them. 12. And they said: We will restore, and we will require nothing of them: and so we will do as you say. And I called the priests, and made them swear to do according to what I had said. 13. Moreover, I shook out my garment, and said: So may God shake out every man who does not fulfill this word, from his house, and from his labors: so may he be shaken out and left empty. And the whole multitude said: Amen. And they praised God. So the people did as it was said. 14. And from that day on which the king commanded me to be governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, I and my brethren did not eat the provisions due to the governor: 15. but the former governors who had been before me had burdened the people, and had taken from them in bread, and wine, and money, forty shekels daily; and even their servants oppressed the people. But I did not so, because of the fear of God: 16. but rather I built in the work of the wall, and I bought no field, and all my servants were gathered to the work. 17. Moreover, the Jews and the magistrates, one hundred and fifty men, and those who came to us from the nations around us, were at my table. 18. And there was prepared for me daily one ox, six choice rams, besides poultry, and once every ten days diverse wines, and many other things I provided: moreover, I did not seek the provisions of my governorship, for the people were very poor. 19. Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.
Verse 3: Let Us Mortgage Our Houses
3. Let us mortgage our houses — that is, let us pledge them to the money-lenders. For they had recently returned from Babylon, and had consumed all their means in traveling expenses and in the construction of the city. Therefore they suffered great poverty, which they labored under, and to relieve it they were thinking of mortgaging their possessions, and indeed of selling their sons and daughters, verse 2. 4. FOR THE KING'S TRIBUTE — that is, so that we might procure what we must pay annually to the king of Persia in lieu of tribute. 5. And now (understand: we are very harshly and unjustly drained by the wealthier, for) OUR FLESH IS AS THE FLESH OF OUR BRETHREN, AND OUR CHILDREN AS THEIR CHILDREN. — That is to say: We and our children serve here a hard servitude similar to that which our brethren — that is, our fellow tribesmen who remained in Babylon and Persia — serve, and this because of the injustice and wrong of the wealthier Jews, who oppress us their poor brethren with usury and the purchase of our children, as follows. Therefore we are in a worse position than our brethren in Persia: for they are afflicted by the Persians, who are foreigners and idolaters; but we are afflicted by our own fellow tribesmen, who are our brethren by blood and religion. For it is more bitter to be tormented by a friend and brother than by an enemy and a foreigner. For whereas the law in Deuteronomy XXIII, 19, commands that a loan be given to brethren gratis, they exact great usury from us for the loan: therefore we are compelled to sell or hand over our sons and daughters into servitude, in order to pay these usurious debts. So Cajetan, Vatablus, and others.
Verse 7: A Great Assembly Against the Usurers
7. I gathered a great assembly against them (the wealthy usurers) — that is, a great meeting of the entire people, so that, rebuked and shamed by me before them, they would remit their usury. 11. THE HUNDREDTH PART OF THE MONEY, GRAIN, WINE, AND OIL. — 'The hundredth,' namely usury, by which they exacted one per hundred each month for the use of the loan, or as interest; that is, annually twelve per hundred. From this it is clear that this rate of usury was common among the Jews, as it later was among the Romans; and it was burdensome, inasmuch as each year an eighth part of the principal sum borrowed was paid, for twelve gold coins, for example, are an eighth part of one hundred gold coins, because eight times twelve makes 96, and if you add four, you have one hundred. Therefore in the eighth year the interest nearly equaled the capital itself, and therefore doubled it, so that for a loan of one hundred gold coins nearly two hundred had to be paid, namely precisely 196; and after another eight years it tripled, and after another eight it quadrupled. When half of this interest, namely six per hundred annually, was paid, they were called 'semisses,' or half-interest rates; when four per hundred was paid, they were called 'trientariæ'; when only one, they were called 'unciariæ,' which was the minimum rate of interest, just as the twelve-per-hundred rate was the maximum.
Verse 11: Give for Them
GIVE FOR THEM — that is, forgive them, and indeed return and restore what you have received, as was said above: hence these words do not appear in the Hebrew, because they are understood as implied from the preceding. Since usury is contrary to commutative justice, it does not pass into the ownership of the usurer; hence it must be restored by him to the one who paid it for the loan.
Verse 12: We Will Restore
12. AND THEY SAID (moved partly by shame, partly by the authority and example of Nehemiah, partly by love of the public good, partly by compassion for the poor): WE WILL RESTORE (the fields, vineyards, and olive groves which the poor had mortgaged to us for the loan received, and handed over as pledges until they should repay the loan): AND FROM THEM (henceforth) WE WILL REQUIRE NOTHING — that is, we will exact nothing as interest. AND I CALLED THE PRIESTS (those guilty of this usury), AND (privately, out of reverence for the priesthood, lest I put them to shame before the people) I MADE THEM SWEAR — to remit the interest, and in this matter to go before the lay usurers as an example of justice and charity.
Verse 13: So May God Shake Out Every Man
13. SO MAY GOD SHAKE OUT EVERY MAN WHO DOES NOT FULFILL THIS WORD FROM HIS HOUSE (so that, stripped of his house, he may be forced to wander as an exile and vagrant) AND FROM HIS LABORS — so that he may be deprived of the fruit and reward of his labors, just as I shook out my garment. For those who shake out others through usury deserve to be themselves shaken out from their houses and wealth, to go into exile and be impoverished, as often happens by the just judgment of God.
