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Preacher: Ross Macdonald
Scripture: Genesis 38:1-30
Well, this morning we hope to begin and also complete chapter 38, which really comes to us as an interlude of sorts within the Joseph cycle. We've seen the same pattern also with earlier in the patriarchal narratives, but as Edward Curtis said in an article, it's almost like hitting a speed bump in the story of Joseph.
Of course, as we mentioned last week, there's a sort of narrative suspense that falls upon the reader, wondering, is this the last we're going to hear of Joseph? Is everything shifting back toward Judah now, and if that's the case, we've got real trouble because Judah's nothing like Joseph, which is also one of the major points that's being established at the beginning of chapter 38.
Another thing we see is a key theme here for the story of Joseph, the theme of God's providence. God providentially overruling all things in order to fulfill His purpose and to fulfill His promise to His people.
That's not something that belongs uniquely to the times of Genesis. That is not something that belongs uniquely to Judah or Joseph, so let me say it again for us here this morning, God providentially overrules all things so that He can fulfill His promises to His people.
We need to hear that and we need to have that deep in our hearts as we wade through the difficulties and the chaos of our days. We see this comparison between Joseph and his brothers, something that we've highlighted now for a few weeks.
We also begin to see Joseph as a foil to Judah. Although Judah and his brothers are remaining in the land, as is evident, they are not walking in the ways of the Lord. And all this unraveling depravity between Judah and his brothers is simultaneously occurring while Joseph, by contrast, is walking with integrity before the Lord.
So Joseph is facing adversity and he's maintaining his righteous integrity outside of the land, suffering and facing the adversity. At the same time, his brothers are in the land, dwelling really with abundance, and yet they're not walking in integrity nor in the ways of the Lord.
Well, there's a lot to get through in these 30 verses. I think for the sake of time, I won't rehearse the reading but simply let you know what verses I'm looking at as we work through the text. And then we'll consider three things.
First, the righteousness of God within this chapter. Secondly, the righteousness of Judah or lack thereof. And then third, the righteousness of Tamar. So looking at verses 1 through 5, Judah departs from his brothers.
This probably would have been like leaving the mafia. These brothers are not a good crowd. The family is gripped by guilt and by violence. We see them really beginning to splinter apart and how can you blame them?
If they're this bloodthirsty and violent toward Joseph, how are they with each other? There's no honor among thieves. And so likely this disunity is some of the reason that Judah departs from his brothers.
We do see them unified by the time they approach Joseph and perhaps it was the famine that brought back some of the family unity. Perhaps it was a result of the very events of chapter 38 that Judah became, as it were, a mediator within the family.
I'll mention later perhaps some evidence toward that. They arrive in Egypt about 22 years later and they seem to be somewhat unified in their plight and there seems to be a lot more going for them in their brotherly and fatherly concern, especially with Judah.
But here we see the family beginning to splinter apart and Judah departs. He heads southward and to head down, to head southward, is not just a geographical departure, it's also a moral departure. He really is going down.
He marries a Canaanite woman. He yokes himself to Canaanite culture. He yokes himself, weds himself to the serpentine value system. God had called for Abraham and for Isaac to be separate from among the people, separate from the Canaanites.
And here we see Judah not walking in the way of their example, but rather walking right toward it, marrying into it. A warning of 2 Corinthians 6 would be apropos. Meanwhile, Joseph is in Egypt. He's not married.
He's a slave in a house and he'll soon go from that position of adversity, really to a position of privilege and power even within that system, but then he's stripped away and brought into the pit as it were.
And I think we can see in God's providence better to be Joseph than to be Judah at the beginning of chapter 38. In other words, better adversity in the lives of God's people than assimilation. Better adversity than assimilation.
Better to be forced away from the Canaanite influence through suffering rather than be yoked and wafted into its influence. Better adversity than assimilation. Verse 6 and 7, Judah arranges a marriage for his firstborn son, the prime heir of Judah's lineage, of Judah's posterity, Ur.
It's a great name, isn't it?
Ur.
Just rolls off the tongue. But Ur walks in wickedness before the Lord. We read, Ur was wicked in the sight of the Lord. And the result of being wicked in the sight of the Lord, perhaps that sight not so much simply the sort of koram deo that we all live within, but we go back to Genesis 18, koram deo, Sodom and Gomorrah is open and naked before him to whom we must give account.
And yet he says, I shall go and see if these things are true, if I must send judgment upon these wicked cities. And perhaps the same thing is going on, that the Lord as it were is looking, testing, examining Ur, and Ur is walking in wickedness before the Lord, failing the tests that are put before him, giving abundant evidence that he is an evil man, and the result is the Lord killed him.
The Lord killed him. This is not the first depiction of judgment in the book of Genesis, but this is the first time in the Bible where it is explicitly said that God killed someone. The Lord killed him.
God is the judge of all the earth. Let the peoples tremble as we recited from Psalm 99. We don't want to add footnotes to this or immediately qualify it, but what we need to understand in the context is, no, he was wicked in the sight of the Lord.
He was wicked.
The Lord killed him.
This is something to splash cold water on our faces, it's like, wake up, take stock. We're living by grace. The whole world is living by grace. Every human life is standing and breathing by grace. And it may not be salvific grace by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is God's grace nonetheless, because He is a righteous judge.
And when He came just to one, Ur, and saw that Ur was wicked in His sight, the righteous judge acted justly in judgment.
The Lord does this. We're not always equipped to give the cause when someone dies, even suddenly, even horrifically. We're not always given the basis or the agency. We don't necessarily know how to attribute it to God's control, though we know all that occurs in this life is under God's control.
But we are at the very least equipped to say, as Jesus did in the shadow of the rubble of the tower of Siloam collapsing, when the question was posed to Him, were these the worst Israelites.
In the land?
Jesus didn't say, well, yes, the Lord came and saw that they were wicked in His sight and He killed them. Jesus did not give that answer, but He did say, repent, lest you likewise perish, because the Lord is a righteous judge.
We've been lulled out of a biblical worldview where God, the righteous judge, will still act in this way to sober people, to alarm people, that through judgment, mercy might be given. He gives warnings, pillars of salt.
He does this so that His people will not stray from the path of truth. He does this so that unbelievers would be translated from that bondage and domain of darkness into His kingdom of light. It is merciful that Ur was killed as an alarm bell.
Wake up, Judah. Wake up, Onan. Wake up. Look, the Lord is righteous.
We've been lulled out of this biblical worldview, and we often now find that as believers, and even among us, we're tempted to one of two directions. We'll either become materialists or we'll become Marcionites.
Materialists in the sense that everything must have merely and fully a natural explanation. We don't attribute anything to God's hand. It was just a heart attack. It was just a car accident. It really was just some awful, horrific, sudden, unexpected thing.
