Nehemiah found himself in a dismal situation with God’s people. The future of the kingdom of God was at stake. Jerusalem was a divided city from within. The problem was not coming from the outside any longer. The problem was coming from among the people of God. Brothers and sisters were oppressing each other financially. The poor were complaining that all the wall-building was not putting food on the table. There was a famine so the cost of food had increased significantly. God’s people could not buy grain so they borrowed money from the more wealthy of God’s people, the nobles and the officials. This resulted in great financial problems because of the exorbitant interest that God's people put on the loans. Many had to give their children to be slaves to their lenders to pay off the debt. This created great anxiety, fear, division, hatred, disunity and so the work of the Lord quickly halted in Nehemiah chapter 5. Nehemiah had to quickly exhort/rebuke his people in the fear of God to bring them back into unity, love, and trust for the glory of God. If this did not happen quickly the enemy nations would see their weakness and attack them physically (Neh. 5:1-13).