Genesis 38

Judah and Tamar - Genesis 38

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Reminder of PG-13 content in this sermon

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 38

Reminder of where we have been in Genesis

Genesis is about the dawn of God’s creation the descent into sins corruption and the blessing of God’s covenants

Genesis 38 ESV

It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him. And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house. In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood. When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’ ” And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.” About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again. When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.

Pray

Skyler trying to explain keeping up with the Kardashians

Main Idea: God’s judgement and his providential redemption is sure

Lets dig into the text together

The first thing to note is that chapter 28 clearly interrupts the Joseph story arc….but why?

Judah we already know is not a great guy. We see Judah engaging in wicked sexual practice in chapter 38 in contrast to what we will see when we look at Joseph in chapter 39. The narrative is contrasting these two descendants of Jacob. Which in the Old Testament is the northern kingdom (Joseph) and the southern kingdom (Judah)

Verses 1 and 2 tell us Judah finds a Canaanite wife the daughter of Shua. Now you should have warning bells immediately firing off remembering Abraham’s concern in Genesis 24:3 and Isaac’s concern in Genesis 28:1 regarding their sons taking Canaanite spouses. This was unfavorable and strictly prohibited among the Jewish audience. Jacob really has no control over his family at this point it seems.

Judah has 3 sons with this woman and their names are Er, Onan, and Shelah. Take notes parents.

In verse 6 we are introduced to the wife Judah selects for Er (note we are getting this story at lightning speed). Tamar is her name.

Verse 7 is important to talk about because its pretty rare we see anything like this where the text says that Yahweh killed Er for his wickedness in the sight of the Lord. We’ve seen a lot of depravity in Genesis and few are put to death by God for it (think pre-flood people or Sodom and Gomorrah). Not central to the story as we are given no details but a shocking little tid bit there.

Once Er is struck by God, Onan is given instructions on preserving the line of Er by having sexual relations with Tamar. This is taken from Deuteronomy 25. Lets talk about what is happening here. Notice a few things here:

Deuteronomy 25:5–6 ESV

“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

This concept is called a levirate marriage. (note: the story of Ruth and Boaz is a levirate marriage). A younger brother had to perform this unless he wanted to experience some pretty serious public shame. It usually allowed the town to shame the man and the widow could spit in his face…..pretty rough

Onan is the next brother in line and so this practice falls to him but he as well gets put to death for numerous wicked decisions. Lets zoom in on that for a second:

Onan has no intention of fulfilling his duty here as the younger brother. If he produced an heir for his older brother, he would lose the inheritance and family priority. He wants the inheritance for himself but he doesn’t say that. Instead he fakes it.

His first offense is not carrying out the levirate duty and he evades this responsibility deceptively.

His second offense is drawing out this process and “whenever he had sex” with Tamar the text says, which tells us this is a repeated offense. Refusal to expedite the process.

His third offense is his self centeredness and greed. Numbers 27 tells us if a man has no children his possessions pass to his brother. Onan has no intention of not receiving this.

His fourth offense is his appearance of completing his task. He doesn’t endure any shaming because he doesn't want to do this but rather jukes the responsibility behind the scenes.

Verse 10 says this was wicked in the sight of the Lord and he was put to death as well. There are few texts in the Bible where we see this sort of execution from the Lord for depravity but it is present here as a reminder of the judgement of God on our sin.

Judah then promises Tamar to his youngest son but he is deemed too young so Tamar is sent back to her fathers house to wait. Judah may be concerned for the life of his youngest son.

In verse 12 we see that Judah loses his wife and he goes through a season of mourning. (why doesn't he mourn for his sons?) Following his mourning period he goes with his friend up to sheer sheep

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Tamar concocts a plan to seduce Judah because verses 14 says Shelah was grown up at this point and she had not been given to him in the levirate marriage. Tamar feels she has been wronged by Judah so she takes matters into her own hands. So she places herself on the road going up to Timnah where she knows Judah will pass by as he goes up to sheer his sheep. Judah’s promise to give Tamar to Shelah appears to have been a ruse and if that is the case we have the deceiver, once again in Genesis being deceived.

