The Fear of God is a Public Good Text: Nehemiah 5:14-19
Introduction: Two Kinds of Government
We live in an age that has completely lost its nerve when it comes to defining leadership. Our political class is a teeming ecosystem of two basic types: the rapacious and the spineless. On the one hand, you have those who see public office as a trough, a direct means of personal enrichment and power consolidation. On the other hand, you have the managed, focus-group-driven cowards who wouldn't know a principle if it bit them on the nose. Both are driven by the fear of man. The first fears losing his access to the trough. The second fears losing his poll numbers. But there is a third way, a biblical way, that our generation has almost entirely forgotten. And that is the way of the fear of God.
What Nehemiah gives us in this chapter is not a quaint memoir of his time as a colonial administrator for the Persian empire. He is giving us a stark contrast between two antithetical forms of civil government. One is the way of the world, which is fundamentally extractive. It takes, it burdens, it consumes. The other is the way of the kingdom, which is fundamentally generative. It gives, it builds, it serves. The line between these two is not a policy debate between left and right. The line is the fear of God. Where the fear of God is absent, tyranny is inevitable. Where the fear of God is present, liberty and justice have a fighting chance.
Our secularists want to pretend that you can have a just and free society without any reference to God. They want the fruit of Christendom without the root of Christ. They want politicians to be honest for no ultimate reason. But Nehemiah shows us the folly of this. His integrity was not born from a secular ethics seminar. It was the direct result of a profound and practical understanding that he, the governor, was himself under governance. He answered to a higher authority than Artaxerxes. He answered to Almighty God. This passage, then, is a lesson in Christian civics. It is a rebuke to our grifting political class and a challenge to every Christian called to any form of leadership, whether in the home, the church, or the public square.
The Text
Moreover, from the day that I was put in command to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my relatives have eaten the governor’s food allowance. But the former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their young men exerted their power over the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God. I also took hold of the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my young men were gathered there for the work. Moreover, there were at my table 150 Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. Now that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this I did not require the governor’s food allowance, because the slavery was heavy on this people. Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.
(Nehemiah 5:14-19 LSB)
The Contrast in Leadership (v. 14-15)
Nehemiah begins by drawing a sharp line between his administration and those that came before him.
"Moreover, from the day that I was put in command to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my relatives have eaten the governor’s food allowance. But the former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their young men exerted their power over the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God." (Nehemiah 5:14-15)
For twelve years, Nehemiah held the top job. And for twelve years, he refused the perks that came with it. The "governor's food allowance" was his right. It was the customary, legal provision for his office, funded by the taxes of the people. No one would have blinked an eye if he had taken it. It was standard operating procedure. But Nehemiah says he and his relatives, his inner circle, did not touch it.
He then sets up the foil: the "former governors." Their approach was entirely different. They saw their position as an opportunity for extraction. They "laid heavy burdens on the people." Government, for them, was a dead weight. They took bread, wine, and a hefty sum of forty shekels of silver. This wasn't just taxation for the common good; this was exploitation for personal gain. And the corruption trickled down. "Even their young men exerted their power over the people." The interns and junior staffers were lording it over the populace. When the head goes rotten, the whole fish stinks. This is what government looks like when it is unmoored from the fear of God. It becomes a protection racket.
Then Nehemiah gives us the reason for his radical departure from the norm. It is the central pillar of the entire passage: "But I did not do so because of the fear of God." This is everything. The fear of God is not a cowering, servile terror. It is a profound, worshipful, awe-filled recognition of who God is. It is understanding that He is holy, He is just, He is the judge of all the earth, and you will give an account to Him for every decision you make. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and that includes political wisdom. What kept Nehemiah from lining his pockets? It wasn't a better set of regulations. It wasn't a civilian oversight committee. It was the settled conviction that God was watching.
The secularist believes you can have public virtue without private piety. Nehemiah would laugh at such a notion. He knew that the only thing that can restrain the grasping heart of man is the fear of the living God. The former governors feared the people's revolt, perhaps, but not enough. They feared their Persian overseers, but only if they got caught. Nehemiah feared God, which meant he feared nothing and no one else.
From Extraction to Contribution (v. 16-18)
Nehemiah didn't just refrain from doing evil; he actively pursued the good. His leadership was not just about what he didn't take, but about what he gave.
"I also took hold of the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my young men were gathered there for the work. Moreover, there were at my table 150 Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. Now that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this I did not require the governor’s food allowance, because the slavery was heavy on this people." (Nehemiah 5:16-18)
Instead of using his position to acquire wealth, Nehemiah put his shoulder to the wheel. "I also took hold of the work on this wall." He was not an aloof bureaucrat in an air-conditioned office. He was a construction foreman with dirt under his fingernails. He and his staff were not a burden on the project; they were an asset to it. Furthermore, they resisted the temptation to engage in land speculation, which would have been easy for men with their inside knowledge. "We did not buy any land." This is a direct rebuke to the cronyism that plagues all governments run by faithless men.