We don't dare attribute that to God's hand. We don't dare look at that life and say, perhaps God was acting in judgment upon this wickedness, this abomination. We become materialists, just like everyone else.
Oh, it's a shame. Who could have saw it coming? Well, you know, these things happen. You know, didn't we have some great uncle that this happened to? So on the one hand, we veer away from this biblical worldview toward materialism.
On the other hand, we veer away from this biblical worldview by becoming quasi-Marcionites. Marcion was an early heretic in the church, and he taught that the God of the Old Testament was a demi-urge over and against the God of grace that is revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
So Jesus, for us, is the manifestation of a gracious divine being over against Yahweh, this evil, arbitrary, almost schizophrenic and vengeful God of the Old Testament. And though we would never quite put it in these heretical terms, many evangelicals today are functionally Marcionites in their biblical worldview of things like this.
Isn't it great that that was only back then, and now we don't have to worry about things like this? Is God not the same yesterday, today, and forever? Did Paul not come to the church at Corinth and said, some of you have been profaning the body of the Lord, and this is why some of you have died.
This is why some have fallen asleep. Paul has a biblical worldview that can attribute the hand of God to sudden, unexpected death. And so whether we're in Genesis 38 or in 1 Corinthians 11, we recognize that God is under no obligation to show mercy, though He is unimaginably, beyond all of our comprehension, long-suffering in all that He does, sending rain upon both the wicked and the just, giving even the evil good things to enjoy.
And yet, we have these moments throughout Scripture, we have these moments in the headlines that we read, where God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Look at the life of Ur.
And so we're sobered and we're taught, never presume upon God's common grace. Would Ur have thought, as so many think, I'll have time to repent, yeah, you know, there's things I want to do, there's things I know I ought not to do, but yeah, you know, when I'm my dad's age, maybe then I'll follow that straight and narrow path.
Fool, your life is required of you this very night. We come to Genesis 38, we come to 1 Corinthians 11, we come to Ananias and Sapphira, the beginning of Acts, we come to these examples, whether they're in Scripture or among us, and even hearing some, perhaps, some examples of this, where again, we're not quick to attribute things, but we're sobered, we're sobered by them, and we say, shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
Let the peoples tremble, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Well, Ur is now stripped away. Judah, beginning in verse 8, arranges for Onan to be married to Tamar, now who's been widowed, and so he tells Onan, go into your brother's wife, marry her, raise up an heir to your brother.
For Judah, the answer lies in what we call leveret marriage. Leveret marriage wasn't something unique to the Israelites, it's shown in other cultures of the day, Canaanite culture, Hittite civilization, but it's codified in the Law of Moses.
You can read about it in Deuteronomy 25, 5 and following, you can see an example of it at the very end of Ruth, chapter 4. Leveret simply means brother-in-law, it's a Latin term meaning husband's brother, brother-in-law.
So leveret marriage is the duty or responsibility of the brother-in-law to raise up an heir on behalf of his deceased brother. And this was uniform as a custom, something encoded in law within the ancient Near East.
So Onan is given over to Tamar, not for his own sake, but for the sake of Ur, that Ur's line would not be cut off. Onan now has the responsibility as the brother-in-law to Tamar, as the brother's husband, as the lever.
He has the duty to raise up a seed in his brother's place. The whole purpose of this is so that no lineage, no family would disintegrate, no line would become extinguished. The widow would have protection and the inheritance would flow freely.
But Onan is an evil man, much like Ur was an evil man. He recognizes, well now that my brother has been killed, I am actually the heir apparent and now my inheritance has been enlarged. But if I raise up an heir on Ur's behalf, my inheritance will be shriveled again.
I'll be back to where I was. And so he refuses to fulfill this custom. And this is more than just rejecting Tamar. He is acting as though he's going to fulfill the arrangement. He doesn't do what he could have done, though he would have had to borne the shame of it.
He could have said, no, I'm not going into Tamar. And then he would have had to bear the brunt of ostracization and shame. People would have sort of steered clear from him. It would have been a social mark of Cain.
He would have become a pariah. He doesn't do that. He acts as if he is fulfilling the duty. But month by month goes by, CVS pregnancy tests are going in the trash. And, oh, yeah, we don't know what's happening.
In the Hebrew here, the construction, there's different ways you can construct activity verbally. And here you have a perfect consecutive construction, if that matters to people. It's called a veketal with its verb hayah, and the idea is it's repetitive.
This is not a one-time thing. He didn't go in this one time and then emit on the ground, and then God says, this is evil. You could almost translate it this way. Whenever he went into his brother's wife, and the intimation is there, he did this frequently.
And whenever he did go into Tamar, he was just using her. He wanted all of the benefits of leverant marriage, which was simply to produce an heir, to waste upon himself selfishly and sinfully. And so he practices what is called coitus interruptus, or actually, interestingly, I didn't know this, what the French called onanism, and that's an older 19th century term.
So his name is literally given over to coitus interruptus, onanism. Onan is merely using Tamar for his own sinful desire. He has no intention of giving her an heir. Sadly, this is parallel with Judah, who likewise will have no intention in giving her an heir.
And Tamar is left to suffer as a widow in the shame of having lost her husband and having no prospect, though everyone thinks that there's this prospect, having no prospect of an heir. Judah, of course, is oblivious to this, and he doesn't even investigate when the Lord kills Onan also.
Two of his three sons are now dead. And he doesn't attribute that to Ur, and he doesn't attribute that to Onan. He seems to be so compromised by the influence of Canaan that he loses his moral ability to discern and understand the wicked ways of his sons.
As we see, he's wicked just like them. So he does what wicked men do, and he shifts the blame. And in verse 11, we read, Judah says to Tamar, remain a widow in your father's house until my last son, at this point, Shelah, is grown.
For he said, lest he also die like his brothers. Judah is so ignorant to the situation, so morally compromised, he assumes that actually Tamar is the issue here. How bad is your cooking that two of my sons have died?
What are you doing that two of my... You are clearly the problem. I know that it's my obligation as your father-in-law to provide a marriage for you so that an heir can be given to your firstborn husband.
And, you know, Shelah's young. Let him grow, and then you'll have that. And then it's almost like to himself, I'm not doing that. I'm not going to lose him, too. I'm not going to lose my third son. It comes across, perhaps not as clear in the Hebrews, literally, otherwise he will die, he, just like his brothers.
So he recognizes, if I give Shelah, who's a lot like Ur, who's a lot like Onan, perhaps, if I give him over, I'm going to lose him, too. So I'll make sure, at least, that Tamar has the promise of him without actually the reception.
So when he says, remain a widow, he really means it, although Tamar doesn't know that initially. Gradually, she begins to understand that. Verse 14, she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife.
So she takes matters into her own hands. Judah loses his own wife. Thankfully, it doesn't say the Lord killed her. Perhaps the connotation is there. Judah is surrounded by death, and yet it never wakes him up to look at his own life.
