Text: Nehemiah 5:8
OT Text Referred to: Leviticus 25:46
Subject: debt reform
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Echo
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Leviticus 25:46 explicitly prohibits treating fellow Israelites like permanent chattel slaves. Nehemiah 5:8 exposes the bitter irony of the post-exilic community: "We have bought back (קָנָה, qanah) our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations, yet now you yourselves are selling your brothers!" The community had invested resources to redeem Jews from foreign slavery while simultaneously driving their own kinsmen into debt bondage — violating the very principle that motivated the redemption effort. Nehemiah's argument turns the Levitical distinction against the violators: if enslaving Israelites is wrong when foreigners do it, how much more when brothers do it to each other.