NEHEMIAH AND OBAMA
[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. This is rather a lengthy post.]
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.
(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. And we know who “put not their
necks to the work.”
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. We have
even heard that during the inauguration, Republican legislators were meeting to
make plans to thwart Obama’s agenda. 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, to pay their medical bills and student loans, 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. And he has urged the extension of
Unemployment Benefits and SNAP, as well as raising the minimum wage for
workers.
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.
And more recently, he has voiced support for same-sex marriage. He didn’t beat anybody or pull their hair. In this, he differed from Nehemiah.
Epilogue on Nehemiah:
It should be noted that Nehemiah was neither god, nor ruler, neither
prophet nor priest, neither holy man nor saint, just a man. 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)
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