How many funerals has Judah gone to? And the message just goes right back. Perhaps he's alarmed, perhaps he's losing sleep a few nights, but then he goes right back to his old sinful patterns. He becomes numb and desensitized.
His conscience begins to go back to sleep. Well, somehow Tamar is told that Judah, who's finished now mourning his wife, he's going to sheep shearing, most likely a festal event. It would have been common in the ancient Near East to have certain activities, ends of harvest, sheep shearing.
And in Canaanite civilization, there seems to be evidence that this was something festal. Something that you would mark with idolatrous worship, celebration, and cultic prostitution. So Tamar understands, I can disguise myself as a prostitute in this very way.
She changes uniforms. Out of the widow's uniform into that of a harlot. Interestingly, that of a harlot is to cover herself up almost entirely and put herself out vulnerably in public. Once again, clothes play a part in the deception of the patriarchs.
And again, this is something that as we get toward the end of Genesis, we're going to see just how significant that emblem of clothing is. Well, apparently Tamar knew something of just how immoral Judah was.
We don't get the sense that Judah was coming into the tent. Oh, you know, Sheila still needs a little more time, but let's do some family worship together. And did you read Morning and Evening? It's a really good one, you know, today.
And there's no sense that he was an upright man. And she's thinking, well, I can go lure him as a prostitute. She knows, if I just go cover myself in a towel and sit by the road, he's going to come into me.
So that already screams to us just how far gone Judah is. And of course, it works. He immediately seeks her out. He turned to her, by the way, and said, please let me come into you. Verse 16 and following.
They have to work out this pledge. Well, what's my payment? A young goat. Again, goats playing a major part of deception in every episode. I will send you a young goat from the flock. So she said, will you give me a pledge before you send it?
And he said, what pledge shall I give you? Signet and cord. That would have been the necklace that held the signet. And the staff that is in your hand. So the goat is the payment, but he doesn't walk around with a goat.
And so he says, well, I promise I will give you a goat. Well, I need a deposit. I need a security until I get the goat. Give me your signet. Give me the cord it's on. Give me your staff. That would have been like surrendering your passport.
It's your identification as a signet. The staff would have been a symbol of authority and also would have had identifying marks that it belonged to Judah. In other words, there's no wiggling out of the fact that these truly belong to him.
This is not some forgery he was able to lose on eBay. Judah agrees. He goes into Tamar. Tamar finally produces the heir that she should have received by Onan, the heir that she likely desired to receive through Ur.
Tamar secures the lineage of Judah despite Judah. It's an awkward and despicable scene. The whole chapter kind of makes your skin crawl. It's not exactly one we look forward to reading. But Tamar, in terms of the narrative, is praiseworthy.
Tamar's plan to receive a child by Judah, it comes across as just gross and disgusting. But we have to understand the significance of this line not being distinguished. And though for her it's about producing the heir that should have come through Ur, even Ur is part of Judah's lineage, Judah's posterity.
And so she knew after God had taken Ur and after God had taken Onan, she knew that once Shelah was grown, he was being withheld from her. And she really would remain a widow in her house forever. Now, the Mosaic law does not go this far.
It never conceives of a situation where a father-in-law fulfills the leveret custom. That's a custom for brothers to fulfill. But what's significant here is she does not go outside of the family of Judah.
She does not go outside of Judah's household. She's loyal and faithful to what she had obligated herself to do in marriage. And so it's this great act of courage and sacrifice to go this far just to bring forth the seed of Ur, the seed of Judah.
Judah is completely unconcerned about this being fulfilled. He's willing to jeopardize his own lineage. But Tamar is not. Tamar is not willing to jeopardize Judah's lineage. He sins. He's just looking for a prostitute.
He's just looking, like Onan, to gratify his own desires sinfully. But here's Tamar righteously sacrificing herself, putting herself in danger's way, exercising this daring attempt all so that she could build up the household of her husband, the household of Judah.
Now, Judah here does not commit incest. And the text makes that absolutely clear. That would have been a gross sin. He's fulfilling, in sort of an awkward and surprising twist, the duty of the leveret.
But at the same time, it's not incest. And we read at the end of verse 26, he never knew her again. You see, if the air had come and he kept going into her, then you have a sinful abomination of incest.
But this was simply to produce the air. And when the air comes, the responsibility has been fulfilled. Well, Judah finally sends the young goat, sends the payment. He wants his passport back. He needs his credit card.
And of course, the harlot is nowhere to be found. Notice he sends his friend to do it. Hey, do you mind go picking up that stuff for me? He doesn't want to show his face. He's pretty embarrassed and humiliated.
And he doesn't even know how embarrassed and humiliated he's about to be. Word to the wise, again, God is not mocked. Your sins will find you out. Judah didn't want to be visible in this process. His Canaanite friend comes back with the goat and nothing else to show.
No signet, no staff. All of that's long gone. Verse 23, well, I guess she's going to have to keep them. I've lost my passport. And I've lost my symbol of authority, my staff. But I don't want to become a mockery among the Canaanites here, remember?
I love the Canaanite influence. I love Canaanite culture. I've been walking toward it ever since I departed my father's house. And now I don't want them to laugh at me. I don't want them to be ashamed of me.
Do you notice that unlike Joseph, Judah was not concerned about becoming a spectacle of God's righteousness, whatever the cost may be. Judah was only concerned about becoming an object of man's scorn.
And so he goes hiding thinking all of this has been contained and he'll have to work out a new signet, get some clay, and make a whole new staff and all that. But hey, at least he won't be made fun of.
At least the sin and the shame is kept quiet. Three months pass, verse 24, and Judah is told, Tamar, your daughter-in-law. Again, just emphatic. We already know who Tamar is. We already know how she's related to Judah.
But look at what the Hebrew text is giving you. Tamar. You know the one that literally went through two of your sons? You know the one that's been patiently waiting day by day, week by week, month by month for the third son for Shelah?
Do you see how loyal she is? Do you see how she hasn't abandoned your family? It's Tamar, you know, your daughter-in-law. So there it is, that emphasis, the relationship. Tamar, your daughter-in-law.
Someone who should be precious in your sight. She's played the harlot. She even has a child by harlotry. What does Judah say to Tamar, to his own daughter-in-law?
Bring her out. Let her be burned.
Judah demands that Tamar be brought right out into the center of the court, as it were. Right out in public view. I want everyone to know, wake up the village. Wake up the town. Get everyone here. They're going to watch my daughter-in-law burn.
She brought shame to my household. Look how she dishonored me. Didn't she know that I was going to give Shelah to her eventually? He wasn't.
She shamed me.
Now she must be burned to death. It's the most severe response imaginable. According to her legal standing, Tamar remains bound to the Levirate law. She's still legally Ur's wife. And so for her, if it had been true, for her to be pregnant by someone outside of the family, that's adultery.
