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Genesis 38
38:1 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, 3 and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. 4 She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 5 Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah1 was in Chezib when she bore him.
6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death. 8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. 10 And what he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death also. 11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house.
12 In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” 17 He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” 18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
20 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. 21 And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute2 who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” 22 So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’” 23 And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.”
24 About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral.3 Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.”4 And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” 26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.
27 When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. 28 And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” 29 But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez.5 30 Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
[1] 38:5
[2] 38:21
[3] 38:24
[4] 38:24
[5] 38:29
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Well, good morning, Redeemer Church. It is so good to be with you today. The last time that I preached actually was the last time that we all met together here in the building. And that seems like a really long time ago. But I am so glad to be with you today, and so excited to be opening up God's word together with you.
Jeffrey Heine:Today, we're continuing our study in the book of Genesis. We will be picking up in chapter 38. And so as you turn in your bibles to Genesis chapter 38, I wanna give a few reminders about where we have been in this study and where we find ourselves today. In our study of the book of Genesis, we have learned about creation of the world and God's power and His goodness to His creation. And we've learned about Adam and Eve, both their calling and their commissioning into the world and their subsequent rebellion against God's goodness.
Jeffrey Heine:We've learned about how God called and commissioned another man and another woman, Abraham and Sarah, into a covenant promise with God, a promise to create a new people for Himself. From Abraham and Sarah, we get Isaac. And later, Isaac marries Rebekah and they have a son, Jacob. And then Jacob later marries and has 12 sons and one daughter. The most beloved of Jacob's sons is Joseph.
Jeffrey Heine:And the rest of the book of Genesis will focus on him. In the previous chapter, Genesis 37, Joseph's 10 older brothers conspired to kill him. But one of his older brothers, Judah, comes up with a more profitable plan to sell Joseph into slavery. Joseph's future is uncertain. The tension of his story is rising, and then seemingly out of nowhere, the author of Genesis jumps over to tell a brief and bizarre story about Judah.
Jeffrey Heine:That's where we are in Genesis chapter 38. Look with me at verses 1 through 6, and let us listen carefully, for this is God's word. It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hira. There, Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shuah. He took her and went into her, and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er.
Jeffrey Heine:She conceived again and bore a son and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Shazeb when she bore him. And Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. This is the word of the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Oh, Lord, we are grateful for another day. A new day to love you, to trust you, and to praise you. And we ask now that you would speak to our hearts and our minds this morning.
Jeffrey Heine:So speak, Lord, for your servants are listening. We pray these things in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Now, I should say that the rest of the story of Judah and Tamar is quite explicit. So it's coming with a PG 13 warning.
Jeffrey Heine:And not like a modern PG 13 warning, but like a 19 eighties PG 13 warning that when they hadn't really calibrated the warning levels just yet. You won't find this passage in a Jesus storybook Bible. I know that we, since going to this live streaming, that families are at least trying to listen to the sermons together, Which, kudos to anyone who's figured out how to do that. But, this story is about the chaos that comes with sin. So I will do my best and use discretion as we go along.
Jeffrey Heine:Judah has abandoned his family. That's what's meant by verse 1. Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside. He has forsaken his family and gone on his own way. Not only has he left the family behind, but he has married a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua.
Jeffrey Heine:If you recall from earlier in Genesis, Abraham made his servant swear an oath to make sure that his son Isaac did not marry a Canaanite woman. And Isaac instructed his son Jacob, do not take a wife from the Canaanite women. And later, to describe how rebellious and troublesome Esau had become, his mother Rebecca said that because he married outside of the family tribe, she loathed her very life. The Canaanites were idol worshipers and participated in cult practices. To marry a Canaanite was to reject fidelity with God.
Jeffrey Heine:So now Judah has left the place of his family, and he is married outside of the family tribe. And we don't know why he has done this, but in every possible way, Judah is forsaking his family and in that, forsaking the lord their god. This story of Judah, a quick break from the story of Joseph, serves to contrast the lives of Judah and Joseph. Whereas Joseph was cast off from his family and became a slave to Egypt, Judah abandoned his family and became a slave to his sinful desires. In time, Judah had 3 sons with his Canaanite wife, Er, his firstborn, then Onan, and then his youngest, Shelah.
