Monday, February 27, 2012

OBAMA AS MESSIAH? NOT! AS NEHEMIAH? MAYBE!


 [I began this a couple of years ago, when we were still playing a wait and see game with Obama, wondering what kind of president we had.]

 On rereading Nehemiah (doing some research, but that’s another story), it suddenly struck me that his story could be a parallel, or an allegory, for the story (yet to be written) of Obama.                                                     

To those who would expect Obama to be a Messiah, or who claim that his supporters think he is a Messiah, I say that, rather, he could be seen as a Nehemiah.                                                                                            

About 2500 years ago, Israelites who had been exiled for generations were being allowed to return to Jerusalem, to resettle and rebuild.  Among the exiles was Nehemiah, who had gained a position of responsibility in another land when he heard of the travails undergone by the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem.  He wept and prayed for the people and for wisdom to know what best to do to help them.  It should be noted that Nehemiah was neither ruler, nor prophet, nor holy man, just a man. (Nehemiah 1)                                                                                                                                                                               

After years of Republican control of government, in 2008 Democrats began working for a comeback.  Obama had been heard from in 2002 during a major speech in which he inveighed against rush to war in  Iraq, and again in 2004 when he delivered the keynote address before the Democratic National Convention.   Many began touting him as a future Democratic candidate for president, although most cautioned against him rushing into that role too soon, believing that he needed to get more experience and to prove himself before doing so.  But clearly, by 2008 Obama was affected by what he saw happening to his country—economic and social ills, war and damaged foreign relations, threats to health and to the environment—and came to believe that his time was now, that he ought not to put off the possibility of his being able to help his country.                                                                                                                 

Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, accompanied by armed men to protect him on his journey, determined to help the people.  He realized early on that a major problem was the wall, which had fallen over the years, been abandoned and never repaired.  He spent an entire night riding around the walls to assay the damage.                                                                                                                                                  

Obama, upon his inauguration as president, surveyed the results of decades of mismanagement of the country, assessing what needed to be done.   He appointed members to his cabinet and advisers to help him analyze problems and develop plans to deal with them.  He had to be accompanied now by Secret Service, and moreover, was Commander in Chief of the military.                                                                                               

Then Nehemiah presented a plan to the people.  They needed to rebuild the wall for their security and comfort, but it would take everyone together to accomplish the huge project.  (Neh 2:12-18)     
 In his stirring inaugural and State of the Union addresses, Obama stressed the importance of everyone working together, setting aside partisan differences; that rebuilding the country was a huge undertaking that required the resources and attention of all.  He presented several specific goals, including a budget and a recovery plan to create jobs and rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.                                      
Nehemiah was set about by an ill-assorted group of detractors and enemies, who were “grieved…exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare” of the people (Neh 2:10), who “laughed [them to scorn] and despised [them],” sneered and besmirched him and his honor.  But Nehemiah was undeterred, repudiated them, declaring “…we will arise and build…”  (Neh 2:19-20).                      

Obama was excoriated from the beginning, by politicians who openly vowed to make him a one-term president, by other leaders, as well as by opposition media, by outright obstruction in the legislature; he continues to come under fire for “seeking the welfare of the people,” when he tries to extend unemployment benefits, or for “kowtowing to environmentalists” when he moves to protect the environment, or for “appeasement” when he negotiates with foreign nations.   He has been personally vilified, having his honor and his very origins besmirched, as well as being condemned for his policies and accused of being a failure.                                                                                                                                                     
And the people did rebuild the wall, each person or group of persons assigned to a given section—not only carpenters and stone masons, but farmers and field workers, priests and merchants, rulers of neighboring tribes, although some “nobles put not their necks to the work.”  (Neh 3:5)                                            
And so the work began—the legislators and cabinet members, agencies and civil workers, construction workers and clerks.                                                                                                                                                      

Nehemiah’s enemies conspired together to attack, to hinder the work of rebuilding the walls, saying, “They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them…and cause the work to cease.”  Nehemiah was aware of the danger, and arranged for all the workers to be armed as they worked, “everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.”  As well, half of the people stood guard with weapons while half worked.  And Nehemiah kept by his side a trumpeter, who would sound the alarm for all as needed.  (Neh  4)  They made several attempts, trying trickery to get him to leave his work, or to come meet with them or to take refuge in the temple (where as a layman, he was not allowed), but he rebuffed all of their attempts.  (Neh 6)  Even when the walls were completed, Nehemiah continued his vigilance, setting up a watch to protect the city.  (Neh 7:1-4)
Obama’s enemies in congress, in think tanks, in right-wing media, conspired to prevent the work, to obstruct legislation, tried trickery and diversions and pretended concessions during conferences.  Anything to prevent the work from moving forward.                                                                                                                 

At one time, the people came complaining to Nehemiah, because of their great want and poverty—lack of food, bankrupt because they had borrowed in order to eat, “mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn…”  also for tribute and taxes.  And Nehemiah was very angry, and rebuked the rulers, the nobles, and the priests, and demanded that they “…leave off this usury…and restore…to them…their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also…part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil that you exact of them  And they did so.  (Neh 5:1-12)
Obama was hearing complaints from the people, about losing their homes and going bankrupt, about joblessness and poverty, about having to go into endless debt to try to survive, and of the usury that exacerbated their loss and want.  And Obama determined to get back from the upper class some of what they had taken from the middle class, to end the practices of usury as evident in mortgage fraud and credit card fraud, to meet the needs of the people and to restore their dignity. He encouraged the setup of agencies, such as Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to look out for the people.                                    

Nehemiah’s advisers came to him and pointed out that many of the Hebrews had married local persons not of their ethnic heritage, and had had children by them.   Nehemiah was so incensed by this that he actually beat and pulled the hair of some of the perpetrators.   His advisers then persuaded him that the population had to be cleansed of the foreign blood introduced by many of the Israelites marrying other peoples; men were made to send away their wives and children.                                                                                  
Obama was confronted by people who were outraged that gays should be allowed in the military, who were determined that the military should be purged of them.  Or at least that they should never be allowed to serve openly.  As well, these people were against any legal alliances between gays or lesbians.  After much deliberation, Obama decided that the rights of the LGBT community should be recognized, and he supported the repeal of DADT, and declined to support DOMA.  He didn’t beat anybody or pull their hair.  In this, he differed from Nehemiah.                                                                                                                 

One writer said of Nehemiah:  “He prayed unto God, which was an admirable beginning, but only the beginning.  He knew what were the realities, and prepared to do the duty of a man, and not imitate a rabbit to run away.”  And again, “He is indeed a noble picture, a man to remember, a man to imitate in time of peace, or in time of war, to be ready in the former for the coming of the latter, if, when and as it may come.” 1                                                                                                                                                                                       
The Epilogue has yet to be written of Obama.

1Prof Robert W Rogers, “Ezra and Nehemiah,” Abingdon Bible Commentary, 471-2 (1929)






No comments:

Post a Comment