GENESIS 38 - Faithless Son, Promised Seed

Introduction

Our family has always enjoyed watching good television together—there’s nothing we like more than settling down and watching a good story well-told. And with the advent of streaming television, we can go back and re-visit some classic TV shows that Jodee and I enjoyed growing up.

Part of the enjoyment we get out of watching a TV series comes from watching how a showrunner structures a “story arc” for the characters that shows their development over the course of a given season or plotline. And occasionally the writers will take the focus off of the star of the series in order to explore a storyline from a supporting cast member that helps drive the development of the main cast members. A whole episode will have none of the series regulars in it, but that episode reveals something about them through the eyes or experiences of those supporting characters.

This is what is happening in Genesis 38. Here we are in a sermon series about the life of Joseph, and we get exactly one chapter in and already the plotline has gone off to another character arc altogether! This chapter is about Joseph’s brother Judah—we saw him briefly last week when he nobly suggested selling Joseph into slavery instead of murdering him:

Genesis 37:26–27 LSB

And Judah said to his brothers, “What gain is it that we kill our brother and cover up his blood? “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened.

Remember we saw last week that Reuben only wanted to spare Joseph so that he could try to get back into his father’s good graces after having an affair with Jacob’s concubine Bilhah (Genesis 35:22), and Judah’s desire to sell Joseph to the slave traders was his way of undercutting his brother’s scheme—neither of them particularly loved Joseph.

Reuben wasn’t the only one Jacob was not on speaking terms with—Levi and Simeon (Judah’s other older brothers) were also on the outs with Dad, after massacring an entire Canaanite city when one of the inhabitants violated their sister Dinah (Gen. 34:30).

Judah was the fourth son in line—his older brothers had ruined their relationship with Jacob, and the “favorite son” slot in the family was open now that Joseph was gone for good (so it seemed). So this was the perfect opportunity for Judah to make his move and get in good with the old man and perhaps take over as the head of the family once Jacob passed away.

So what does Judah do?

Genesis 38:1–2 LSB

Now it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her.

Here was the supporting character’s moment in the spotlight; here is where Judah could have stepped in and become the new patriarch, but instead he wanders off and turns his back on his family altogether. But what I want to show you from this “supporting cast member’s story” this morning is that no matter how far you go,

You cannot WANDER beyond the REACH of God’s REDEMPTION

Over and over again, Moses is making the point that the covenant promises of YHWH do not rise and fall on the actions or the character of the people He has made His promises to! And this chapter is a striking demonstration of that point. In the first five verses of this account,

I. Judah TURNED ASIDE from YHWH’s promises (Genesis 38:1-5)

Genesis 38:1–5 LSB

Now it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her. So she conceived and bore a son, and he named him Er. Then she conceived again and bore a son, and she named him Onan. And she bore still another son, and she named him Shelah; and it was at Chezib that she bore him.

Judah “goes down from his brothers”—he leaves their dwelling in Hebron and goes to Canaanite territory. In light of what just happened to Joseph in the last chapter, it is unbelievable to see Judah’s actions here as

He turns his back on the promised LAND of YHWH (cp. Gen. 15:18)

All of the promises YHWH made to Judah’s great-great-grandfather Abraham were tied up with the land that He had promised:

Genesis 15:18 LSB

On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your seed I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

Throughout the Old Testament, the Land is fused with the promises of God—whenever the people are dwelling in the Land it is a sign that they are living within the promises of YHWH; whenever they are cut off from the land it is a sign that they are estranged from Him; cut off from participation in His blessings.

Joseph was forced out of the land; he has been sold across the boundaries of the land into Egypt, cut off from YHWH’s blessings. And the man responsible for that sale—Judah—now voluntarily walks away from the land!

God’s Word is setting up this stark contrast between Joseph’s faithfulness and Judah’s contempt. Judah turns his back on the land of God’s promises and

He endangered the promised SEED of YHWH (cp. Gen. 24:3)

Abraham made his executive servant swear on his life in the Name of YHWH that he would not take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites, or let Isaac move out of the Land of Promise into Canaanite territory to marry:

Genesis 24:3 LSB

and I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live,

Genesis 24:6–7 LSB

Then Abraham said to him, “Beware lest you take my son back there! “Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kin, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your seed I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.