Jeffrey Heine:When Er was old enough, Judah found him a wife, and her name was Tamar. Perhaps it was an example of the apple not falling far from the tree, but Er was corrupt. The passage says in verse 7 that Ur was wicked in the sight of the Lord, so vile, in fact, that the Lord put him to death. That left Tamar a widow and childless, which if you recall from our study of Genesis, at this time and in this culture, to be a widow and childless meant being as vulnerable and desperate as one could be. But there was a custom in Canaan that if a man who was married dies childless, his brother should step in and aid in conception.
Jeffrey Heine:And here's a vital detail. The offspring would be regarded as the deceased man's child. It would be as though the deceased man had an heir. Now, this detail is particularly important in in a circumstance where the one who died was the firstborn of the family, because they are the heir to the family's inheritance. And if they die, it goes to their offspring.
Jeffrey Heine:But if they have no offspring, it would go to the second born child, in this case, Onan. Think about it like royal succession. In England, the line for the throne goes from the queen, Queen Elizabeth, to her firstborn son, Prince Charles, to his firstborn son, Prince William, to his firstborn son, Prince George. Even though William has a brother, Prince Harry, the line goes to William's son first. So back to Judah.
Jeffrey Heine:When died, Onan got bumped up in the inheritance line because Er was childless. But Judah comes to Onan with a command in verse 8. Then Judah said to Onan, go to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother. This duty will later be referred to as the levirate law. It will come up again in Deuteronomy and in the story of Ruth.
Jeffrey Heine:But Onan does not want this to happen. Verse 9 says that Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. It would be considered his older brother's offspring, and the child would be treated as Ur's child, which means Onan would not receive the inheritance. In a sense, Onan is being commanded by his father, Judah, to help conceive his own adversary. So whenever Onan went to Tamar to fulfill his duty to conceive an offspring, he would intentionally hinder the effort.
Jeffrey Heine:Every time, he would ensure that the attempt to give offspring to his brother failed. And for this wicked selfishness, the Lord put him to death also. So once again, Tamar is left a childless widow. Judah has had 2 sons die, and he seems to blame Tamar. He sees her as cursed.
Jeffrey Heine:Judah has one son left, Shelah, but he is too young to marry. So Judah says to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, remain a widow. Go back to your father's house. Stay there until my youngest son, Shelah, grows up and is old enough to marry. Judah said this to delay Tamar because he feared that Shelah would die like his brothers.
Jeffrey Heine:So Tamar went and lived in her father's house. Even though that was not her family anymore, She was now a member of the tribe of Judah. It was shameful for her to return home a widow and childless. She belonged to the tribe of Judah, but she was sent away. Do you remember when we studied when Judah was born?
Jeffrey Heine:His mother, Leah, had named her first three boys in light of the suffering she endured with her husband, Jacob. But when she gave birth to Judah, she chose to name him in praise of the lord. The name Yehuda comes from the Hebrew verb hodeah, which means to praise. But now, the family name of Judah was a name of shame and wickedness and scorn. That was the family name that Tamar bore.
Jeffrey Heine:She lived with her former family as a childless widow, waiting for Shelah to come of age so she could be delivered from her suffering. Years went by. Judah's wife died and their son, Shelah, grew old enough to be married. But Judah had no intention of marrying off his last son to Tamar, so he ignored her and her affliction. Over time, Tamar came to understand that she would not have Shelah to be her husband.
Jeffrey Heine:But she was not freed by Judah to remarry someone else. So Tamar would live and die with nothing. No family, no home, a childless widow. Later on, Judah was going with his friend, Hirah, to shear sheep in a place called Timnah. Tamar was told that her father-in-law was going to Timna, and there was a pagan temple in that place.
Jeffrey Heine:And around that temple, there were many pagan vices and cult practices. And apparently, Tamar was aware of Judah's affinity for such activities. Tamar removed her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance of a place called Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. She did this so that when Judah passed and saw her, he would think that she was a harlot because she had covered her face in the in the custom of the times. Sure enough, Judah turned to her at the road, and he called out to her because he did not know that it was his daughter-in-law.
Jeffrey Heine:Tamar responded to his proposition, asking, what will you give me? Judah answered, I will send a young goat from the flock. And she said, give me a pledge, something for collateral, until you send the goat. Judah asked, well, what pledge should I give you? She replied, your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.
