5:5 enslaved. According to Lev. 25:39–43, a man who became poor could sell himself, along with his family, to a fellow Israelite in order to get back on his feet financially; he was to be treated as a hired worker, not as a slave. The error in Nehemiah’s day seems to be twofold: (a) only the children were being sold, resulting in the breakup of family units; (b) the children were being treated as slaves, not as hired workers.