The fact that Tamar is sure that Judah will pull aside to her reveals some of what we have already seen about Judah’s character. Up to this point, he does not honor the Lord or fear God in his sexual ethic or lifestyle choices. He does what he wants.

Verse 15 confirms that Judah believes her to be a prostitute and he doesnt recognize her as Tamar because she has covered herself up. She deceives him and receives his signet in exchange for a young goat Judah is supposed to bring back to receive his stuff back.

In exchange for sexual relations Tamar receives these items from Judah’s person (a signet and cord was probably craftsmanship identifying his family name etc.). She will later use this to identify that Judah is the father of her child.

When Judah sends his friend the Adullumite to make the exchange she cannot be found the townspeople essentially said “there was no prostitute in this area.” Judah then says “let her keep my stuff I don’t want to be the laughing stock of the town looking for her.” Judah is very concerned with his reputation.

Similarly to his descendant David, Judah is going to be trapped into admitting his sexual sin. At first when the report reaches him that Tamar is pregnant he moves to execute her. What a hypocrite. He calls for her to be burned.

Tamar produces the items she obtained from Judah and says “this man is the one who I had relations with.” Judah immediately recognizes and knew his sin. He identifies them and exonerates Tamar as a righteous woman who was justified in her actions. Is Judah ashamed here? I see him recognizing her righteousness as a somewhat repentant Judah.

Now this doesn't mean that we are supposed to see Tamar’s actions as having been validated by God but at least Judah thinks this was a reasonable action on her behalf in order to get what she deserved.

Tamar then in verses 27-30 she gives birth to twins “wrestling in her womb” which should bring us back to Esau and Jacob. Perez here similarly to Jacob appears aggressively foreshadowing his prominence in the lineage of Judah.

In the grand story line of the Bible. Tamar has a unique impact on the line of the messiah. In verse 3 of Matthew 1 in the lineage of Jesus we see Tamar and Perez’s name. Not only Tamar, but Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba find their way into the lineage. What is Matthew’s point there? That Christ builds a bridge to the gentiles? Maybe but I think more importantly to our story today God providentially works through these sorts of unusual and sometimes scandalous marriage unions or birthing situations. Mary’s marital situation was peculiar as well. God brings about his will even in the midst of whispers of scandal in the Scripture.

Lets think about a few of the pieces of this story that can help us connect it to the chapter before and after:

Jacob was asked to examine his son’s bloody cloak and identify it in chapter 37. Judah was asked to examine his signet and cord and identify it. Judah and his brothers deceived Jacob with the blood of a goat and Tamar likewise deceived Judah with a goat. We are going to see Potiphar’s wife do something similar in chapter 39 to deceive her husband regarding Joseph. Tamar succeeds in tempting Judah and Potiphar’s wife fails with Joseph who is a foreshadowing of the better Adam. Jacob grieves heartily for his son and Judah appears unmoved by the death of his two sons. Judah’s sons have the same sibling rivalry carried down that we saw in chapter 37 that leads to their death in this chapter. Lots to see and excited to dig into chapter 39 with you all next week.

A few ways we should process this text together:

Sexual immorality leads to heartache and pain

Proverbs 7:21–23 ESV

With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

1 Corinthians 6:15–20 ESV

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

All forms of sexual sin is outside of God’s good design: Sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, pornography….all of these are under judgement and Christ died that we might be free from bondage. So what decisions

2. Even amidst God’s judgement on sin, we see his unfolding redemptive plan

Our God is a God of final and swift judgement but praise the Lord we also have a God of surprising and full mercy towards sinners through the work of Christ Jesus. In Christ, we who are under judgement receive a shocking redemption that fully restores us

Isaiah 61:1–3 ESV

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Have you received his grace and redemption? Today you can commit your life to the Lord today, receive forgiveness, and walk in newness of life that comes through the promised seed Jesus Christ who was promised in the beginning of Genesis.

Main Idea: God’s judgement and his providential redemption is sure