Jeffrey Heine:The signet and the cord were special necklace, costly ornaments, but he gave them to her, and off they went. Tamar arose and went away, taking off her veil and changing back into her widow's garments. When Judah sent the young goat by his friend, Hirah, to take back the collateral from the woman, Hirah could not find her. Hira asked the men of the place, Where is the woman who is at Enaim at the roadside? And they said, No one like that has been here.
Jeffrey Heine:So he returned to Judah and said, I have not found her. Also, the men of this place, they said that no one like that has been here. Judah replied, fine. Let her keep my possessions. Otherwise, everyone will mock us for being so foolish.
Jeffrey Heine:Well, 3 months go by, and someone notices that Tamar, the childless widow, is with child. They go to Judah and tell him, Tamar, your daughter-in-law has been immoral. And even worse, she is pregnant by her immorality. And Judah, somehow, suddenly becoming a great man of character and conviction, says, bring her out and let her be burned. That's how it goes.
Jeffrey Heine:Right? A person of power who has no restraint on their own morality is often the quickest and the loudest to issue condemnation on others. Not only do the self righteous quickly fall into unrighteousness, but the unrighteous can so quickly elevate themselves to self righteousness. All we have seen from Judah is immorality, from selling his brother into slavery until this very moment, and yet he is judge and jury to Tamar before she even speaks a word of defense. As she was being brought out for execution, Tamar sends a messenger with the signet and the cord and the staff, And she sends them to her father-in-law, Judah, saying, the man to whom these items belong, it is by him that I am pregnant.
Jeffrey Heine:And she pleaded, Please find out who these items belong to. That was her plan all along. You see, Tamar had kept the receipts. Immediately, Judah recognized his possessions. And he said, Tamar is more righteous than I.
Jeffrey Heine:You see, if Tamar deserved execution, Judah deserved far worse, and he knew it, and he confessed it. This scene reminds me of a line from a song by Kris Kristofferson where he says, Help me, Jesus. I know what I am. I think when Judah saw his missing possessions again, and he understood what he had done with Tamar, not just in lust, but how he had neglected her for years and cast her off, I think that in that moment, he knew not only what he had done, but he knew what he was, unrighteous. Do you see the distinction?
Jeffrey Heine:The fornication was the sin that he had done. The neglect of Tamar and the deceit of withholding Shelah, that's the sin that he had done. Abandoning his family and living however he wanted in Canaan, that was a sin that he had done. Selling his brother into slavery was the sin that He had done. But the Lord does not just want to point out the wrong things that we have done.
Jeffrey Heine:He wants us to understand what all those actions, all that rebellion, all that disobedience, He wants us to know where it comes from. And that has to do with who we are, every one of us, apart from Christ. All those actions were the sin that Judah had done, but sinner, that's what he was. 6 months went by, and the time of Tamar's labor came. There were twins, boys.
Jeffrey Heine:And when she was in labor, one baby put out its hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, This one came out first. But then the child drew back his hand, and the other child came out first. The firstborn son was called Perez. And then his brother came out with a scarlet thread, and his name was called Zerah. And that is how the bizarre story of Judah and Tamar comes to an end.
Jeffrey Heine:Now, outside of the benefit of knowing the history of Israel and knowing more about the stories of the Bible, what should we gain from this unusual passage of scripture? Did you notice that besides the Lord striking down the sons of Judah for their wickedness, God is not talked about in this passage? No one prays, no one seeks the Lord for his guidance, his protection, or his justice. When Judah shows back up later on in the book of Genesis, we will see that he is a different man. He returns to his family.
Jeffrey Heine:This moment with Tamar, it turns his whole life around. Judah's repentance was more than just him seeing his unrighteousness and breaking down. It was the Lord breaking through. That's how our repentance works too. It's not just us seeing how much we've messed up.
Jeffrey Heine:It's seeing and believing what Christ has done about it, breaking through with his grace and his mercy. Conviction of sin is the kindness of God. It's his kindness that leads us to our repentance. And in Genesis 38, Judah is a picture of a person living apart from their believing community, making their own way. And from the moment Judah abandoned his community, he's been making increasingly worse decisions, which serves to remind us, even in these unusual times that we are living in, how necessary it is that we stay connected to one another as the family of God.
