There are many passages in the Bible that are difficult to preach.
Genesis 38 is right up there at the top of the list.
It’s not BORING
It’s not DEEP THEOLOGY
It’s not IRRELEVANT
Simply put, it’s TOO RACY!
But the story must be told, because it’s an amazing story about GRACE.
The story concerns JUDAH and TAMAR.
To understand the story, we must chart out the relationships in a family tree structure.
This sermon will review eighteen events that are described in Genesis 38, and the important lessons that we can learn from them. So you might say it’s a nineteen point sermon! But don’t worry, because the events of chapter 38 are simple to understand, and the salacious account will keep your attention!
(Thank you Phillip Yancey for the great title of your book, "What’s So Amazing About Grace." This sermon makes use of Yancy’s title)
1. The FIRST part of the story begins with JACOB, our patriarch. His fourth son was JUDAH, whose mother is Leah. Judah is the main character in Genesis 38.
2. From the very beginning, Judah is a COMPROMISER, getting himself into trouble by having a very close friendship with Hirah, the Adulamite. Genesis 38:1 "At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah." Hirah was a Canaanite, and Judah breaks the family tradition of marrying from within his clan and staying away from the Canaanites. The results are devastating, as Judah soon adopts the practices of the Canaanites, and engages in prostitution.
3. Judah marries a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shuah. Genesis 38:2 "There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and lay with her;" Her name is not given in the text, other than “Bath-Shuah” (the daughter of Shuah).
4. Judah and Bath-Shuah have a son, whom they name Er (Gen. 38:3).
5. They have another son, whom them name Onan (Gen 38:4).
6. Their third son is named Shelah (Genesis 38:5).
7. Furthering his connection to the Canaanites, Judah gets a wife for his firstborn son, Er. Her name is Tamar, and she will become an important part of this story. Genesis 38:6 "Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar."
8. Er is wicked and the Lord takes his life (Gen 38:7). The fact that the Lord takes his life might sound hard for us to understand, but this is a time in God’s plan where He is working directly through the descendants of Abraham to establish a new nation of people through whom his blessings will flow to the world. God’s methods were very direct and unmistakable at this point in the history described in the Bible.
9. Judah is now left with the childless daughter-in-law of his oldest son. Judah is without an heir, and he is responsible for the care of Tamar. According to the customs of the day, Judah requires Onan, his second oldest son, to take responsibility to provide finances for Tamar and to give her a child. This custom, called Levarite marriage is “from the Latin levir, “husband’s brother”. Through this law of marriage, the second son, Onan, was to marry Tamar, the widow of his brother, and raise up offspring for his brother”. (Allen P. Ross, "Genesis", The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985). 88.)
10. In vividly clear language, Onan refuses this responsibility and takes advantage of the situation for his own sexual gratification (Gen. 38:8-11). God punishes Onan for this selfless act and Onan’s life is also cut short by the Lord. Now Judah is left with 2 dead sons, one widowed daughter-in-law, and a third son too young to marry.
11. Judah sends Tamar to her father’s house to wait for his youngest son Shelah to be old enough to marry and take care of her (Gen. 38:11).
12. At this point Judah’s Canaanite wife Bath-Shuah dies. After his time of grieving, Judah seeks companionship from his old friend Hirah and he meets up with him during sheep-shearing time, which would have been a time of festivities and celebration in this society of shepherds (Gen 38:12).
13. It’s now been years since Judah promised Tamar that she could marry Shelah when he was ready. Tamar sees that Judah intends to neglect his responsibilities to her and leave her forever a widow in the care of her father. She comes up with a plan to deceive Judah and get from him the care that she was promised. Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute and gains Judah as a customer! (Gen 38:13-16)
14. For the price of her services, Tamar accepts a young goat - something that Judah did not have with him at the time (Gen 38:16-19). She makes him leave a pledge that he will fulfill his promise to pay her. For the pledge, she asks for his seal and cord, and his staff. A seal was an important piece of identity, most likely a cylinder with etchings on it. It would be rolled over wax to seal a letter with your identification, or rolled over the handle of a clay pot when it is being made to identify it as yours. The cord might have allowed Judah to wear this around his neck. Giving this to Tamar was the equivalent of giving her his drivers licence to hold until he returned with the money. She also asked for his staff, something that no one would have normally given up. It is obvious that Judah is completely committed to having sex with this woman who he thinks is a prostitute.