Verse 14: The Provisions Due to the Governor
14. AND FROM THAT DAY ON WHICH THE KING COMMANDED ME TO BE GOVERNOR IN THE LAND OF JUDAH, FROM THE TWENTIETH YEAR TO THE THIRTY-SECOND YEAR OF ARTAXERXES, I AND MY BRETHREN DID NOT EAT THE PROVISIONS DUE TO THE GOVERNOR. — Governors were accustomed to receive from the citizens of Jerusalem over whom they presided provisions, that is, necessities for sustenance — for example, a certain measure of grain, wine, oil, money, etc.; but Nehemiah was unwilling to accept these, both lest he burden the poor people with this contribution, and in order to give the wealthy an example of remitting interest: and he did this for the twelve years during which he presided over Jerusalem as governor. Hence many think he stayed continuously in Jerusalem for twelve years. But this does not adequately correspond to the desire of the king and queen, who wished Nehemiah to return to them immediately, and the brief period set by him, as was said in chapter II, 6. Therefore it seems that Nehemiah, shortly after the completion of the wall construction — namely after 52 days, as is said in chapter VI, 15 — returned to the king, and left a deputy or vice-governor in Jerusalem in his place, to preside over the people. For Artaxerxes had appointed him governor of Jerusalem for 13 years, whether absent or present. Therefore, when absent, he could by right exact these provisions as the stipend of his governorship from the people, especially since he was absent on account of the king's summons and service; but he was unwilling to accept them for the reasons already stated. So Salianus and Sanchez. This will be more evident from verse 17 and chapter XIII, 6, where Nehemiah, returning to Jerusalem in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes, corrected many abuses which had crept into Jerusalem during the twelve years of his absence.
Verse 15: The Former Governors
15. But the former governors who had been before me (appointed by Ezra at the king's command, as was said in Ezra VII, 25), BURDENED THE PEOPLE, AND TOOK FROM THEM IN BREAD AND WINE (a certain measure of bread and wine), AND IN MONEY FORTY SHEKELS DAILY. — From the Hebrew it is clear that besides bread and wine they received in money forty shekels.
for the Hebrew has thus: They burdened the people with bread and wine, besides forty silver shekels, which make forty Brabantine florins, or 40 French francs — which was an enormous sum and unsustainable for people so poor. 16. But rather I built in the work of the wall, chapter III — we heard of no particular place assigned to Nehemiah for building, but he, as the leader, was present and presided over everyone building in their assigned place, directing all, encouraging them, and helping with the work through himself and his servants; AND I BOUGHT NO FIELD — that is to say: I did not increase my property and estates, but rather I spent myself and all my resources for the benefit of the city and its citizens. This was a remarkable self-restraint of Nehemiah, as well as charity and generosity toward his fellow citizens. For many governors and rulers plunder their subjects to enrich themselves; hence, laden with wealth after a few years of their office, they return home. Not so did Nehemiah, whose memory is therefore in blessing. Thomas More did the same, who, though he had served as Chancellor of England for many years, did not increase his fortune and annual income to two hundred gold pieces, as Stapleton narrates in his Life.
Verse 17: One Hundred and Fifty Men at My Table
17. THE JEWS AND MAGISTRATES (whom I had appointed throughout Judea at the king's command), ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MEN, AND THOSE WHO CAME TO US FROM THE NATIONS (ambassadors of the neighboring nations) THAT ARE AROUND US, WERE AT MY TABLE. — That is to say: I fed all these at my own expense, or from my own resources, which the king had given me. From this it is clear that Nehemiah did not remain twelve years in Jerusalem. For he could not have sustained such great daily expenses for so many guests over so many years; indeed, he would have exhausted even royal resources.
Verse 18: Every Ten Days, Diverse Wines
18. EVERY TEN DAYS, DIVERSE WINES. — This passage is obscure: hence, first, Pagninus translates and explains it thus, namely that these guests consumed in one day as much wine as would have sufficed for me and my household for ten days. Second, Vatablus, more aptly according to the Hebrew and Greek, translates: Every tenth day wine was given to all in abundance; but on the other nine days a fixed measure was given. Third, Sanchez says: Ten kinds of wine were served, one for each day, so that at the end of a ten-day cycle, all ten wines had been served, and the same kind and sequence of wines would recur in the same order again and again. This interpretation is more conformable to the Vulgate version, if you refer the 'ten' not to the wines (for it would be unusual and extravagant to serve guests ten kinds of wine at one banquet, which not even kings or the greatest gluttons have done), but to the days, as if to say: Each day various wines were given, and this for ten days, after which the barrels were exhausted, and other wines likewise of different kinds had to be supplied. Therefore Nehemiah was a great and magnificent governor, and showed himself outstanding in all things.
Truly Bias said: 'Office shows the man.' And Cicero, in his book On Old Age, says of the great Cato the Censor: 'He is a good senator, a good commander, a good farmer.' You could say the same and more of Nehemiah. 19. REMEMBER ME, etc. — that is to say: Grant me, O Lord, such things as I have granted to Your people and mine, that You may be as generous to me as I have been to them.