Genesis 38 - a final word

If all that God wanted to do in giving us His Word was to relate a bunch of entertaining stories, He certainly accomplished that, as this chapter has shown us. We saw deception and intrigue, scandalous behavior, and a great climax with the revelation of Judah’s sin. However, this whole book is really about redemption. As much as we almost cheer when Judah is “outed,” we need to remember that this is not the end of the story. We saw yesterday that Judah immediately acknowledged his responsibility for what happened with Tamar when he saw the evidence:

“She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again. (vs. 26)

Beth Moore points out that this is the beginning of change for Judah, and that, by the end of this book, we will see a transformed Judah. Hallelujah! She writes the following:

The recognition of his own sin over another’s was the beginning of his transformation. Come to think of it, it always is.


If “character change is what Genesis is all about”, and if Abram became Abraham and Jacob became Israel, what are you and I becoming? Hebrews 4:12 tells us God’s Word is alive and powerful and so sharp that it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow. The most dramatic “cure” for certain cancers is a bone marrow transplant. God’s Word is meant to get all the way into our bones, curing our character sicknesses with the most dramatic of all marrow transplants. Christ is our donor. A perfect match for all infirmed. (The Patriarchs, P. 177)

Since my dear sister, Jodi, just underwent a complete bone marrow transplant, Beth’s words take on even more significance for me. Jodi has been given brand new marrow that is now cancer free! Her old, cancer-ridden marrow, that would have led to certain death, has been completely replaced with spanking clean, pure marrow! She has been saved from death to life! This is the work that Jesus has accomplished in our sin-ridden lives!

And what about Tamar? She had certainly been wronged by this family! She had been widowed, then used like a harlot by her brother-in-law, then set aside and forgotten by her father-in-law. Though we can’t excuse her actions in this chapter, we can certainly understand the pain that motivated her. Did God change her and redeem her? Well, her inclusion in the line of Christ, along with that of several other pagan women, shows us how God has been weaving His story of redemption through ALL mankind and to ALL mankind from the beginning. Her story has been set out for all to see for thousands of years now. She not only has her name in God’s Book, she surely must have her name in the Book of Life. She became, with the birth of Perez, the great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother of King David! (I hope I counted those correctly in Matthew 1)

This is what Paul spoke about in Romans 8:28:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.


Our sovereign God has been working continuously to redeem mankind, not only from sin, but from the law that had no power whatsoever to save us. He has grafted all who believe in Christ into this family:

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. (Gal 4:4-7)

WOW!

Genesis 38:12-30

After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.


When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife. (Gen 38:12-14)

Notice that a lot of time had passed since Tamar had been sent back to her father. When she hears that Judah has gone with his buddy, Hirah, to where the sheep were being sheared, she comes up with a plan to right the wrong done to her. For, by now, she realizes that Judah has no intention of giving her to his third son, Shelah. So she dresses up like a prostitute, with a veil on her face, and waits by the road. Sure enough, Judah hires her to meet his needs. But not before Tamar exacts a promise from him along with some of his possessions as insurance. Judah promises to pay her with a young goat, and as a pledge that he will indeed follow up on the promise, he leaves her his seal and its cord, along with his staff. These would be like leaving his credit cards, Driver’s license, and passport! They were the essentials needed to prove his identity and to do business.

When he later sends the goat back with his friend, Hirah, the prostitute is no longer there. This whole scene is like something out of a Shakespearean play (or today’s political headlines)!

Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”


“There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.


