Gen 38: A chapter stuck in between the saga of Joseph, a weird, kind of creepy story of prostitution, incest, running with the wrong crowd, death by God and redemption. Most commentaries believe that the only reason this story is in here is so that we have the back story to Tamar and ultimately the birth of Jesus. To those unfamiliar...here it is in short.
Judah leaves home, hangs out with a Canaanite, Hirah who is from Adullam.
Marries a Canaanite has 3 sons, Er, Onan and Shelah.
Er, marries Tamar...is evil...God kills him.
Onan is to produce a child by Tamar, being the brother-in-law, lets his seed miss...God kills him.
Judah is nervous to see his last boy die ,though he promises Shelah to her, sends Tamar back to her home.
Judha' wife dies, he mourns, goes to the Sheering festival..sees a prostitute...sleeps with her.
In the meanwhile, Tamar realized the promise of son #3 is not coming to past..goes by the road and is that prostitute Judah sleeps with. She asks for his signet ring and walking stick in lieu of the goat(payment).
Tamar gets pregnant, this was her plan. Judah hear, roars his offense...BURN HER !!!!
Tamra sends the signet ring to Judah, you are the father.
Ummm...she is better than I....
She gives birth to Perez and Zerah...a mix up in the womb with who comes first...Perez, in the line of Jesus.
Soooo, what can you glean from something like this. Definitely a 'skelaton in the closet' kind of story. I can imagine sitting around the dinner table and hoping no one starts telling that story...it is just kind of embarrassing and R rated. It really is a story about Judah and his leaving home and becoming entangled with Hirah, who plays a role in the whole saga. A story of bad company corrupting good morals etc. I like Tamar, though.
Tamar, she lives at the whim of her father and father-in-law. She slept with everyone in the family except the last son. She fought for her heritage with craftiness and tenacity. She very well could have stayed at home and lived out her life in widows clothing but she would have none of that. She fought for her rightful child, her place as a mother.
God's role in this story is judgment on Er and Onan and then seeming quiet. Tamar does not seem to have any relationship with the God of Judah, nor does Judah seem to have a relationship with God. He walks in his own way but even in this far away place, God writes His story. Even in the midst of awful compromising sin....God writes His story.
We often think we can derail God with our disobedience. That He is subject to our whims of choice. We live in the consequences of our sin, but we can not derail God's purpose for us.
That's Tamar's story, justice, tenacity and Sovereignty. God's got this, whatever your 'this' is.
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