O Come, All Ye Unfaithful: Tamar
O Come, All Ye Unfaithful • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 41:23
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· 12 viewsGod turns human sin and suffering into the means by which He brings the Savior of the world.
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24 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.”
25 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.”
26 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.
God turns human sin and suffering into the means by which He brings the Savior of the world.
God turns human sin and suffering into the means by which He brings the Savior of the world.
There are five women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy.
3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar…
These women are critical to the storyline of Scripture.
God will crush His enemies through the seed of the woman.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This prominent theme in the book of Genesis is the tension between the seed of the woman and seed of the serpent.
Much like the serpent deceived the woman in the garden, the daughters of Eve will dupe the serpent.
The story of Tamar from Genesis 38 is best described as…
“The tale is scandalous to the simple, but full of light to the discerning…” —Jacob of Sarug, Homily on Tamar
This scandalous grace in the book of Genesis is both surprising and remarkable.
It’s surprising because it shocks our system with the way God deals with the world.
It’s remarkable because even through sinful and flawed people, God’s purposes come to pass.
Tamar’s Background
Tamar’s Background
Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law.
Judah had a colorful past.
He sold his brother into slavery.
25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.
Now what does a man do when he wants a fresh start from a screwed up family past?
He gets away from them!
He goes as far as he can away from them as he can.
Many of you have probably tried something like this,
“I’ve got to get away from this crazy family!”
“I’ve got to be free of these terrible friends!”
Judah’s gonna get away even if that means he’ll abandon his family and his God.
1 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
This “certain Adullamite” named “Hirah” continues to come up throughout Genesis 38, and it’s never in a good way.
Abraham had taken great care that Isaac marry Rebekah, and NOT a Canaanite woman (Genesis 24:2-4).
Isaac took such care that Jacob marry Leah & Rachel, and not a Canaanite woman (Genesis 28:1).
Application — Bad company corrupts good morals.
20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Make note that Judah doesn’t pick his friends carefully.
He haphazardly picks his friends.
And this likely contributes to his folly here.
2 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, 3 and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er.
This whole relationship starts on bad ground in that Judah marries from among the enemies of God.
The lineage of Judah is in jeopardy first because of Judah’s inattentiveness in marrying a Canaanite woman.
The Almost Smothered Seed from Judah
The Almost Smothered Seed from Judah
6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
Tamar was from among the pagan nations.
They didn’t know Yahweh and were foreigners.
But the surprising thing here again and again is that a foreigner will know the Scriptures better than the men who ought to know them.
She had married Er and this made Tamar a part of Judah’s family for good.
In this culture, marriage was hugely pivotal because there were no societal safety nets.
Our society has welfare and other safety nets, but these cultures had nothing like this.
They had no way of providing for the weak and vulnerable from outside threats.
When a person was married into the family they were now the responsibility of the whole family even if the husband died.
This is why we will see laws later reflect this very reality.
5 “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.
It will rely on one of Judah’s sons to take care of Tamar even when Er died.
7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death.
Er was a wicked man before the LORD.
Since he was wicked, the LORD ended his life.
The lineage of Judah is now in trouble because Er had erred.
Now what would happen to a woman if her new husband died?
She could return to her former family.
But what if she couldn’t for some reason.
Where would she go?
She would be forced to become a prostitute.
She would be forced to work as a servant and a slave to the highest bidder.
It was essentially a life of being a prisoner to others.
But the law of God commanded that a younger brother take his older brothers wife (Genesis 25:5).
8 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.”
We live in a twisted world that does not see children as a blessing.
The way the Bible describes children borders on describing them as wealth.
They were considered an “inheritance” and a protection for the future.
We must know that Tamar had a right to be the mother of Judah’s heir (Kidner).
9 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.
10 And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.
The seriousness of Onan’s offense is not immediately on the surface.
Onan is refusing to give children to Tamar.
He’s refusing to allow the linage of Judah continue.
He is in a sense taking all of the goodies of having sexual relations with Tamar without the responsibility of bearing a child by her which will be for his brothers name sake.
Now if these offenses were not great enough, the greatest offense will actually come from Judah himself.
11 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.
Likely Shelah was considerably younger than Er and Onan.
Judah is essentially trying to cheat his daughter-in-law out of her inheritance.
Tamar’s inheritance was due to her.
But it seems that Judah thought she was cursed.
Judah’s two sons died while being married to Tamar so he likely saw her as having a “bad omen” of some kind.
Without this inheritance though and protection of the family her life is essentially being thrown away into a life of prostitution which would have been the only trade for a woman without an inheritance.
Judah allows Tamar’s shame to remain by withholding a child from her.
She understood that the royal line was coming through them, and Judah was making a wreck of it.
Judah was acting the fool instead of guarding and protecting the line of descent.
The Shocking Faith of a Gentile Woman
The Shocking Faith of a Gentile Woman
12 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. 13 And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”
Judah refused to give Tamar to inheritance due to her.
Instead of disinheriting her publicly, Judah did it underhandedly.
14 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.
Judah was not a good guy.
Tamar knew that she would be able to entice him and he would oblige.
He did this in secret and tried to quietly remove her from his family line.
Analogous to the NT
Think how different Christmas would be if God allowed a man like Herod, who was a ruthless tyrant, to kill the Lord Jesus as a baby.
We rejoice that the Magi did not speak forthrightly with Herod.