That's a capital offense in the Mosaic law and the ancient Near East. But even in those laws, the Code of Hammurabi, Hittite laws, whatever comparable you look at, the Mosaic law, this situation would never call for her to be burned to death, stoned to death, if the charges were proven, but not burned.
So Judah is beyond severe, beyond cruel. He's not looking for clemency in the least. He's raging as a judge against Tamar. He does not put her away quietly. Does not go to her and say, what happened? Explain it to me.
Defend yourself. He just pronounces judgment.
Drag her out.
Everybody needs to know. And everybody can stand and watch her burn. But as she's brought out, she sends to her father-in-law the father-in-law she's been loyal to beyond our understanding. The father-in-law she has not abandoned beyond all comprehension.
The household that has only brought her pain and ruin that she's remained bound to, she sends and says, by the man to whom these things belong, I am with child. And out from the messenger's hand come the signet and the cord and the staff.
And Judah is rocked to the core. What a moment. This is quintessential poetic justice. Here's the signet. Here's the staff. And now who's in the center of the court? Now who's being publicly scorned?
What a hypocrite.
And now the judge who had been demanding justice by the Mosaic standard and beyond. Don't just stone her. Burn her to death. He's so rocked to the core. Now he changes his verdict. She is righteous. We have in the translation, she is more righteous than I.
But it's probably not the best translation. It makes sense. That's typically how we deal with this construction. But you have something called a comparison of exclusion. And that seems to be exactly what's going on here.
And the advanced grammars say that's the case. So it would be better like this. She is righteous, not I. He's not giving himself a pass. Well, I'm righteous, but she's even more righteous than me. He's saying, she is the righteous one.
I'm not righteous. He owns his guilt. This is the turning point in Judah's life. This is the moment when sin becomes sin to him. This is the moment when light actually shows what is dark in his life. The scales from Judah's eyes fall off.
He awakes.
The dungeon flames with light. This really is this moment in Judah's life. He begins to reckon with his failure, with his evil. I'm sure in the calculation of this moment, he's considering why his sons were killed and why in the mystery of God's mercy he has been spared.
And now his life as a result of God's mercy will begin to change. Now he understands what Proverbs 28, 13 says. He who conceals his sin does not succeed, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
And Judah finds mercy. I am not righteous.
She is righteous.
Well, that's the conclusion, and we're going to get back to Judah's redemption. But you have this beautiful, beginning in verse 27, this beautiful fulfillment. This would be called the denouement of chapter 38, where sort of everything moves forward in a completing sort of satisfying conclusion.
Finally, Tamar is allowed to bring forth the seed that she sought through now three different relationships. And it's not just one heir, but it's twins, thematic up to this point in Genesis as we've seen.
And as she's giving birth, one puts out the hand. And as soon as that hand comes out, midwife's there, Johnny in the spot to tie a scarlet thread around it, right? Because that's significant. Who's the first to come out?
But as soon as that scarlet thread goes out around the wrist, the baby pulls the wrist back in. And then as that baby drew back the hand, the other brother comes out unexpectedly. And we read in verse 29, it happened as he drew back his hand that his brother came out unexpectedly, and Tamar said, how did you break through?
This breach be upon you. Now, it probably didn't sound like that. Because remember, she's in the middle of labor. So it probably sounds more like, how did you break? Something like that. It's all very composed.
And it's like, I don't think that's how that went down. Tamar was like, remember when I said that? And they're like, you were just grunting and groaning. Oh, well, this is what I would have said. She has pretty amazing composure.
Not only is she righteous, and does she have loyalty and integrity, she's also a pretty strong woman, if she can say things like that, as twins are changing positions in the birth canal. Well, his name is called Perez, the breacher, the one that broke through.
And you can see the amazement, right? Here comes the firstborn, and there's no scarlet thread on his wrist.
How did you break through?
How could this have been? And then the other brother comes, the other twin, and there's that scarlet thread. And his name is called Zerah. So it ends with the birth of these twins. There's this struggle about who's going to arrive first.
Does that sound familiar? Jacob, Esau, clutching the heel. It's the same imagery, the same theme that we're given. The issue of the younger brother striving for position against the older brother.
And Perez breaks through.
He breaks through not only into this family lineage, but he breaks through into the messianic line of David. As a result, the blessing goes upon him, though he's the younger brother, as it were. In chapter 38, just to spend a few minutes appreciating this, you know, a few generations ago, maybe second half of the 19th century, really all the way through, and only in the past 30 years or so has this begun to wane, you had this encrusted form of biblical interpretation among Old Testament scholars called form criticism.
And the major, major document for form critics in Old Testament studies was Genesis. And you have what's called the documentary hypothesis and the idea that Genesis was not an account written by Moses, but a compilation that took place by different authors over a long period of time.
And they are reflecting their own interests and doctrinal concerns throughout the corpus of not only Genesis, but the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. And they look at Genesis, they look at the Joseph cycle, and they come to chapter 38, and they go, see?
This has nothing to do with the Joseph cycle. This is the ancient Near Eastern equivalent of cut and paste. If you pull this out, the flow of the narrative makes sense. This was clearly inserted later by a separate writer, inserted into the record of Genesis.
So there's no unified author under Moses. That's what these liberal skeptics would say. I want to give you some appreciation for why Moses would include chapter 38 as an interlude at this point in the narrative concerning Joseph.
Judah and his brothers had just sold Joseph into slavery. Remember, they were the ones thinking that they could thwart God's plan as it was revealed in the visions given to Joseph so that they would not have to serve the younger brother.
In other words, the elder brothers would not bow down to the younger brothers. And as we close chapter 38, we're given this little reminder in Judah's own family that the elder will serve the younger, that the younger will break through.
And the amazement of Tamar's voice is almost the conclusion of Joseph's whole story. When he goes from the pit in Egypt to become Lord, as it were, over all of the land preserving life, the question rhetorically is, how did you break through?
The brothers asked Jacob to identify Joseph's garment. And Moses is picking up this same plot device in the way Tamar asked Judah to identify his belongings. Moses links the story, as Samuel Omadi points out in a wonderful study, I mentioned it last week, Moses links the story of Judah's fall in Genesis 38 to contrast the story of Joseph's rise to power beginning in chapter 39 through 41.
Both stories begin with each brother going down. The difference is, Judah goes down voluntarily. Well, let me see what's going on in Canaan. Joseph is torn down against his will into slavery. Joseph is pure, where Judah is promiscuous.
Joseph refuses temptations according to Genesis 39. Potiphar's wife seeks him, calls him, tempts him day by day. Picture the scene, the equivalent of veiling herself on the road. Any interest? Come on, Joseph, no one has to know.
Come on, you know, if anything, I'm really the one risking everything here. Come on, Joseph. And he refuses. He has integrity. He refuses. Judah, by contrast, he gives into temptation the first time. There's no integrity there.
