His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth Horon as well as Uzzen Sheerah. – 1 Chronicles 7:24

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 4, 2019): 1 Chronicles 7

When “espresso’s” Graeme Carey published his “Sexism in Sports: 20 Unacceptable Moments” in March 2019, and included on the list was the unfortunate case of double Olympic bronze medal winner Corey Cogdell.  After winning her 2016 bronze medal, the Chicago Tribune identified her as “Corey Cogdell, the wife of (Chicago) Bears lineman Mitch Unrein” in the headline for the story. To be honest, I know I am old and male, but I am not exactly sure what is wrong with the headline. The paper is in Chicago, and it is part of the purpose for the headline was an attempt to try to increase readership of the article by letting the readers know that Corey Cogdell had a significant Chicago sports connection. The headline alone doesn’t necessarily seem wrong, although an article on Mitch Unrein should also include the comment that he is the husband of double Olympic bronze medalist Corey Cogdell. The real scandal of the story, at least for me, was the next move that the Tribune made. Next, the tribune tweeted out a link to the story omitting Corey Cogdell’s name altogether. In the tweet, she was simply the unnamed woman who was married to Chicago Bears lineman Mitch Unrein. There is no question that the tweet was most definitely sexist and something that cannot be done in our contemporary culture.

We are living in a time when we need to rethink the way that we refer to each other. And maybe a time when we are a little over sensitive about the things that we say. For me, as long as it is equal, I am okay. Nelda is my wife, but I am also her husband. And, of course, the context is essential. If Corey Cogdell was married to San Diego Chargers lineman Mitch Unrein, the team Unrein played for before coming to Chicago; then the Chicago Tribune would have had less reason to mention him in the article. But there is never a valid reason to not mention a person’s name and identify anyone solely on their relationship with someone else.

This section of Chronicles is a lineage. There are a lot of names, and each one of them is somewhat defined by their relationship with someone else. That is the way that a chronology works; it is designed to highlight the connections between people. But in a male-dominated culture, one that would have had no hesitation to describe a woman without giving her name and just highlighting her relationship to some man (for instance, 1 Chronicles 7:15 in which the last part of the verse reads – “Another descendant was named Zelophehad, who had only daughters”), it is important when a woman’s name is mentioned.

Such is the case of Sheerah, the daughter of Beriah. Describing Sheerah as being the daughter of someone should not remove the incredible strength of this woman. To say that she built three cities at this time in history means that she did the heavy lifting. She quite literally made or set-up these cities, an amazing task in a male-dominated society.  And one of them, Uzzen-Sheerah, even bore her name, honoring her as the founder of the city and adding to the legacy of this strong and amazing woman.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 8