15. Perhaps too embarrassed to return himself, Jacob sends his buddy Hirah back to the town of Timnah to find the prostitute and give her the goat he promised. Hirah looks for the woman that Jacob described but doesn’t find her. He returns back to Jacob with the goat, but without recovering Jacob’s seal, cord and staff (Gen. 38:20-23). Jacob thinks that the whole affair is over, and doesn’t give it another thought. Be sure your sins will find you out! (Numbers 32:23)
16. Tamar is now pregnant from this encounter with her father-in-law. Judah hears the report and indignantly demands that Tamar pay for her sins with her life Genesis 38:24 "About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.” Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”"
17. Tamar exposes Judah’s sins by showing that she possesses his cord, seal and staff. Judah is embarrassed and realizes that he has sinned in two ways, first for his illicit affair with a prostitute, and second for his refusal to provide for Tamar’s needs. Genesis 38:26 "Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again."
18. The result of the story is that Tamar gives birth to twin boys. One of the boys is named Perez. He is in the lineage of Jesus, eight generations from David, King of Israel!
Wow, talk about intrigue, mystery and turn of events. This story has marriage, incest, death, prostitution, conspiracy, deception and pregnancy. You would think that this is an episode of any variety of prime-time television episodes! There’s even some ancient CSI images when Tamar presents irrefutable evidence that Judah is the father of the children! While this story is enough to make a truck driver blush (no offense to you truck drivers), there is a very important lesson to learn about Grace.
The part of this story that smacks us in the face is that all of this intrigue and sin results in a child that is ultimately in the lineage of Jesus! This story is a reminder that God’s grace comes to us in spite of our sin - even through our sin. Grace overcomes the mess that we make of our lives and provides us with something that we could never provide for ourselves.
Here are some important lessons that we can learn from the sordid story of Judah and Tamar:
1. GRACE TAKES OUR GREATEST MISTAKES AND MAKES THEM THE INGREDIENTS OF GOD’S GREATEST BLESSINGS. The first insights into Judah are not very hopeful. He takes charge in Reuben’s absence and encourages the brothers to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites (Gen 37:26-27). This may have prevented the brothers from killing Joseph, but the better path would have been to condemn his brothers and release the innocent youth, Joseph. The details of Judah provided in Genesis 38 are even more disturbing. He becomes entangled with a best friend from among the Canaanites. His choices grow worse and worse, to include the neglect of Tamar, the sin of immorality, and the deception that followed. BUT JUDAH LATER BECOMES A MORE SENSITIVE AND GODLY MAN. And in the end, Jacob blesses Judah with the promise that he will be the leader of his brothers (Genesis 44:18-21). Judah was not bound to forever dwell in the darkness of his sin. God’s grace lifted him up and provided that the lineage of Chist would come through this awful relationship of a careless man looking for a cheap thrill, and a desperate woman looking for a child. If God is use Judah and Tamar in spite of these circumstances, the fact that he can still use you and me is a seemingly small thing!
2. GRACE SURPRISES US WITH UNEXPECTED HEROES. Tamar is spoken of with great respect by the Elders of Bethlehem. Ruth 4:11–12 "Then the elders and all those at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. " "Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” And Tamar is specifically mentioned in the opening verses of the New Testament where only a few women are mentioned in the lineage of Jesus. Matthew 1:3 "Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram." Think about Tamar. She is a Canaanite, she seduced Jacob and gave birth to a son through the guise of prostitution. Yet God’s grace establishes her as one of the key people in the lineage of Jesus! God choose to bring his Son into the world through the sordid and soiled story contained in Genesis 38. If he can do that, he can certainly use the likes of you and me!
3. GRACE IS NEVER ABOUT US, IT IS ALWAYS ABOUT GOD. Judah and Tamar were both acting in their own interests, but God was ultimately putting this all together for his glory! In our lives, God’s grace is not ultimately about us getting our way, or getting out of a difficult situation. God chooses to bless us in spite of our sin in order to demonstrate the extent of his grace! This is the theme of Romans 9:22–23 "What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? " "What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—"
4. GRACE TURNS TRAGIC FAILURES INTO SPIRITUAL CHAMPIONS. I believe that Judah was so humbled by his failure that he committed to follow God’s ways from this time forward. It is never too late to turn your heart to God. He can use us even though we have sinned. Every person that God uses is a sinner saved by grace!
5. GRACE ALWAYS POINTS US TO CHRIST. Even though the name Messiah is not mentioned in Genesis 38, the chapter is ultimately about Jesus! The child of Judah and Tamar is conspicuously a part of the lineage of Jesus. This chapter, and the sordid tale told here points us to Jesus! The twisted parts of our lives point to Jesus. He is our hope. If your life is a mess, he can still become the center. He will clean you up and give you hope. He will take your mess and forgive you. He will use you again even if you have failed him. This is his grace and he delights to make it known to you.
And That’s What is So Amazing about Grace!
