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Judah and Tamar - God’s Is Faithful.

Genesis 38: 15-30 (2 of 2)

So, remember Judah’s had three sons, the oldest on marries Tamar, but he dies, the second son is given Tamar as a wife in order to provide a child for her, but he deliberately fails in his marital obligation, and now the third son is old enough now to be married to Tamar, but Judah has done nothing to bring them together. The first two husbands died, and now the third one is old enough to get married, but he hasn’t happened yet. Let pick up the narrative of this story in v18.

15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, [He did not know this was his daughter-in-law. Very important.] he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked. [Do you understand what’s going on? I mean, did I tell you this was trashy soap opera level stuff or what? Right.] 17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said. [There now negotiating the price. That’s exactly what’s going on. We’re negotiating the price, so, he said. Tell you what I’ll do.]“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked. 18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?” “Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So, he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him”.

(Genesis 38: 15-18)

Remember the first part of the story and these various brothers who were supposed to supply her with an offspring. So, the way she is going to get pregnant is interesting to say the least. Strange to think that the result of a child is what the Lord wanted, but interesting that she deceived Judah to get it.  If you’ve been listening to me as we’ve been going to the Book of Genesis, does this sort of thing ring any bells?  Who got deceived previously in this book? Jacob? Jacob deceived Esau then he turns around and gets deceived by Laban. Deception sort of runs in this family, and now Jacob’s son, Judah gets deceived by a woman, this is not the first time or the last time that will happen.

“After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.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”.  21 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.

(Genesis 38: 19-21)

Remember she wanted to have his seal and its cord, and the staff as a pledge until she received the gift of a goat.  That was the deal, but the guy who went with the goat couldn’t find her then he asked the men where is the prostitute who plied her trade openly by the roadside? They replied, we don’t know what you are talking about, we don’t have any prostitutes working here. The truth is, she wasn’t a prostitute in the strictest sense of the word, Judah might have though she was but she just tricked him, her father in law in order to get pregnant.

“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.” 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!”

(Genesis 38: 23-24)

So now the assumption is made by those around Tamar is that she has become a prostitute and she’s pregnant, so that must be because she played the harlot which wasn’t true.  The penalty for adultery is death, so, Judah initially says bring her out and let her be burned. Remember Judah he doesn’t know what has really happened at this point. 

“As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”

(Genesis 38: 25)

Now she doesn’t accuse him, she just says hey, if you want to know who’s the father of my child is then find out who these things belong to. Talk about a conniving plot.

“Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again”.

(Genesis 38: 26)

Now this is where Judah come good, he readily admitted that he had interfered in his sons not sleeping with her, and he also never took advantage of her again. To his credit, so he confessed that he had indeed sinned, for in his mind he had slept with a prostitute.

27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so, the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first

(Genesis 38: 27-28)

We have been here before, needing to determine which son comes out first. What goes around comes around, history goes in cycles. 

.” But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez. Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah”.

(Genesis 38: 29-30)

Alright, that’s the story so you don’t waste any more time watching soap operas. Now what in the world is the point of this story, what are we to glean from this. I think that this story is about God’s faithfulness because God said back to Abraham, repeated to Isaac, and repeated to Jacob. God said I am going to raise up a nation and God is simply being faithful to fulfill his promise, but what makes it so interesting is that in this chapter he does it despite the sins of Judah. Incredible. So let me lay this out in simple, clear language. Let me make three statements

1. This chapter is filled with unbelievable wickedness and sin, on this occasion something close to incest.  One commentator said this chapter records the extend of the compromise of the Israelites, specifically Judah, with the Canaanites. This is the first time one of the chosen seed selected a wife outside the preferred family of the patriarchs like Esau before him Judah chose a wife from the women of the land, one of the Canaanites, who they were specifically barred from marrying.  The simple reality is. God’s servants and I’m using a broad term here, can do abominable things.  It’s very popular these days to preach that because somebody did something bad, they can’t possibly be a Christian, because Christians wouldn’t do that.  I wonder what books those people are reading certainly not the Bible.

We’ve spent a lot of time lately in the Old Testament and this sort of behavior has not been the exception, it’s almost been the rule. The simple reality is that believers are capable of unimaginable, unbelievable sin, so you cannot just look at somebody’s life and use that to determine whether they’re believer or not, because believers can do unimaginable things. This chapter is another illustration of that, the unbelievable sin that “God servants” can commit, incest, visiting a prostitute, later on in the bible we even get to things like murder. 

Second observation, this chapter is also an illustration of the unbelievable faithfulness of God and I think that’s really the point of the chapter. God said I’m going to raise up a nation through Jacob and Judah is part of that plan, he ends up having three sons and none of them have descendants. So, he sleeps with Tamar, his daughter in law and she has twins and of course, they become the leaders of the tribe of Judah. One commentator said, just as in Chapter 20, where the seed of Abraham was protected by Abimelech, it is the woman Tamar, not the patriarch who is ultimately responsible for the survival of the descendants of the House of Judah. God is faithful, and he uses a Canaanite woman to do it.  Remember, Judah was the one who with his brothers sold their younger brother Joseph into Egypt, so he is a pretty disreputable character. Judah and his own family, despite their attempts to hinder God plan, through Tamar, God worked it out. Putting these two things together, show that people, are unfaithful but God is always faithful, and that’s what this is about. You can depend upon the faithfulness of God; you can depend upon God fulfilling his promises.

I began by quoting 2 verses in the New Testament that says.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and. Just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

(1 John 1: 19)

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

(I Cor 10: 13)

I Cor 10: 13, also tells us that even if we fall into temptation God will give us a route out of the temptation and any potential consequences if we remain faithful to him God was faithful to his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and likewise he is faithful to us, faithful to forgive us and to protect us.  There’s one more.

Statement number one is this chapter is filled with unbelievable sin. Number two, this chapter is an illustration of the unbelievable faithfulness of God and Thirdly, this chapter is another indication of the unbelievable grace of God. When we get to the New Testament, we start by reading the Gospel of Matthew, and right there in chapter one Tamar is there Her name is in verse 3 right at the beginning of the family line of the Messiah. There are several women who are named in that family line of Jesus. Matthew chapter one, I’m not going to take time to read it, but it starts out. “Jesus was the son of Abraham, and it lists the genealogy from Abraham” to Joseph but there are women listed in the genealogy. Not just men, women, but what is fascinating is the women that are listed, one of them, the first woman is Tamar and what did she do? She deceives her father-in-law and tricks him into anonymously sleeping with her, yet she still gets in the messianic line. 

The next woman that’s mentioned is Rehab and she was a prostitute in the early part of her life. That was her profession. The next woman in the genealogical line is Ruth, who persuaded Boaz to marry her by using the questionable technique of spending the night with him as he slept, intoxicated on the threshing floor.  These are all listed in Matthew Chapter one. Then of course, there’s Beersheba who became the wife of David but first committing adultery with him. They’re all listed in Matthew chapter one in the genealogy of Christ. The point. I want to make is that this is an illustration of the grace of God. He doesn’t just save righteous people, he saves sinners. 

He doesn’t just save small sinners; he saves the most wicked sinners and then he uses them to fulfill his promises. None of these four women were anything near perfect, Rehab in her early life was probably the most irreligious and carnal of them all, but all these women illustrate that God forgives sins and gives people a new life. 

So, yes, this is a sordid story. However, it still highlights all the more, the faithfulness and the grace of God.