Nehemiah 5:1-5
“Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. For there were those who said, "We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live." Some also there were who said, "We have mortgaged our fields, our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine." There were also those who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tribute on our fields and our vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Yet, behold, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already. Neither is it in our power to help it; for other men have our fields and our vineyards."”
This passage is from the book of Nehemiah, written around the 5th century BCE, after the Jewish people returned from exile in Babylon. Nehemiah is leading the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls, but internally, the community faces a severe social and economic crisis, with the poor crying out against the wealthy among their own people.
What systems or practices in our own communities might contribute to cycles of debt and vulnerability for individuals and families?