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Judah and Tamar - God’s Is Faithful. (1 of 2)

Genesis 38: 1-14

God is faithful, the Bible states that in plain language and it does it in some very significant passages. I think in this series, and in fact in the entire book of Genesis this has been a recurring theme, and it needs to be stated again. It’s The plain statements are in verses like I John 1:19. 

If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(1 John 1: 19)

It says in very simple plain language God is faithful and just to forgive. In first Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13, it says 

“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.

(Genesis 10: 13)

There it is again who will not allow you to be tempted above that you’re able to bear, but also when you face such challenges he will provide you with a way out of it or he will give you the emotional and spiritual resources to escape it or endure it. Those are two illustrations.  There are others where the Bible just says in plain language, God is faithful. The Bible also illustrates that truth in a number of different ways, but even so, so many miss the unbelievable extent to which God will go to remain faithful to his promises.  As a matter of fact, as we have journeyed together the Bible so far, I have been impressed with the fact that this is a major theme in the book Genesis.

Think about what we’ve been through lately where it been telling us stories to demonstrate that God remains faithful to keep his promise.  Today we’re going to begin to look at another one of those stories in Genesis chapter 38. When we read the text recently [chapter 37] about the life of Joseph a few days ago I said we’re entering a large section of the Book of Genesis and most of what we were going to look at would be bout Joseph. But what I’m going to do now is tell you a story that doesn’t have anything to do with Joseph. We just saw in Chapter 37 the phrase this is the generation of Jacob and then the next thing he does is tell us a story about another son of Jacob, Judah and Jacob doesn’t get mentioned at all for a while. While the main focus is going to be on Joseph for a while, the overall context is still unpacking the story of Jacob and his ancestors

Today we’re going to look a lot at what happened to Joseph, and by the way, I might also point out, before we look at this chapter it covers a span of probably about 20 years and it sketches the life of Judah also. There are some ramifications to this chapter one of which is that it gives us the three branches of the tribe of Judah. The other thing I would say before we look at it is this is that is one of several very sordid stories in the Bible. This is one that’s pretty blunt.  The book of Judges has some of the grossest stories in all of the Bible but this one gives them a close run. At least after this we have covered all the gruesome stories in the book of Genesis, so this is going to be the last one for a while. One commentator says this chapter is rarely read in public, so I want to give you a disclaimer before we look at this chapter. This story would fit into the trashiest of modern-day soap operas, but God allowed it to appear within the narrative of the Bible so there must be somethings we can learn from it. All right, with all al of that in mind. Let’s look at Genesis, chapter 38, verse one. 

“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 made love to 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)

It begins by saying “at that time”.  What time is that? Well, that’s obviously a reference to what just happened to Chapter 37 and what just happened in Chapter 37 is that Joseph got sold into slavery, so he’s down now in Egypt, while these events take place, will come back to him later. So, at the time that Joseph was sold into slavery, that Judah leaves his brothers and visits an Adullamite, called Hirah.

Adullam is not far from his home, from where he was to where he went was no more than about 8 miles, but the point is he left home.

The next verse tells us there was this certain Canaanite and remember Jacob’s children are not supposed to marry Canaanites. God is trying to keep the line pure so that through this Jewish line he can bring the Messiah to the world. God doesn’t want them marrying Canaanites because a whole bunch of reasons, not the least of which is that will lead them into idolatry, as well as pollute the line, so he doesn’t want them to do that. However, Judah still marries a Canaanite woman the daughter of a man called Shua. He sleeps with her, and she conceived and gave birth to a son and his name was Er, and she conceived again and had another son and she called him Onan and then she conceived a third time and had another son and called him Sheila. So, he had three sons and that the point here. So, these first five verses are telling us nothing more than Judah had three sons then this is when the story gets real interesting…. Verse six.

“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”.

(Genesis 38: 6-7)

Now, obviously, if the first verses tell us that he had three sons and now he’s getting a wife for one, this has got to be years later. So he gets a wife for his oldest son, Er, and her name was Tamar. But Er was a nasty piece of work it seems so wicked in fact that it says God killed him. Do you wonder what it was specifically he did that was so evil in the eyes of the Lord; the truth is we don’t have a clue.  The only thing we’re told is he did something wicked. 

The New Testament talks about a sin unto death. There are some signs that you can commit a sin serious enough that sometimes God says that’s it for you, you’re done. Scholars have debated what it might have been and all they can come up with is it must have been a serious and a persistent sin. I’ve heard that a lot, but I’m not persuaded it’s exactly accurate because I know people that sin persistence in the Old Testament and the Lord doesn’t kill them. To me it must have also had something to do with the bringing discredit upon the church, or the faith community into the public domain in some way. In the New Testament we have the example of someone who pretended to sell their property and donate it to the church but publicly lied about it to the faith community, and the Lord said, you’re out of here. In any rate, his first-born son died, and that’s all we really need to know pertaining to this story…. So, verse eight then says.

“Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfil your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.”

(Genesis 38: 8)

Now this may strike a strange and for our culture but there’s nothing unusual about this in the ancient world. The idea was you needed children to carry on the family line. In the case of Israel, he gave the tribe certain portions of the land, and they were supposed to have children to keep that portion of land within the correct family line.  So, the rule was that if a man died and didn’t have a son then his brother would marry the widowed wife and raise up an heir for his brother through him, all very legal and legit. 

Judah asked the second son to marry the widow of the first born so that the first born could have an heir.  Now the one thing you need to know beyond that is if he did that, then the child would be the heir of the first born and not the heir of the second born.  That was the whole deal that you’re giving the first-born line a legitimate heir. 

“But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so, the Lord put him to death also”.

(Genesis 38: 9-10)

This is one of the most significant statements in this story as blunt as it is. But then what?  You need to know is that last phrase in verse 9 to keep him from providing an offspring for his brother that is important. Important because he didn’t really want his brother to have an heir, which is a very unloving, unrighteous thing to do and in direct conflict with the way God expected things to be done in those days to build up the nation of Israel and ensure the land was allocated correctly across the 12 tribes. It was this thing which he did displeased the Lord. Therefore, the Lord killed him, also. Now we know why this one died, he so displeased with his actions that the Lord the Lord said to him times up, buddy and he killed him.

“Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So, Tamar went to live in her father’s household.

(Genesis 38: 11)

There's going to be a huge age difference here, but she can still have a son and his first one will have an heir.  So that’s the plan, got it, the third son isn’t old enough to marry the widow of the first two yet, but that’s the plan. Then it really gets interesting.

“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.

(Genesis 38: 12-14)

Judah is on his way and Tamar takes off her widows’ clothes and covered herself with a veil and she sits in an open place. The third son had grown up by this time.  That’s why many think these events occurred over a long time maybe 20 plus years. He’s still the youngest son and she was not given to him as a wife yet, but he is older now.  What this is saying is that the third son is now old enough to marry her, but Judah hadn’t given this third son yet to be a husband to her.

So, strike three. The first two husbands died, and now the third one is old enough to get married, but he hasn’t happened yet. I wonder what he is going to do, well it all quite shocking what is going to happen next, and we shall find out in the next episode.