Nehemiah, the wise and faithful governor, who, while busy with the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall and fighting off the attacks of the enemies abroad, was also confronted with complaints of the people. He was no less bold and active to redress grievances at home and kept the people from also destroying one another.

In the verses under consideration, the poor brethren complained of the great hardship the rich brethren had put them into, to feed their families. The situation was so pathetic that Nehemiah was very angry when he heard their cry.

Nehemiah reacted quickly to the complaint, not minding the serious business of building the wall because he knew that no matter how thick the wall was built, dispute within the town would break the wall. Though angry at the nobles, he controlled his anger and rebuked the nobles with wisdom by including himself as part of the problem. This made the nobles unable to defend themselves as he called them to deal with their brethren for the fear of the Lord and because of the reproach of the enemies. To make the nobles obey the agreement, the priests were invited to take oaths.

Every human association is characterised by differences of ideas and interests. Associations, particularly in the workplace and the church is not spared by these demographic, cultural and intellectual diversities. They throw up disagreements, disputes and doctrinal misunderstanding.

When disputes and differences arise, we should willingly subscribe to godly efforts to contain them. The word of God commands the believer to seek counsel where necessary (Proverbs 20:18).