But then notice significantly that God redeems Judah. Both in Genesis 38 and in 39 through 41, these culminate in the birth of two sons. For Judah, Perez, and Zerah. These births mark the redemption that God has brought in the life of Judah.
And then Ephraim and Manasseh mark, as it were, the deliverance. In that sense, the redemption of Joseph from the pit. Another example, I don't have time to go into the details here, but it's really beautiful.
When you take Genesis 37 through 50 as a whole, there's 12 occurrences by design, 12 occurrences of the Divine Name, Yahweh. 11 out of those 12, so the very end, Genesis 49, Jacob gives the last blessing using the Divine Name, Lord.
That number 12 is very significant to the Hebrew mind. All other 11 occurrences are found between chapters 38 and 41. And when they're used, they're used significantly. Every time in Genesis 38 that the Divine Name is given, it's something against Judah and his household.
The Lord is against Ur. The Lord killed him. The Lord saw wickedness in his sight. And then Onan, the Lord killed him also. Those are all instances of the Divine Name. So God is against Judah. But then when you get to 39 through 41, all of the instances of the Divine Name are in favor of Joseph.
The Lord blessed him. The Lord caused him to be entrusted with all of his master's house. The Lord was with him. Four times, the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. Do you see the contrast between Judah and Joseph?
Again, Moses is writing this as a narratival whole. And we see as a principle, Romans 5 .20, where sin abounded, grace abounded, much more, because God redeems Judah at the end of chapter 38. I hope we have enough time to get through these points.
Let's begin first with the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is seen first and foremost in His judgment upon Ur and Onan. God kills them. We're not told how. Did they get struck by lightning?
Did they keel over like Ananias and Sapphira? Did they get swallowed up like Korah and the rebels? We're not told. What we can see is, they did not go quietly into that good night. They did not die of natural causes such that no one was provoked.
They had a sudden death, a climactic death. They were killed by the Lord, not by that which is the common fate of all fallen flesh. The Lord, as it were, creates a new thing when He kills them, so that all will know that they had rejected the Lord.
So that all would know that they had sinned, not only against the Lord, but against their own souls. I'm using that language from Numbers 26, from Korah and the rebellion, because I think it helps us frame God's righteousness in Genesis 38.
In Numbers 26, we read, and you can turn there if you have a Bible, you can turn to Numbers 26. So instructive for us understanding the righteousness of God, first in terms of judgment, and then secondly in terms of mercy.
So that the purpose of God throughout Scripture is always His salvation through judgment. And that takes us from Genesis 38 and beyond all the way to the cross, salvation through judgment. Well, Numbers 26, I'm gonna try to gallop through this because we have more to go, but beginning around verse 19, you remember the situation in Numbers 26.
Korah is really leading the charge against Moses and Aaron saying, you've taken too much to yourself. And really, you know, it's time that the wiser among us step up and fill that vacuum. And so there's this contest now between Korah and those that are following him.
250 of the leaders of Israel are in Korah's pocket and they're willing to go against the God-given mediator, Moses and Aaron, the high priest. So Korah gathers all of this congregation against Moses and Aaron, beginning in verse 19, right at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
And we read, then the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment.
There's no deliberation. Korah, just, yeah, come on, you know, look at all the numbers we got. Yeah, let's go, you know. Everyone would agree that it's time for Moses and Aaron to take a back seat. And God comes and goes, you know, all right, make your case.
Oh, hold on a second. No, that hasn't been established yet. Make your case.
No.
He says, Moses, Aaron, beat it. I'm about to destroy all of them. Separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment. Is God threatening the heritage of Israel? It's like the house of Judah.
And He's killing the heirs. I'm going to consume them. Why are you doing this, Lord? Are you jeopardizing your own heritage? Your own promises on the line here. Shall not the just judge of all the earth do right?
Kiss the son, lest he be angry. His wrath is kindled in a moment. And that's what he says, Psalm 2, but that's what he says, that I may consume them in a moment. So they fall on their faces. This is Moses and Aaron, again, interceding on behalf of the very people against them.
This is what mediatorial sacrifice looks like. Moses, as it were, glimmering toward Jesus. Oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall only one man sin, that is Korah? You be angry with the whole congregation?
Yeah, they're following him, but it's really just Korah leading the charge. Can you just kill him and spare the rest? And look at this, the Lord speaks to Moses and says, say to the congregation, get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
He finds three leaders in his sight that are wicked and worthy of death. Is the intercession successful?
Just kill Korah.
No, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Get away from their tents. Get the whole congregation away from their tents. And so they cry out in verse 26, depart now, touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed with their sin.
And they run from the tents, the whole congregation flees Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And it says, Dathan and Abiram come out. Korah, you can almost get the sense, he's so callous, he's like, oh, what is it now?
Moses grandstanding again, he's not even worth me getting up from my tent. But here's the families of Dathan and Abiram. Perhaps they don't even really understand the significance of what's just taken place.
But the Lord judges the intents and the thoughts of the heart. And they gather their family, their wives, their children outside the door of the tent. What's going on? And Moses says to them, if these men die naturally like all men, verse 29, if they're visited by the common fate of all men, if Ur and Onan grow old, and they die in a senior's home in Southern Florida, if they experience the natural death that comes to all fallen men, the Lord has not sent me.
But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will know that these men have rejected the Lord. Do you see? It's not that the Lord has rejected these men, Moses says, you'll know that He sent me.
What you'll know when they face judgment is, these men have rejected the Lord. And that's why judgment has suddenly come upon them like birth pains on the night. It's not because God is arbitrary. They've been living by grace for far too long, but they've rejected the Lord.
And today is the day of reckoning.
And as soon,. Verse 31,.
As soon as he finished speaking the word, the earth begins to split and crack open like a mouth. It swallows up the tents and the households. And the people flee. We read in verse 38, it was these men who sinned against their own souls.
When you're not walking in God's way, it's not so much that you're only sinning against God, that's uniquely and chiefly what you're doing, but you're sinning against your own soul. And again, the question, oh, well, okay, those three households, the intercession worked, we just wanted Korah, but thankfully it was just the three tents, but Moses and Aaron are not the judge.
God is the judge. And so for all those 250 that were scattered from the tents, fire breaks out and it consumes them all. Is God going to destroy his own people? Is he going to jeopardize his own promise?
And we're reminded, don't presume upon the mercy of God. He's able to raise up children from these stones, John the Baptist says. He doesn't need a corrupt and rebellious people to carry out his promises.
Merely being a child of Abraham, according to the flesh, does not count. Merely being a child of Judah, whether you're Ur or Onan, that does not count. It is the Spirit who gives life, Jesus says, the flesh counts for nothing.