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
We rejoice at God’s perfect providence being worked out through God’s enemies deception.
For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.
The life she would have been left to was prostitution which is what she tricks Judah into doing to receive her inheritance.
It’s not merely that Tamar wanted children.
Tamar believed God’s promise to the tribe of Judah.
She believed the promise of God’s redemption of the world through the line that she married into.
More remarkably though, is that Tamar understood the promise from God.
She was an amazing woman of faith dealing with the folly and foolishness of Judah.
She saw and understood the promises of Yahweh.
She saw and understood that the line of promise was for Judah.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…
The seed of the woman that was going to crush the seed of the serpent was being withheld from her.
The promised line of descent was being smothered.
She could have easily become a prostitute.
She could have returned to her pagan Moabite family.
Instead she chose to be associated with the family of promise.
“A daughter-in-law rose up against her father-in-law in righteousness, and from a harlot’s veil she brought forth the King who saves the world.” —Jacob of Sarug, Homily on Tamar
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
16 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?”
17 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—”
Tamar gets a pledge of payment.
The pledge will be used as evidence.
18 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.
Judah gives the most significant pieces of property he owns.
These items would have been like giving away your drivers license and credit cards, and social security cards.
This pledge will eventually save Tamar’s life when they come to kill her when she is found with child.
Just as Potiphar’s wife will try and use evidence against an innocent Joseph, Tamar will use evidence against a guilty Judah.
19 Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
20 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.
21 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.”
22 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.’ ”
23 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.”
Tamar returns shame upon Judah’s head by obtaining a child from him deceitfully.
He wronged her in two ways…
first by withholding his obligation
second by violating her himself.
The Swapping of Shame and Righteousness
The Swapping of Shame and Righteousness
24 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.”
Judah is willing to burn his daughter in law but not provide her with her inheritance.
He is willing to kill her for her “unfaithfulness” all the while he’s being unfaithful.
Judah is cheating Tamar and yet trying to kill her because she makes his name look back.
25 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.”
This represents the reversal of Tamar’s situation where she was prepared to die for her illegitimate child but when Judah sees that the child is his own he remembers his own sin and transgression. He was willing to kill Tamar for her unfaithfulness. All the while neglecting his own unfaithfulness. Tamar did the only thing she could honorably do to receive what was rightfully hers. She did the only thing that would preserve the line of promise despite sinful and unfaithful patriarchs.
“Thus the accused became the accuser, and the judge became the guilty one.” —Jacob of Sarug, Homily on Tamar
Tamar reverses the shame and reveals that Judah has acted shamefully thus returning the honor to her name through the birth of her children that actually carry forward the line of the Messiah.
What Judah meant for evil, Yahweh turns for good! Even through the sins of the patriarchs, God will accomplish His purposes through sinful and wicked people.
Maybe you think, “Well Daniel, the world Jesus was born into was so much better than this weird story…”
No, I would argue the story of the birth of Jesus was even more scandalous.
Jesus wasn’t born to a bright and shiny family.
He was born to a woman who wasn’t even married yet.
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
We see two surprisingly impossible things here.
The Place (Nazareth)
Mary is living in the town of Nazareth, which should be considered the podunk town of the region.
The Person (A Virgin)
Betrothal was as binding on a person as marriage in our own day.
It actually required divorce for the betrothal bond to be broken.
During the betrothal process, the couple would NOT live together, or consummate the marriage.
People would begin the betrothal process much younger, so it is likely that Mary would have only been a late teenager.
The God who is not ashamed to be associated with lowly and insignificant sinners, like Judah, like Tamar, and like Mary.
This God has come near.
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And as the Lord instructs Joseph later on…
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Jesus didn’t come into this world having delusions of the kind of people who were in it.
Jesus came into this world to redeem them from their sin.
Jesus came into the world to take men like Judah who recognize…
26 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.
We actually see a conversion from a man like Judah.
We see a real shift in Judah’s character.
A shift that will later prompt him to be willing to die in the place of one of his brothers.
The same man who sold his brother into slavery is willing to die for his brother.
In Judah we see God’s faithful hand of redemption.
To take a wicked fornicator and make him righteous.
What Judah looked forward to, we now experience as Christians.
Christians are not by nature any better than the rest of the world.
Quite the contrary…
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
But… He doesn’t say,
“I know you all are better than that!”
“I’m sure you all meant well!”
11 And such were some of you.
You were the “unrighteous”, you were the “sexually immoral”, “adulterers”, and many other things.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The Line of Promise through Judah
The Line of Promise through Judah
27 When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb.
28 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.”
29 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.
30 Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
A common theme in the book of Genesis is that the younger will replace the first born.
Isaac replacing Ishmael (Genesis 21:8-14)
Jacob’s birth holding onto Esau’s heel (Genesis 25:24-26)
Jacob stealing the blessing from Esau (Genesis 27)
Joseph being favored over his brother (Genesis 37)
There are four women in the genealogy of Jesus.
All four of them are Gentiles.
All four of them included in the line of the Messiah because God doesn’t exalt a person for their effort but for their faith.
They trusted the promise and “God deems them worthy to carry royal seed.” (Bruce Waltke, Genesis)
God turns human sin and suffering into the means by which He brings the Savior of the world.
God turns human sin and suffering into the means by which He brings the Savior of the world.
Benediction
Benediction
