

“Zacchaeus stood there.

He said

To the Lord.



I will give

To the poor

Half of my possessions.

If I have defrauded

Anyone of anything,

I will pay back

Four times as much.’”






The land for all the Israelites (Ezek 45:6-45:6)

“Alongside the portion

Set apart

As the holy district,

You shall assign

As a possession

For the city

An area

Five thousand cubits wide,

Twenty-five thousand cubits long.

It shall belong

To the whole house

Of Israel.”

Besides the holy district in the city of Jerusalem, there was to be another portion of the land set aside for all the people of Israel. In fact, it is rather small, only half the size of the land set apart for the Levites. This is a long strip of land 25,000 cubits long, but only 5,000 cubits wide. It would seem that there were more Levites than regular people in Jerusalem.


“Many persons regard a loan

As a windfall.

This causes trouble

To those who help them.

One kisses another’s hands

Until he gets a loan.

He is very deferential

In speaking of his neighbor’s money.

But at the time

For repayment,

He delays.

He pays back

With empty promises.

He finds fault with the time.

If he can pay,

His creditor

Will hardly get back half.

The borrower will regard

That as a windfall.

If he cannot pay,

The borrower has robbed

The other of his money.

He has needlessly

Made him an enemy.

He will repay him

With curses.

He will repay him

With reproaches.

Instead of glory,

He will repay him

With dishonor.

Many refuse to lend,

Not because of meanness,

But from fear of being defrauded needlessly.”




‘My child,


Give him a bonus as well!’

He replied.

‘Father, how much shall I pay him?

It would do no harm to give him half of the possession

That I brought back with me.

He has led me back to you safely.

He cured my wife.

He brought the money back with me.

He also healed you.

How much extra shall I give him as a bonus?’

Tobit said.

‘He deserves,

My child,

To receive half of all that he brought back.’

So Tobias called him.




Protecting the work (Neh 4:21-4:23)

“So we labored at the work. Half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. I also said to the people at that time. ‘Let every man and his servant pass the night inside Jerusalem. That way, there may be a guard for us by night so that we may labor by day.’ I, my brothers, my servants, and the men of the guard who followed me, never took off our clothes. Each one kept his weapon in his hand.”

There was a new plan. Half of the workers had spears all day. It must have been difficult to work with a sword. Nehemiah wanted everyone to spend the night in Jerusalem. That way, there would a guard for the night. Then in the daytime, they could do the labor work. No one ever took off their clothes. Everyone kept a weapon in their hand.

Rebuilding the wall (Neh 4:6-4:6)

“So we rebuilt the wall. The entire wall was joined together to half its height because the people had a mind to work.”

Despite the taunts, the work continued until they had built a wall half as high as the original wall. However, it was joined together all around the whole city of Jerusalem. Clearly Nehemiah was part of this “we” that rebuilt the wall around the city.