It's a strong warning, isn't it, brothers and sisters? It's a strong warning. Beware, the writer of Hebrews says, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. Departing from the living God, so exhort one another by the day while it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
And then quoting Psalm 95, today, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the days of the rebellion, as in the days of Korah, when the just judge came near. Lest anyone, Hebrews 4 .11, fall by the same example of disobedience.
For there is no creature hidden from his sight. All things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Brothers and sisters, the King's strength loves justice. And so we as Christians, we don't dare boast.
We don't dare presume. We come humbly. Paul says to the church at Rome, don't boast against the branches. That's the Jews who are rejecting the Messiah. Ethnic Jews. And he's saying these are the branches.
Don't you dare boast against them as if you were more wise, as if you were more holy, more righteous than they. If you do boast, remember that you don't support the root. The root supports you. You will say then, branches were broken off that I might be grafted in, well said, because of unbelief they were broken off.
But you stand by faith.
Do you see?
Paul says, I'm not a Marcionite. If God broke them off because of unbelief, do you not think He's able to break you off because of unbelief? So you better stand by faith.
Lest you become hardened.
Lest the deceitfulness of sin.
Creeps into your life.
And you begin to stray from the path of truth.
Don't harden your heart.
As in the days of rebellion. Don't be haughty, he says, but fear. If God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore, the conclusion of Paul, consider the goodness and severity of God.
On those who fell.
Severity, but towards you, goodness. If you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. Paul says this to a group of believers perhaps about this size in Rome in the late 50's, early 60's A .D.
So then how can we take Numbers 26? Can we take Romans 11? Can we take the warning that causes us to consider the severity of God and shift from that to the goodness of God? How can we go from Romans 11 to Romans 5?
We have access to God by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. You would think in Numbers 26 that after watching Korah and Dathan and Abiram be swallowed up by the earth, and then fire consumed the 250 leaders that were fleeing from their tents, you would think that that would soften the hardened hearts.
Of the people of Israel.
But we keep reading in Numbers 26, on the next day, on the very next day, the whole congregation of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. You've killed the people of the Lord. The Lord didn't kill them, you killed them.
You think I opened up the earth? You think I broke out in fire? How hard, how deluded is your thinking? You're so horizontal in your view of your own lives in this world. You have no place for the vertical hand of God?
So they gather against Moses and Aaron and they turn toward the tabernacle just like Korah, just like Dathan and Abiram, just like the 250 leaders. And then it's like bursting onto the tabernacle as the cloud, and we read, the glory of the Lord appeared.
And Moses and Aaron came out and the Lord said, get away from the congregation so I can consume them in a moment. Apparently, yesterday was not enough. The glory of God breaks out upon the assembly and His righteousness begins to slay the people of Israel in a moment, hundred by hundred, then thousand by thousand.
And the glory of God here.
Is so infinitely righteous,.
It breaks out upon them in the terror of His righteous judgment. And Paul says in Romans 5, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. How can we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God if the glory of God looks like that?
Well, the answer comes in v. 45 and following. Moses and Aaron fall on their faces. They take a censer and they put fire in it from the altar. And they run. They rush to the congregation. Moses told Aaron, take fire.
Put it. Take fire from the altar. Put it in the censer.
Run out.
Make atonement for the people. Wrath has gone out from the Lord.
The plague has begun.
And Aaron did as Moses commanded. Aaron the high priest took that burning coal from the altar and put it in his censer and he rushed out the high priest making atonement for the people because the wrath of God had broken out against them.
And we read, he made atonement for the people. V. 48, he stood between the dead and the living. And the plague was stopped. Do you remember Isaiah 6 and the burning coal from the altar? This picture of the atonement of Christ.
And the high priest is running with fire from the altar so that the people will be spared. Because on the one hand, the king's strength loves justice. But Moses and Aaron, they know Him as the God who forgives.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and that is how we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
The way that chapter 38 begins, we see an utter, awful absence of righteousness in Judah. We see that in the lives of his own sons that he's raising to be like little Canaanites. We're reminded that, brothers and sisters, we must not be ignorant to Satan's devices.
He snares us with nets of spiritual pride. As John Flavel, the great Puritan said, it's easier to cry out against 1 ,000 sins of others than it is to kill one sin of your own. And you see that with Judah and Tamar, don't you?
As one Puritan put it, another Puritan said, many have passed by the rocks of abominable sins who have yet suffered shipwreck upon the sands of self-righteousness. Why did tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom ahead of the righteous Pharisees?
If we could put it like this, the Calvinists of their day. They had all of the doctrinal precision that we appreciate and admire. They had zeal for the word of God. They were energetic in their efforts and energies for people to be obedient to the commands of God.
But why did tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom ahead of them? Why did their righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees? It's because they knew in and of themselves they had no capacity, no ability, no hope to stand before God unless they could stand before Him by His grace.
They had nothing to bring, nothing to offer, nothing to barter with, nothing to credit themselves with. They were completely empty. And as D .L. Moody said at some point, God only sends away empty those who come to Him full of themselves.
Spurgeon says it's easier to save us from our own sins than from our own righteousness. It's easier for a tax collector or a prostitute to enter the kingdom than a self-righteous Pharisee. A young man that kept the law from his youth.
Do you hear this?
Young homeschoolers in our body. It's easier to be saved from sin than from self-righteousness. Consider Judah. He has a moral compass for Tamar but not for himself. He can look at all the wrong around him but not at the mirror standing before him.
He's a hypocrite. Self-righteousness is hypocrisy by another name. He would have done well to look at himself carefully and humbly before he considered her or considered anyone else. We would do well to look at ourselves carefully and humbly before we look at anyone else.
John Newton said, and this is just so powerful, he wrote in a letter, I'm afraid there are Calvinists, John Newton was a Calvinist of course, I'm afraid there are Calvinists who while they accounted a proof of their humility that they are willing in words to debase the creature and to give all the glory of salvation to the Lord, yet they don't know what manner of spirit they are of.
Whatever it is that makes us trust in ourselves that we are comparatively wise or good so as to treat others with contempt who don't follow our doctrines or follow our party is a proof and fruit of a self-righteous spirit.
Self-righteousness can feed upon good doctrine just as it can upon good works. And a man may have the heart of a Pharisee while his head is stored with the riches of free grace. May that never be said of us.
We need spiritual humility. You could read, I don't have time to, I have many excerpts from Jonathan Edwards here on the dangers of a censorious spirit. If you're looking for something to read, his exposition of 1 Corinthians 13 called Charity and Its Fruits.
Are we patient in our speech, in our demeanor, in our thoughts toward others? Are we tender? When a name comes up, some preacher, some theologian, you know, someone that you know, is the first thing that you say, well the problem with him is, well the problem with, well the problem with, we need spiritual humility.
If we belong to the Lord and we lack spiritual humility, we can safely trust that he will introduce it into our lives the hard way. Judah was spiritually humbled the hard way. Look at Judah. I think we'll move through this quickly.
