{"id":1403,"date":"2014-05-29T23:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T23:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?p=1403"},"modified":"2014-05-29T10:10:05","modified_gmt":"2014-05-29T10:10:05","slug":"overlooked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/05\/29\/overlooked\/","title":{"rendered":"Overlooked"},"content":{"rendered":"

My name is Drusilla (Dru) McLeland and I serve as the Central Conference Liaison to the Board of the Advocates for Covenant Clergy Women.\u00a0 My husband, Paul, and I have been married 27 years and we have one daughter, Katie.\u00a0 In response to God\u2019s call to pastoral ministry, I am pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at Northern Theological Seminary.\u00a0 I am currently in Clinical Pastoral Education with the Adventist Midwest Health System.\u00a0 I want to be a gracious woman, who becomes more and more like my Heavenly Father who is Home to all prodigal daughters and sons.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I overlook people who are marginalized. This disturbs me.\u00a0 It goes against my core belief in the value of every person.\u00a0 I want my actions reflect my core beliefs and it bothers me they are incongruous.\u00a0 There are some Old Testament characters I\u2019ve overlooked.\u00a0 One of these is Tamar the wife of Er (Gen. 38).<\/p>\n

Jacob\u2019s son, Judah, moves and marries Shua, a Canaanite woman.\u00a0 They have three sons; Er, Onan and Shelah.\u00a0 Er marries Tamar.\u00a0 He is wicked, so God kills him.\u00a0 There is no male hair carry on Er\u2019s legacy and Judah tells Onan to go to Tamar, perform his duty as a brother-in-law and produce an heir. \u00a0Onan knows the child won\u2019t be his so he spills his semen on the ground.\u00a0 The Lord is not pleased with this and puts Onan to death.\u00a0 Judah sends Tamar to go back to her father to wait until Shelah is old enough to marry.\u00a0 But really he has no intention of giving Shelah in marriage to her.\u00a0 He\u2019s afraid Shelah will die if he is associated with Tamar.<\/p>\n

Judah\u2019s wife dies.\u00a0 At the end of his time of mourning, he goes to Timnah to party with his sheepshearers.\u00a0 Tamar hears about this, dresses like a prostitute, and waits by the road.\u00a0 Judah sees her and propositions her.\u00a0 They agree on a price of a goat.\u00a0 Tamar requests a pledge and Judah gives her his signet, cord and staff to keep until he sends the goat.\u00a0 They have sexual relations and she conceives.\u00a0 After this she re-dresses in her widow\u2019s clothes and goes back home.<\/p>\n

Judah sends the goat to her via his friend, Adullamite who doesn\u2019t find her so Judah decides to let her keep the pledge items and stops looking for her.\u00a0 Eventually Judah hears that Tamar is expecting.\u00a0 He demands that she be brought out and burned.\u00a0 However, she speaks up and says that the owner of the signet, cord and staff is the father of her child.\u00a0 Judah is caught!\u00a0 He acknowledges he is wrong and she is right.\u00a0 She delivers twins, Perez and Zerah.<\/p>\n

Not one of your top ten Sunday school stories!<\/p>\n

At first reading, Tamar is a story about a woman who is used by the men in her life, acts as a prostitute and deceives her father-in-law.\u00a0 I am tempted to overlook Tamar because I disapprove of her behavior. \u00a0Upon further study, I see a brave woman who stands up for what is rightfully hers.\u00a0 Levirate Marriage, requiring a dead husband\u2019s brothers to produce a male heir, was a Canaanite practice.\u00a0 Stipulations concerning it are found in the Middle Assyrian Laws, Hittite Law Code (HC #193) and later in the Law of Moses (Deut. 25:5-10).\u00a0 It was practiced in order to keep the memory of the deceased alive giving him immortality, to keep land in the family, and, oddly enough, to care for the widow. \u00a0Tamar goes to great lengths to do what is required and her name is remembered with honor (Ruth 4:11-13).\u00a0 She is one of only four women included in Matthew\u2019s record of Jesus\u2019 family tree (Matt. 1:1-17).\u00a0 What an amazing honor for a woman I have overlooked!<\/p>\n

I am aware there are those who disapprove of a woman called to pastoral ministry…<\/p>\n

and the story of Tamar encourages me to stay strong in God\u2019s call.<\/p>\n

I am aware that there are times when women are overlooked, simply because of their gender…<\/p>\n

and I am inspired by Tamar to speak up.<\/p>\n

I am aware that there are those who are overlooked because of poor choices they have made…<\/p>\n

and I am inspired by Tamar to listen to their stories with compassion.<\/p>\n

I am aware that there are those who suffer under injustice…<\/p>\n

and I am inspired by Tamar to stand with them.<\/p>\n

I am aware that there are those who are abused and have lost their true identity…<\/p>\n

and I am inspired by Tamar to lift their heads and speak God\u2019s loving truth to them.<\/p>\n

I am aware that I overlook people but God does not…<\/p>\n

and I am inspired by Tamar to look again and see what God sees.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My name is Drusilla (Dru) McLeland and I serve as the Central Conference Liaison to the Board of the Advocates for Covenant Clergy Women.\u00a0 My husband, Paul, and I have been married 27 years and we have one daughter, Katie.\u00a0 In response to God\u2019s call to pastoral ministry, I am pursuing a Master of Divinity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimoies-and-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nOverlooked - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2014\/05\/29\/overlooked\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Overlooked - 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