'You didn't build that': What Obama missed when he copied Moses

Neither Moses nor Obama would argue we reach success alone. They differ on who deserves the credit.

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers…a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant — when then you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

—Deuteronomy 6:10-12, excerpted for readability

Throughout Deuteronomy, Moses offers a simple message to Israel: You didn’t build that.

Moses spends the book recounting Israel’s journey up from slavery. Its exodus from Egypt, delivered by God’s “mighty hand,” against the seemingly-unbeatable Pharaoh. Its safe passage through the desert.

When Israel needed food, God had bread, manna, delivered by quails. When Israel needed drink, Moses struck a rock, and water flowed from it. Israel was a kept people.

All Israel didn’t have was a homeland. That’s what the journey from Egypt was all about, the Hebrews getting a home of their own. The length of the journey, and the battles fought along the way, were all designed to showcase God’s glory.

“You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other,” Moses writes in Deuteronomy 4:35.

But Israel was not inheriting a blank slate. The Desert of Zin could’ve served that purpose.

Israel was given a “land of milk and honey,” a land that seven powerful tribes called home. Those other people had built it and made it flourish — and now it was being given as an inheritance to Israel. Once Israel reached the Promised Land, there would be no more of this “we were better off in Egypt” business.

God will give you blessings so big and clear and perfect that you realize, it could not have been you. It could not have been your own efforts. It had to have been God’s mighty hand, working in your favor. That’s what Israel was meant to be — a blessing so great, only God could give it.

“A land with flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells that you did not dig” sounds good when you’ve had no fixed address for 40 years, and before that were slaves. Israel was not just a house, it was a homeland!

Israel had not built that, and could not have. Israel was small in numbers compared to the nations it would defeat. Others built the infrastructure Israel would benefit from.

In Psalm 23, David wrote “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

Israel got an even better deal than that. Israel’s enemies prepared the table for it. Who, but God, could have arranged that?

Israel had entered Egypt with 70 men, but was now “as numerous as the stars in the sky,” Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 10:22. Who, besides God? How, besides God?

Moses to Israel: Don't forget about God

President Barack Obama was perhaps inspired by Moses, in July 2012, when he said “You didn’t build that,” and earned himself the starring role in a season of attack ads.

Obama, the incumbent, was facing challenger Mitt Romney, a wealthy man.

Romney wanted a 20% tax cut. That sounded good, coming from a successful man who touted free enterprise.

It sounded so good that Obama felt the need to counter. And so he said:

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

When Moses said “you didn’t build that,” or words to that effect, it was meant to inspire humility, gratitude, and stewardship over God’s gift.

When Obama said “you didn’t build that,” he was arguing for higher taxes — and saying the people who disagreed were not just wrong, but selfish. Perhaps so selfish that Romney might be the type to “put (black people) back in chains,” as then-Vice President Joe Biden told a black audience.

Every tithe given to God is voluntary. But as we have no choice whether to render unto Caesar our taxes, debating tax rates is reasonable.

For daring to try, Romney was painted as unreasonable, unfit, and possibly even racist. No fair fight goes unpunished.

A decade later, Romney is a senator, Biden is president, and Romney has no problem voting with Biden when the occasion serves.

A decade later, being a “Mitt Romney Republican” is an accusation, a slur, in Republican primaries. Times have changed.

Obama, again:

“If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.”

The many criticisms of Obama’s speech focused on his collectivist approach. Obama was quick to assign government resources a causal role in people’s success.

But we all go to school somewhere. We all drive roads some place. We all pay taxes. Those common threads don’t explain how two kids from the same home town, homeroom, or same womb have such different outcomes in life.

Those differences owe to the part Obama wouldn’t say out loud, but Moses spoke often: God’s mighty hand. We all have a unique contribution to make. We all have a unique path through life.

The ‘free market’ attacks on Obama landed for a time, but Romney lost the race.

No one used the attack that might have mattered, and called Obama’s remarks idolatry. Idolatry is when we credit and worship the created, rather than the creator. Moses had even warned against Earth worship.

That argument, that Obama was making an idol of government, could have exposed what’s become clear a decade later: Blue and red are no longer just debating tax rates. Not really.

Moses and Obama would agree on this much: We don’t accomplish much alone. Where they differ is on who should get the credit: God, or government?