SHUHITES AND THE NEHELAMITES

The current policy of being “politically correct” carries things too far at times, but there is a point to the concern, because people can be embarrassed or hurt by the words we speak.  We all learned as children the rhyme that goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  Of course that is not a completely truthful statement; words do hurt and sometimes seriously.  So, for the most part we have become more sensitive to these matters.

When I was a boy it was not uncommon to make a black person the brunt of a joke, but into the late 50s and early 60s with the emphasis on integration it became a “no-no” to make jokes about black people.  And if you’ve ever had good friends who are black, you also know that they have plenty of jokes about us white folks.

In my teen and college years it seemed a common thing to tell Pollock jokes.  The dumb Pollock did this or that.  Well, as our society became more diverse with many people having Polish ancestry the Pollock Jokes went the way of the black jokes.

In a similar way, I suppose, it is degrading to refer to the Japanese as “Japs,” or the Chinese as “Chinks,” the Italians as “Wops,” the Germans as “Krauts,” or have the Mexicans refer to north Americans as “Gringos.”  And it goes on and on.

One of my favorites used to be dumb blonde jokes, but after knowing some wonderful blonde women I have ceased telling and passing on the blond stories.

As I have reflected on such significant matters I realize that I, too, have been the brunt of jokes that often I did not appreciate.  One can probably look at me and tell that I was a freckled-face boy.  Often when I was a boy I would cringe when someone made fun of a “freckled-faced” person.

Likewise, you may never guess now with my white hair, that when I was young I tended toward having red hair; not bright red hair, but a tint of red hair.  So the “red-haired-freckled-face” kid jokes were not especially entertaining to me.

So, now to the point and the reason for the strange title of this blog:  “The Shuhites and the Nehelamites.”

As I have thought about this, knowing that I love humorous jokes and stories, I have come up with a solution—in fact, it’s in some ways a biblical solution!  I have found in the Old Testament two groups of people who have no living descendants, as far as I know!  There is no one around to be offended at jokes about these two groups of ancient people.  Evidently the Nehelamites were a little higher in society than the Shuhites.  Get it?

The Shuhites are referred to five times in the book of Job.  Bildad the Shuhite was one of Job’s so-called friends who tried to give Job advice.  The Nehelamites are referred to only three times in the book of Jeremiah.  Shemaiah, the Nehelamite was punished for preaching a lie and he had no seed remaining according to Jeremiah 29:32.

So, if you hear me tell a joke or a story about a Shuhite or a Nehelamite you will know the reason; and if the joke isn’t enough reason to smile, just smile at the use of these ancient biblical people’s names.