Look at Judah. When Ur is killed, when Onan is killed, we find no mention of him tearing his robe, wearing sackcloth, refusing to be comforted. He seems to take it in stride. He seems to be a very unfeeling man.
He's callous. How callous is he? Tamar comes out and instead of even going to her, wondering, what happened? Can you please explain this to me? What can we do? Let's pray to God.
He just says, burn her.
So unfeeling, so callous is this man. How different the grace of God in the life of Joseph, not in Genesis, but in the Gospels, who's also betrothed, as it were, not to Ur, but betrothed to the Virgin Mary.
And when the rumors come out, she has a child, Joseph. He doesn't say, bring her into the public and burn her. He says, how can I deal with this quietly? I don't want to humiliate her. He's tender, feeling, merciful.
What a contrast. The difference between the grace of God and the life of Judah before this moment when Judah is redeemed and then how tender, how merciful, how sacrificial he becomes as a result of this.
We find him in Genesis 43 when Jacob refuses to send Benjamin and thus the whole family is going to starve to death.
In the land.
And Judah cries out to his father,.
Send him with me.
And if we live and we do not die, and our little ones are spared, I myself will be surety for him. From my hand you require him. You kill me, you take my life if I don't bring him back to you. That's not the Judah at the beginning of Genesis 38.
He doesn't just say it with words. He proves it in the very next chapter. Judah begs Joseph that Benjamin might be sent home and he would live there as a slave. I can't let my father experience that. Please send the boy home and require what you will of me.
I will be the slave. Do what you will to me. Judah's been changed. It seems like Joseph's whole plan in chapter 44 was, oh, Benjamin's the one that has to stay with me. Alright, here's your food now. Get out of my life.
I never want to see you again. He just wanted his kid brother, he just wanted Benjamin to be with him in Egypt, to live it up in the palace. But the third longest speech in the whole book of Genesis is Judah imploring him, laying his own life down as a sacrifice.
And Joseph can't contain it. He bursts into tears. And it's like Judah's mercy and sacrifice inspires Joseph to say, maybe I can be reconciled with my brothers. Judah is the turning point for Joseph even.
Judah was so changed by this episode with Tamar that it seems he took the favored place of Joseph in the household of Jacob. In chapter 37, Jacob trusted Joseph to gather information. He was the one that the father trusted.
You go and report on your brothers to me. And in chapter 46, Jacob treats Judah in that way. Judah was now the trustworthy man of integrity and righteousness. And of course, this redemption of Judah carries into his very own seed this hypocritical, cruel, heartless man is not only blessed by God's transforming grace, but he's honored as the predecessor of David and therefore David's greater son.
Where sin is abounding at the beginning of Genesis 38, grace is abounding so much more. And on his deathbed, Jacob gives the blessing to Judah. Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.
Your father's sons will bow down before you. Oh, wasn't that what was said of Joseph in chapter 37? Why is that being said here? Because Jacob is telling what will come upon his sons in the last days.
49 v. 1. A phrase that Moses will not use again until Numbers 24 with the prophecy of Balaam, the fourth oracle of the last days when the star will rise up out of Jacob. The scepter will not depart from Israel.
Your brothers shall praise you. Your father's sons shall bow down before you. Now that blessing, that vision that was given typologically to Joseph as the type of Christ, is given prophetically to the seed of Judah.
Then lastly, we have the redemption of Tamar. Tamar chooses the path of shame for the sake of honor. She honors the lineage of Judah despite that shameful mistreatment of her. There was shame in her past, but blessing in her future.
Her name actually becomes synonymous with blessing. How would you later in Israelite history, how would you bless a marriage? How would you give blessing? You would say something along the lines of, may you be like Tamar.
May God bless you like Tamar. May you have the heart and the spirit of Tamar. We read the end of Ruth chapter 4. Again, a whole book of generations pointing to the seed. The seed of David, and therefore, David's greater seed.
And this is what the elders at the gate say when Boaz comes to claim Ruth the Moabitess. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel.
May you prosper in Ephrathah. May you become famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah. In the beginning of the Gospel, when we have the genealogy of Jesus, we have that same exact phrase in verse 3.
Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar. We began chapter 38 with compounded years of misery and suffering. Tamar losing husband after husband, and then having to go and give herself over to her father-in-law just to receive a child.
And the conclusion of Tamar's life is she's given the lineage of Jesus Himself. The seed of David, the seed of Abraham, the serpent crushing the seed. Despite the suffering, despite the shame, despite the guilt and the adversity she faces, Tamar walks along that noble line of mothers that are carrying forth the promise of Eve.
Bringing forth the serpent crushing seed. That's her privilege, though she's a Canaanite woman. To paraphrase 1 Timothy 2, Tamar fell into transgression, nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing.
If she continues in faith, love, holiness, with self-control, she is quite literally saved.
By childbearing.
Continuing by faith, love, holiness, with self-control. All of us have been saved through her childbearing. Where sin abounded, grace abounded. So much more. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word, Lord.
There was so much to consider in this chapter, and I feel myself, Lord, we barely cracked the surface. And yet what glows through all of these verses is Your perfect plan of redemption for Your seed to come and be that atonement on behalf of Your people, so that unlike Ur and unlike Onan, we might cry out and expose our sin and our shame and receive mercy in the day of trouble.
We thank You, Lord, that You reconciled us while we were yet enemies. And we pray, Lord, here, approaching our tenth year as a church, that You would give us the grace to exhort one another daily, lest there be some sin of unbelief that crops up among us and causes us to walk by the deceitfulness of sin.
Do not let our hearts become hardened. If there's anyone, Lord, in this room who has been presumptive of Your mercy, living on borrowed grace, might they feel the alarm of Your law, of Your righteous judgment, and flee to the cross where that wrath was taken for all of those who plea for mercy by faith in the Son of God.
These things we ask in His name.
Amen.
Now's our time for interaction. I know we went long. It was a very long chapter. But I'm sure there's some points that can be raised in interaction as well. So this is a time for the brothers among us to exhort, perhaps reflect, perhaps stir with a question, but whatever is said publicly in this time of worship, we ask that it be for the edification of everyone here.
Once again, you've opened a few things up to me that I haven't caught after reading this account. I find a parallel between Joseph's situation and Judah. I never caught that before. I always just looked at it as showing the continuation of the line of David and the line of the Messiah.
But it's interesting how you say that Judah succumbed to his appetite, just like Esau did. He gave his birthright up. It's kind of the same thing as what Esau did. But then Joseph was tempted by the wife of Potiphar, and he didn't succumb to that.
And then it's also interesting that Joseph also had twins. Judah had twins. It's just amazing how the more you read this word, you know that it's the hand of God that wrote it. A man couldn't have conceived of all these interwoven plots and typologies that are there.
