Psalm 78: Harvard Professor Arrested

In a parable, a miniature replay of Obama's own presidency, a professor at Harvard, known personally to Obama is arrested after abusing a policeman. Because of his race, and political connections, he gets public support from President Obama, which then erupts as a major news event.

Psalm 78

Theoretical Time:

  • 13000-07-05 06:2:17 AA
  • 2009-07-24 23:13:08 TMMT
  • 2009-07-24 20:52:14 GMT
  • 2009-07-24 16:52:14 EDT

26 Psalms 78
1Give ear, my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter proverbs of old.
3That which we have heard and known, and which our fathers have told us,
4we will not hide from their children, showing to the generation to come, the praise of Yahvah and his strength, and the wonderful works that he has done.


5For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make known to their children,
6that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children;
7that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;
8and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.


9The children of Ephraim, being armed and throwing forth bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10For they did not keep the contract of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11and forgot his works and his wonders that he had shown them in the sight of their fathers.
12Marvellous things he did in the land of Egypt and in the fields of Zoan.
13He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as in skins.
14In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
15He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink, as out of great depths.
16He also brought forth streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.


17But the people continued to sin, and to murmur against the most High in their thirst for water.
18And they tempted God in their hearts by asking food to satisfy their desires.
19Yes, they complained against God; they said, Can God furnish tables of food in the wilderness?
20Look, he struck the rock, that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed; can he also give bread? Can he provide food for his people?


21Therefore Yahvah heard this and was angered; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel,
22because they did not believe in God and did not trust in his salvation,
23though he had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of the skies,
24and had rained down manna for them to eat and had given them of the bread of the skies.
25Man ate angels' food; he sent them game in abundance.
26He caused winds to blow in the skies; and by his power he brought in the south wind.
27He also rained flesh on them like dust, and feathered birds like the sands of the sea;
28and he let these fall in the middle of their camp, around their tents.
29So they ate and were well filled; for he gave them their own desire.
30They did not relinquish their craving. But while their food was yet in their mouths,
31the anger of God came on them and slew the richest of them, and made to bow, the chosen men of Israel.


32Nevertheless, they sinned still, and did not believe in his wondrous works.
33Therefore their days were spent in emptiness, and their years in impatience.
34When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned and drew nearer to him.
35And they remembered that God was their helper, and the high God their Savior.
36Nevertheless, they loved him with their mouths, and they lied to him with their tongues.
37For their hearts were not right with him, nor were they steadfast in his contract.
38He is merciful, the forgiver of sins, and does not destroy; yes, many a time, he turned his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath.
39For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passes away and does not come again.
40How often they provoked him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert.
41Yes, they turned back and tempted God, and defied the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the oppressor,
43how he had worked his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan,
44nor how he had turned their rivers into blood and their brooks, that they could not drink.
45He sent an arab among them, who devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
46He also gave their crops to the locusts, and their labor to the caterpillars.
47He destroyed their vines with hail and their fig trees with frost.
48He also gave up their cattle to the hail and their flocks to destruction.
49He cast on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, by the hand of an evil angel.
50He resorted to strong measures; he did not spare their souls from death, and gave their cattle over to the pestilence;
51and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the fairest of their sons in the tents of Ham;
52but he led forth his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53And he led them on safely so that they did not fear; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had possessed.
55He cast out the Gentiles from before them, and allotted them an inheritance by measure, and made the tribes of Israel to live in their tents.


56Yet they tempted and provoked the most High God, and did not keep his testimonies;
57but turned back and dealt deceitfully like their fathers; they were crooked like a twisted bow.
58For they provoked him to anger by sacrificing on high places, and made him indignant with their graven images.
59When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel,
60so that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;
61and he delivered his people into captivity, and his glory into the oppressor's hand.
62He delivered his people to the sword, and disregarded his inheritance.
63The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were violated.
64Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
65Then Master awoke, as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man who has shaken off the effects of wine.
66And he caused his enemies to retreat; he put them to a perpetual disgrace.


67Moreover, he refused the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68but chose the tribe of Judah, mount Zion, which he loved.
69And he built his sanctuary on a high place, and he established it on the land forever.
70He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
71from following the ewes that nurse, he brought him to feed Jacob, his people, and Israel his inheritance.
72So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

Harvard Professor

The exact timing for this Psalm lands on Friday, July 24, 2009. The event is a gathering of Cambridge police who demand an apology from President Obama for his remarks disparaging the response of a group of police officers when called to check on a reported burglary. The burglary timing is earlier than theoretical for this Psalm, but like Nixon's resignation the break in is not the main event, Obama's response is more important.

This Psalm is particularly interesting because of its length and because it says of itself that it is a parable. The text then goes on and discusses the rebellious nature of the Israelites as they came out of Egypt.

Of course Barack Obama is playing the modern role of Pharaoh, and is the reference person in rebellion against God himself. The problem is finding a headline that is itself a parable of Obama's leadership. That headline is found in the story of the Harvard Professor gone strange.

As reported, the police were called to a house after a neighbor reported someone breaking into a house. The house had been robbed a few days earlier so they were being vigilant. The house was owned by Harvard University and rented to a black professor. The professor was known to Obama from his time on campus many years before.

The police arrive and find the professor in the house. They need identification to prove the professor actually lives at that address. A drivers license will do. The police officer reports back to headquarters that he thinks he is talking to the person who lives in the house, but does not yet have the proof.

Instead of simply being cooperative and producing his ID, the professor verbally attacks the officer. Other officers agree that something is wrong, including a black officer, and eventually professor is arrested. He spends a night in jail. Eventually all charges are dropped.

As with all ivy league professors, his personal performance review, and likely pay, is dependent in part on network air time, and the officer appears to have been an easy target for getting a pay raise. A later call to the networks becomes easy pickings for getting that precious time. This time, though, the White House gets involved.

Obama interrupts his planned speech on health care, perhaps to deflect headlines for that initiative is seen failing in Congress. He then makes a surprise appearance in a White House press briefing in order to correct stupid comments that he'd made earlier.

Beyond this point we're left with speculating about motives and matching known facts to the details of the attendant Psalm. Of course the Psalm is detailing the story of leaving Egypt, and that is the general headline being played out in the White House with Obama playing the roll of Pharaoh. The headline with the professor is the parable about Obama. Seeing the match means seeing the details that align.

The first issue, and perhaps the most important is that the professor does not own his own house. It is owned by his employer, Harvard University. Obama, the other black man in the story does not own his own house either, his house is owned by the American people.

Both men are from Harvard.

Both have forced their way in. In some sense they both have keys, but the issue of credentials and proof hangs over both men. In the professor's case it is a drivers license that will prove he rightfully belongs. In Obama's case a birth certificate. Neither were produced in a timely manner.

The professor began a verbal assault on an established police department. Obama has begun a full scale assault on the structure of the US government itself.

Both men have their jobs dependent on publicity and major network air time. Obama gets it by asking. The professor by swearing at a cop and calling his friends at the networks.

Both men use false claims of racism to gain sympathy from a white audience still feeling guilty for past racism.

Matches to the Psalm include:

Verse 8, neither man is steadfast in God.

Verse 10, neither man walks in law.

Verse 31, both were made to bow. The professor spent the night in jail, Obama had one of his worst weeks as the headlines turned to this episode and away from his attempt at ending private health care in the USA.

Verse 33, both end up with a streak of impatience.

In a strange structure the Psalm then turns back to the Exodus plagues and there Obama has been in the middle since the day he decided to run for office. The professor appears to have had a similar miniature version in play in his own life.

By Phil Stone
Posted Sunday, Simeon 6, 13000