And here his great-great-grandson Judah does both—he leaves the Land of Promise and marries a Canaanite woman (Gen. 38:2). Remember how much anguish Jacob’s mother Rebekah felt when Judah’s Uncle Esau kept marrying Canaanite women? (Gen. 26:34-35)

Genesis 26:34–35 LSB

And Esau was forty years old, and he took as a wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and they brought bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah.

YHWH’s promise was that Abraham’s seed would be a blessing to all the families of the earth—the entire line of the Promised descendant of Abraham was in danger of being corrupted and disappearing amongst the Canaanites, but Judah didn’t care. The prospect that it could be his descendent that would be the promised Seed meant nothing to him.

Think of that—Judah didn’t care whether or not his descendent would be the Messiah! He had no interest in the promises of YHWH to him or his family—and as we continue through this chapter we see that

II. Judah’s FAMILY paid the PRICE (Genesis 38:6-30)

As his children grew up, Judah’s contempt for the promises of YHWH to his family continued—he did not raise them to fear God at all. In fact,

He raised WICKED sons (vv. 6-10)

Genesis 38:6–7 LSB

Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so Yahweh put him to death.

We aren’t told the nature of Er’s wickedness, or what made him so evil. But seriously—how evil do you have to get before God simply strikes you dead? The contrast cannot be more striking—Judah’s brother Joseph was the most righteous and upright man in the family, and Judah’s own sons were so wicked that God put both of them to death Er’s brother Onan died a few verses later for his own wickedness—he was expected to provide sons for his brother’s widow, but instead used Tamar merely to satisfy his own urges and did not allow her to get pregnant. Onan’s actions were hateful toward God, and so He struck him dead as well (v. 9).

Judah had lied to his father to get him to believe that his son Joseph had been killed; and now, YHWH Himself is putting Judah’s sons to death one by one for their evil. Judah’s contempt for God’s promises to his family led to a miserable life—he raised wicked sons and

He ABANDONED his duty (vv. 11-18)

There were very specific responsibilities that Judah had to his widowed daughter-in-law. Tamar would have been helpless to make a life for herself on her own, and without sons to support her in her old age she would be doomed to be destitute and alone, homeless and without a family. It was Judah’s duty to see to it that she was provided for by having her marry one of her husband’s brothers, but after his wife died, he seemed to forget about Tamar’s existence altogether:

Genesis 38:11–12 LSB

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he thought, “I am afraid lest he also die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house. And after a considerable time, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Then Judah was comforted, and he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

From Verses 13 through the end of the chapter we are given an account of just how badly things went, as Tamar tried to find a way to get Judah to provide her with a husband that wound up with a shameful and humiliating scheme that wound up with Tamar bearing twins to Judah, Perez and Zerah.

Judah did not care about the promises of YHWH to him and his family. He did not care about the land he was promised, he did not care about the Seed that was promised to come through his family. He shows up here in Genesis 38 as an unrepentant liar, schemer and apostate. He fathered sons that were hated and destroyed by God, he abandoned his daughter in law and left her to sacrifice her own honor and purity in her desperation, and who never showed the slightest bit of remorse or regret for any of the pain he had caused or any of the lives he had destroyed.

But let me show you something—turn with me to the Book of Matthew, Chapter 1—look at verses 1-3:

Matthew 1:1–3 LSB

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. And Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron was the father of Ram....

Judah was as crooked as they come, but see here that

III. God draws STRAIGHT with CROOKED lines (cp. Matthew 1:1-3)

That illegitimate son of a Canaanite woman and her good-for-nothing father in law was the son through whom the Messiah came! The son of Jacob who couldn’t have cared less about the promise of the Messiah was the very one God used to bring the Messiah forth!

Let the enormity of the grace of God dawn on you here as we come to the end of Genesis 38. This isn’t the end of Judah’s story; we will see his transformation by the end of Genesis. But look at the mess that Judah made of his life and the lives of his children and then look at Matthew 1:3 where God graciously uses even that mess to bring His promises to pass!

Take heart, beloved, because

He is the God Who REDEEMS your PAST (cp. Gal. 3:28)

Think about Judah—a man who had everything in his grasp to take over as the head of the clan that would bring the Messiah into the world. And instead of honoring that position; instead of honoring the promise YHWH made, he turns his back on the covenant, turns his back on the land, turns his back on his family. He moves outside the flow of God’s redemptive covenant to live as an outsider. He doesn’t care that God promised that someone from Abraham’s line would be the Seed through which the entire world would be blessed.