I just really thank you for expositing that and opening up a few more little nuggets in there. You really, really blessed me.
Thanks, Ross. A couple things. I appreciate you talking about self-righteousness, because I know I can struggle with that at times, especially when you use the example on how we might think of other spiritual leaders and whatnot.
You know, at least we're not like that guy. This guy, yeah, he's good, but... I know that we need to call out when there's fallacies and whatnot, but I think too much too often, if somebody doesn't play the right music or think the same way we do on eschatology or something like that, we can be quick to throw them out.
Sometimes I think Christians can be our own worst enemies, which is, you know, what they say here, in a circle of firing squad, which is not good. So thanks for pointing that out. And not just about that.
I mean, I think that we can be self-righteous about a lot of things. So, but thank you. But, you know, I never really understood about Tamar, however you say her name. I know she's spoken of highly, but it just seems odd.
I mean, she pretends to be a prostitute. She does some things that we would consider rather sinful. I guess it was God's will, it worked out. But I just have a hard time with that. It just seems, you know, kind of somewhat odd.
I mean, we know that Rahab turned away from her... Well, we assume she turned away from her sin and she came to know the Lord. But I don't know. It just seems odd that this woman went in to do the sin she did do.
God, praise God, used it for good. But I don't know, I just have a hard time with that. I scratch my head and shake my head. And does sin justify the means?
I think we have to... Rahab is an interesting comparison because you have a similar act of deception, not toward Judah, but toward the men of Jericho who are going to seek out the spies. And it's also an interesting parallel because you have a harlot in both cases who ends up being in the procession toward Jesus genealogically.
And so I don't think that's lost upon... In other words, I think there's something intentional to seeing some parallels between Rahab and Tamar. And the same way that Tamar is only commended, despite some things that are perhaps in the grand scheme hard to work out, would be the same that we would say with Tamar.
The Mosaic Law is not codified yet, and yet we can see all sorts of ways that it's implicit. And I think according to the letter of the law, we can see that she is acting in integrity and Judah is the one who is not righteous in this.
He's the one that's breaking the law, as it were. She uses deception, sinful means to try to bring about a good end in the same way that Rahab uses deception and in that sense, deception being sinful, but it's toward a good end and it's seen as a righteous act.
So it brings up moral issues that we have to work out biblically and we don't want to veer toward a pragmatism that says the ends are what justifies the means, but I would think Rahab and Tamar are probably more closely aligned than we might think initially.
I agree, there's things that make us kind of go, wait, what's going on here? But I think the Leverite custom is the most significant part of understanding why Tamar's conduct is commended. She is righteous, not Judah.
That's Judah's own pronouncement upon it.
If I could just add something to that, I agree with you. I think there's also the aspect of the focus on the promised seed here.
Yes.
And just like Jacob engages in deception to secure the promise, and although we see the fruit of the deception in his life, God deals with that, yet he's really ultimately commended in Scripture, received because of his love and his thirst after that, which was of importance, this promise, this birthright that ultimately comes from God and goes back to the garden and the promised seed.
And conversely, Esau is condemned in the Scripture because he's a profane man, because he doesn't respect this. So I think there's a real parallel here, not just with Rahab, but even perhaps more so with Jacob and with Rebekah, who engage in things that aren't right, but they're motivated by a real desire to see the promise of God fulfilled.
And it in no way justifies the deception, or in this case the kind of shady behavior on Tamar's part. But what the focus is on is on Tamar's probably misguided, very uninformed... She's a Canaanite, and I don't know how good a job Judah did discipling her.
And we also are looking back with the benefit of completed revelation that they did not have. You alluded to that. But I think it's fair to infer that she had a desire for this promised line, this promised seed, that there was some knowledge in the family that there was this promise going back.
This was very important to the patriarchs, and they did pass this down from generation to generation that it is so important. And obviously this is in the context of an incredible compromise in Judah's family, but we still see that in the midst of all that there is this desire for that, and that's commendable and ultimately rewarded.
And so often God graciously, mercifully grants those who pursue after the good things, the eternal things, in imperfect ways. He mercifully grants them their desires. So I think that's what we see in Tamar.
Amen, brother. Thank you for that. I think that's very helpful. And brother Mike, thank you also for mentioning a counterpoint that's needed to be said that we need to also reserve a place to call out and condemn error.
And so it's not being nice as a general policy toward all, but the censorious spirit is more precise than that. And we're saying, you know, we want to say to Sanballets within the church, you may not build with us, and kind of call a spade a spade, but we have to be careful that we don't then go to the very, you know, House of Israel and say you may not build with us, and we end up in a Roger Williams situation where you excommunicate everyone in the church, including your own wife, and then eventually you excommunicate yourself from the church, and there's no church anymore.
That's how far the censorious spirit can go. So the charity to be directed primarily to those that are truly brothers, but then where we need to call out error, sin, deceit, we need to do that forthrightly and boldly, and so that's a very important qualification.
Yeah, I would just add to that to further emphasize the emphasis on the seed in that how does that chapter conclude? It concludes with the birth of the twins, and specifically Perez and how he was born.
I mean, it seems like that is one of the thrusts, if not the main thrust of the chapter, this love-right marriage, and how will this seed come from? Who would it come from, and how will it happen in the midst of a sinful family and sinful Judah?
And there's a conclusion at the end of that chapter, and we're left there, and then we go back on to Joseph, right? And then we read, as believers, we read in the beginning of Matthew this line that comes through Tamar, right, through Perez, and it is really important.
Sometimes it seems less important when you're in the context, as you're saying, Mike, reading about that sin and what happened, but it is one of, if not the most important thing in the passage. I mean, even if we talk about, you know, it doesn't even conclude with Judah being a changed man.
I mean, I know that he says, you know, she's righteous, I'm not, but we get that as the Joseph narrative comes on and how Joseph has been sanctified, but we should be left with that. And you know what?
That is the hope of the glory of God, right? As you said in Romans 5, this grace in which we stand, which would not come if we did not have Christ. And so that is the emphasis. The hard thing is, well, why does it have to happen in the midst of what seems to be so sinful and what is sinful?
Well, we've seen it, and that's the way it works, but the amazing thing, as you said, is God doesn't just kill everybody, right? That his plan of redemption will happen, and how will you respond? How will you respond?
Will you be a self-righteous, quote-unquote, Christian who thinks things are owed to you, like Judah, and you're just going to live on the grace and the work that was established before him by God and through the fathers?
Or will you see sin in your sin, as Ross said, your sin as Judah saw his sin? Will you see it? Will you come to that place in your life? Maybe you have, but will you see it again? We're going to have the Lord's Supper.
Will you see it again and again and again? Will you see your sin at that moment, like Judah saw his sin, which causes you to say, I'm not righteous, and I need a new heart through Jesus Christ? I mean, that's our response, right?
It should be our response.
One of them.
Thanks, guys.