So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’”


Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.” (vs. 20-23)

Uh-oh! Judah realizes he has been had, but rather than involve the local authorities, he prefers to keep it quiet, because he wants to keep his reputation intact. He’s fairly certain he has dodged a bullet, even if the woman has taken his possessions. However, the Bible tells us that our sins will find us out (Num 32:23), and, eventually everything comes to light:

About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”


Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!” (vs. 24)

I love what Jon Courson writes about this: “It’s amazing how my sin looks on someone else!” Judah in his self-righteous indignation is ready to have her executed for her sin, which is also HIS sin! This is just like when Nathan, the prophet, tells David the story of the rich man who takes the one lamb from the poor man (as David had taken Bathsheba from Uriah), and David insists that the man must be put to death. Then Nathan calmly says, “You are the man, David!” YIKES! Fortunately, Judah, just like David, immediately takes responsibility for his sin, and acknowledges that Tamar, “... is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son, Shelah.” (vs.26)

Okay - haven’t we ALL been like Judah at one time or another? We are horrified and offended by the sins of others that we, too, have also committed! I don’t know about you, but this has actually been an area of struggle for me recently, so this story is painful for me to read. How often I have been pointing the finger that comes right back to me!!! LORD, thank you for your Spirit, who catches me in the act and gently reminds me of my sin!!! Thank you, LORD, for your grace that not only points it out, but COVERS it! Amazing!

We’ll finish up with Tamar tomorrow, because we don’t want to miss the point of her being mentioned in this almost parenthetical chapter.

Genesis 38:1-11

Today’s chapter is a break in the story of Joseph. The drama is compelling and the lessons amazing! This is the story of Judah and Tamar. As we know, Jesus was from the line of Judah, so this little side trip in Genesis is important to His story. If you read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, you will find Tamar, a Canaanite woman, is mentioned along with Rahab (also a Canaanite), Ruth (a Moabite), and Bathsheba (wife of a Hittite). These four pagans are the only women mentioned, besides Mary. So we want to pay attention to what God tells us about Tamar.

Jon Courson says in his introduction to this story, “Jewelers wisely display diamonds against black velvet, knowing the dark background highlights the beauty of the gems.” The ugliness of sin in our background certainly makes the grace of God more brilliant in our lives! Or, as the apostle Paul wrote:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Cor 4:7)

Only God could take the sin and deception we read of in this chapter, weave it into the line of the Savior, and redeem the line for His glory and our salvation! So let’s get into the story:

At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and lay with her; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him. (Genesis 38:1-5)

Of course, the first thing we need to note is the opening, “At that time...” What time is it referring to? Well, Judah and his brothers had just sold off Joseph and deceived their father, who was completely unconsolable. It was Judah who had argued that the brothers NOT kill Joseph, but rather sell him to the caravan that just happened to be coming toward them. Nevertheless, having to watch his father’s agony day after day must have been too much for him, so he splits from the family. He heads for a pagan area and stays with his pagan buddy, Hirah. There he meets his Canaanite wife and has three sons. Judah ran from one dysfunctional family, only to create his own:

Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death.


Then Judah said to Onan, “Lie with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so he put him to death also. (vs. 6-10)

Goodness! What a pair these boys were! Er is the first individual mentioned in the Bible to be put to death by God. The previous judgments had been against groups (the people of Noah’s time and Sodom and Gommorah). So, he must have been one nasty fellow! Jon Courson writes in his commentary here, “... the problem with wickedness is that it’s contagious. Wicked people draw other people into their depravity. So, the LORD, in His wisdom and mercy, deals with the problem decisively.” (Courson’s Old Testament Commentary, P. 173)

When Er’s brother, Onan, was ordered by Judah to take his brother’s widow and produce an heir for him, he disobeyed and “spilled his semen.” He was willing to take pleasure from Tamar, but he would not give her a son. Courson makes an important point here:

This verse is often misused as a statement against birth control. The issue here, however, isn’t about family planning. It’s about family plotting - for in his actions, Onan is saying, “I’m going to despise the directive of my father and trample on the casket of my brother. Thus, this scenario has nothing to do with God’s opinion about family planning - and everything to do with a man determined to manipulate the situation. (Courson, P. 173)

With two sons gone, Judah decides the problem must be Tamar! So he sends her to live with her father, with the promise that as soon as number three son is of age, she will have him! (vs. 11) Will Judah keep his word, and will Tamar ever have her son? Stay tuned!