Jeffrey Heine:And Tamar, she's a picture of neglect and oppression. She was the victim of Ayr's sin and subsequent judgment. She was the victim of Onan's selfishness, victim of Judah's abandonment and his deceit. Now, she was deceptive, yes, but she was pursuing what was rightfully hers. She was owed an error from the line of Judah, and her sons would receive their rightful inheritance.
Jeffrey Heine:That doesn't mean that her actions were holy, but as Judah confessed himself, she was more righteous than he. The reality is it was all a mess, a mess of selfishness and deception and vengeance. In short, from beginning to end, the story is about the messes that we make as humans. It's the chaos of wickedness. So where do we see the gospel in any of it?
Jeffrey Heine:That question kept me up for 2 nights this past week. Where is the gospel here? Where is Christ in Genesis 38? No one is acting with the character of Christ. No one is extending mercy and grace like Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:No one is selfless or sacrificial. So where is He? In reading and rereading this passage, I finally stopped at one small detail in verse 26. Look with me. Then Judah identified them and said, She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah, and he did not know her again.
Jeffrey Heine:This meeting of Judah and Tamar did not begin a relationship for the 2 of them. They were together only this one time. This one time in sin, deception, and defilement. And from that one time, Tamar bore 2 sons, Peretz and Zerah. We read in the gospel of Matthew chapter 1, Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Peretz and Zerah by Tamar, and Peretz the father of Hezron, And Hezron the father of Ram.
Jeffrey Heine:And Ram the father of Amadab. The father of Nishan. And Nishan the father of Salmon. Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. It is Judah who receives the blessing that his line will be the royal line.
Jeffrey Heine:Not Joseph or Reuben or Benjamin. It's Judah. And that line goes to Peretz, the son of Tamar, and it leads to King David. And it goes from King David to the son of David, the son of God, Jesus of Nazareth. The royal bloodline of Peretz goes all the way to the one whose blood will bring the redemption and forgiveness of sins.
Jeffrey Heine:In Judah's most grievous sin and moment, the flesh and blood ancestry of Jesus was present. That is the flesh and blood that he took on. That is how far He emptied Himself from His rightful glory to enter the creation that He holds together, to take on flesh and blood, flesh and blood that traces back to this moment of Judah's sin and Tamar's desperation. That is where we see the gospel, the news that Jesus enters our mess. He enters the chaos of our sin and our desperation, and he brings his peace and his mercy.
Jeffrey Heine:That is the gospel hope in Genesis 38. The moment of desperation and sin is also the moment when the covenant promise of a messiah took its next generational step forward. The promise God made to Adam and Eve that an offspring would come and reckon with sin and death, fully and finally, That promise took its next step in history, not through the firstborn Reuben or through the beloved Joseph, but through the untrustworthy Judah and the forgotten Tamar. We are reminded that Christ came not for the well, but for the sick and the broken. And you, my friend, are sick and broken.
Jeffrey Heine:We all are. And he came for you to make peace by the blood of his cross. And that blood, that bloodline came from Judah and Tamar. And the cleansing that they so desperately needed comes from the blood of Jesus. And it is the only hope for Judas' sin, and it's the only hope for ours.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus enters our mess, he rends the heavens, and he breaks through. He enters our chaos, our sin, and our desperation, and He brings us His peace and His mercy. I know right now things are very messy, very chaotic. So much is unknown and confusing in our world, in our neighborhoods, in our own homes. We don't know what is coming next.
Jeffrey Heine:But we never did. We thought we did, and oftentimes, we were right. But the illusion of our control has been taken away. We are as helpless as we have always been. So, from where does our help come?
Jeffrey Heine:Our help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper, and the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
Jeffrey Heine:The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. The lion of the tribe of Judah is on his throne, and he has made a way for you, and he is praying for you, interceding for you right now.
Jeffrey Heine:So to him, we turn our hearts and minds, and we call out, come, Lord Jesus, bring your kingdom, bring the New Jerusalem, bring your eternal healing to our world, Bring your peace and your mercy to our hearts. Let's pray. Lord, whether we know it or not, we are desperate for you. So by your spirit, would you draw near to us? Help us to see our desperation and help us to find our comfort and strength in you.
Jeffrey Heine:Lord, from this story of Judah and Tamar, will you teach us about ourselves, about our need for you, and also teach us about what you have done through Christ to meet every need we have. We thank you for your word, and we thank you that we could be in this time together. Lord, we pray these things in the name of Christ our King. Amen.