One evening my wife and I were walking downtown in a small southern town. We crossed the street, swimming through that thick, sticky air that engulfs the South every summer. A homeless man approached us to ask for some cash, and as he told his story he reached his hand toward me to shake my hand. I stared at his hand, then back up at him, and then I put my hands in my pockets and kept walking. This guy wasn’t threatening in any way; he had a kind face and soft voice, didn’t exhibit any aggression. I refused him the dignity of a handshake for the sole reason that he was homeless and I was a professor. I walked away confident in my superior righteousness. If you’re disgusted right now, you should be. I am.
Judah had a similar experience with this daughter-in-law Tamar.
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Russ Meek is a visiting professor of Old Testament at Tennent. He studied at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MA, biblical languages; PhD, Old Testament) and has taught at various colleges and seminaries since 2011. Russ writes widely for lay and academic audiences about all things Old Testament and its relationship to the Christian life; you can read his work at russmeek.com. He, his wife, and their three sons live in north Idaho, where you’ll find them gardening, cooking, and trying to tame the havoc that three boys wreak.