But his contribution went beyond manual labor. He practiced radical, open-handed hospitality. He hosted a standing dinner party for 150 local leaders, plus foreign dignitaries. The menu was not sparse: one ox, six choice sheep, poultry, and an abundance of wine. This was a massive, daily expense. And where did the funding come from? Not from the "governor's food allowance," which he had already refused. It came from his own pocket. He was a wealthy man, certainly, from his time in the Persian court, but he understood that his wealth was not for his own indulgence. It was a tool for the kingdom.
Why did he do this? He tells us plainly: "because the slavery was heavy on this people." The word "slavery" here can also be translated as "service" or "burden." He saw that the people were already weighed down. The project was demanding, the taxes were high, and the memory of oppression was fresh. A godly leader does not add to the burdens of his people; he seeks to lighten them. He uses his own resources, his own strength, his own position, to serve. This is the opposite of the world's model of leadership, which is to climb to the top so that others can serve you. Jesus put it this way: the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, but it shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant. Nehemiah was a servant governor.
A Covenantal Appeal (v. 19)
The passage concludes with a short, potent prayer. It is a prayer that has made many modern, squeamish evangelicals uncomfortable.
"Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people." (Nehemiah 5:19)
At first glance, this might sound like a man boasting before God, demanding payment for his good deeds. "Look at all the nice things I did, God. Now you owe me." But that is to read the prayer with a modern, individualistic, and frankly, unbiblical lens. This is not the prayer of a Pharisee trusting in his own righteousness. This is the prayer of a covenant man, standing on the terms of the covenant.
Throughout the Old Testament, God's covenant promises are tied to the obedience of His people. Blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience. Nehemiah is not saying his works have earned him salvation. He is a sinner saved by grace, just like us. But he is saying that he has, by that same grace, acted faithfully as God's representative. He is appealing to God's own character and promises. He is essentially praying, "Lord, you are a God who sees. You are a God who keeps covenant. You promised to bless those who walk in your ways. I have sought to walk in your ways and to govern your people with integrity, for your glory. Therefore, remember me for good. Vindicate your own name by showing favor to your servant."
This is not a ledger-book transaction. It is a relationship. It is the appeal of a faithful son to a faithful Father. God is not unrighteous to forget our work and labor of love (Heb. 6:10). Our works do not save us, but our works do follow us. They are evidence of a living faith. Nehemiah's prayer is a bold, confident expression of a man who knows his God and knows that a life lived in the fear of God is a life that God is pleased to remember for good.
Christ, the True Governor
Nehemiah is a remarkable man, a stunning example of godly leadership. But as with all Old Testament saints, he is a signpost pointing to someone greater. He is a type of Christ. Everything Nehemiah did in part, Jesus Christ did perfectly.
Nehemiah left a place of high honor in the Persian court to come and serve his beleaguered people. Christ, the eternal Son, left the highest throne in glory, not just to serve, but to save His people. Nehemiah refused the governor's allowance because the burden on the people was heavy. Christ refused not just an allowance, but His divine prerogatives, taking the form of a servant, and He did it to lift a burden infinitely heavier than taxes, the burden of our sin.
Nehemiah put his own hands to the work on the wall. Christ put His own hands, pierced with nails, to the work of building His church, a spiritual house, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. Nehemiah opened his table and fed 150 men from his own expense. Christ opens His table and invites all who are weary and heavy-laden to come and feast. He provides the meal, not with ox and sheep, but with His own body and blood, a feast that cost Him everything.
Nehemiah prayed, "Remember me, O my God, for good." And God did. But on the cross, Jesus Christ, the only truly innocent one, cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He was forgotten for a moment so that we, the faithless, could be remembered for good, forever. He took the curse of our faithless leadership, our selfish extraction, our abuse of power, so that we could be credited with His perfect, servant-hearted obedience.
Therefore, the lesson for us is twofold. First, we must look to Christ alone for our salvation. Our best efforts at leadership, our most generous moments, are shot through with sin and are but filthy rags. We must trust in His perfect record, not our own. But second, having been saved by grace, we are called to imitate this pattern. In our homes, in our businesses, in our churches, and should God call us, in the public square, we are to be Nehemiahs. We are to be those whose defining characteristic is the fear of God. We are to be builders, not takers. We are to be generous, not grasping. We are to serve, not to be served. And we can do this with confidence, knowing that our faithful Father sees every act of love done in His name, and He will one day say to us, because of Christ, "Well done, good and faithful servant. I remember you."