And God chose him anyway!

No matter how rebellious Judah was; no matter how wicked or abdicating or selfish his behavior, Judah could not wander beyond the reach of God’s redemption. YHWH is not finished with Judah yet; as the account of Joseph’s life continues we will see God continuing to act in Judah’s life; he will be a very different man by the end of this account.

Think about Tamar’s life—a woman who was married first to a man so monstrous in his wickedness that God struck him dead out of a clear blue sky. Then given to his brother to provide children for her; a man who cheated her out of that right and instead used her as an object to satisfy his own pleasures. Then forced to debase herself by entrapping those men’s father in order to manipulate and blackmail him into providing children for her. This woman did not have a respectable life!

Anyone would look at a life like that—look at a woman like that—and say that she was worthless, that her life was so shameful and so embarrassing that she would never be able to show her face in polite circles. And yet Jesus Christ Himself claims her as one of His grandmothers!

Are you sure that your family history is so messed up that there is no way Christ will receive you? Look here and see the ancestors of Christ—a faithless father who abdicated his responsibilities and ruined his sons’ lives, and a mother whose life was irrevocably stained with shocking acts of immorality and impurity. The message here is clear—you cannot have a family so screwed up that Christ will not receive you!

Amidst the crooked acts of abdication, betrayal, immorality and blackmail between Judah and his sons and daughter-in-law, see the acts of the God Who draws straight with crooked lines—He is the God Who redeems your past, and

He is the God Who REACHES every FAMILY (cp. Romans 1:16)

Over and over again God promised Abraham that it would be one of his seed that would bless every family on earth. And for as long as that promise existed, there were always those who would twist that promise into a reason for racial pride or racial hatred. Centuries later, Jesus’ cousin John would warn the crowds coming to him not to be arrogant about their bloodline:

Luke 3:8 LSB

“Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

And the Apostle Paul made this same point in his letter to Rome:

Romans 2:28–29 LSB

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

Tamar did not have a single drop of Abraham’s blood in her veins; she was as far outside the covenant promises of YHWH as she could get. Her own father-in-law Judah completely disregarded her, not caring that she lived out her days as a widow.

Judah may have been content to cast her aside out of his family, but YHWH was pleased to bring her into His! Despite her sin, despite her past, despite her bloodline, she became a beloved daughter of God and is an ancestor of the Savior of the world!

God’s people have always been called from every tribe, every tongue, every people and every nation—the precious and ancient promises that YHWH made to Abraham belong to all of us—Jew and Gentile alike—because of what Christ has done for us! This Gospel ias

Romans 1:16 LSB

...the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

This Good News came to Abraham’s children first, but was never meant to stop there—the entire world is not big enough; the entire population of this planet is not large enough to exhaust the invitation that God’s Word offers:

John 1:12 LSB

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

Judah’s abdication couldn’t stop it; his brothers’ bloodthirsty hatred couldn’t stop it; Tamar’s shame couldn’t stop it; the wickedness and rebellion of this present hour can’t stop it—The Promised Seed has come, and He has paid the final price through His blood to redeem every family on earth, to bless all the nations through His death, burial and resurrection.

Do you see someone in your life—a neighbor, a friend, a co-worker or fellow student—and look at their messed-up past of sin, shame, immorality, hatred and self-destructive behavior and say to yourself, “I don’t think they would ever listen to the Gospel...” See here that this Good News does not depend on the will of man, but on God! The ancient promises of YHWH for the blessing of every tribe, tongue, people and nation will not be stopped by the sinfulness of the people who hear it! This Gospel is not your power for salvation—it is God’s! Don’t worry about someone’s messed-up past; this Good News is the power of God for their salvation! Their faithless past cannot put them out of reach of the redemption of the Gospel!

And the same is true for you who mourn over the darkness of your own past, who are convinced that God has no use for someone so vile, that He will pass by someone who has done what you have done, someone who has had the things done to you that you have suffered at the hands of other sinners. Don’t you see here that Christ loves people like you? His own 37th-great-grandmother was as messed-up as they come, and she belongs in His lineage! There is no way to wander beyond the reach of His redemption; there are no outsiders in this family; there is no way to screw up so badly that He will not embrace you with open arms when you turn from your sin, leave behind your shame, walk away from your past and come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Ephesians 3:20–21 LSB

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

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