January 17

January 17, 2009

Genesis 37-38

Again we run into a story that doesn’t seem to fit in the HOLY Bible. If we were a bunch of religious people editing a book to become the HOLY BIBLE why would we put in a story that borders on pornographic? This story has sex, more sex, prostitution, incest and illegitimate children in it. What is going on?

First the story; Judah is one of the eleven brothers that sold their brother into slavery. We see how far the Promise to Abraham has deteriorated over the generations. Judah was the one who suggested selling his own brother for a profit in chapter 37. Now it is 20 years later and he has done nothing to find his brother or come clean with his evil scheme. So this guy is living far from God and God’s plan for his life and his family.

He marries a Canaanite woman, bad move because we saw yesterday that this is one of the fastest ways to lose your faith. He has 3 children and his eldest son is married off to a woman called Tamar. His eldest son was an evil person and so God kills him. His second son marries his brother’s widow as is in accordance with an ancient law known as the levirate law. Briefly, the law is meant to protect the line of the deceased brother. But his second son was selfish .. he wanted the pleasure of sex with Tamar but not the responsibility. So his life is taken. So what does Judah do? He doesn’t stop to think and ask WHY two of his three sons turned out evil.Rather, he puts the blame on Tamar. It’s all her fault - she must be cursed or is evil! So he weasels out of the situation by sending Tamar home to her parents with a promise he never intends to fulfill. In the ancient world Judah is responsible for Tamar not her parents. And for her to not be married is to condemn her to a life of poverty and alienation.
To cut a long story short.... Tamar tricks Judah into an affair. The scandal is soon discovered because Tamar does nothing to hide her pregnancy.
Now we add hypocrisy into the stew. Judah brings her out for a public trial and we can imagine how pleased he is to be able to finally be rid of this woman. This is perfect, now I don’t have to give away my third son. So the crowd gathers, big crowds always show up for public lynching but Tamar brings out her secret weapon. Tamar has the credit card of the man who is responsible for her pregnancy.
Now this is the turning point of the story. At this critical moment Judah’s response is astounding. He says, “She is more righteous than I, since I would not give her to my son Shelah.” And, the Bible records for us, he did not sleep with her again.”
Something happened to Judah that day that changed his life. He admitted his guilt; he forgave Tamar, took her back and treated her with a new sense of respect and care. He could have accused her of stealing his credit card and killed her for being a thief too. But he came clean that day.
He finally learned the meaning of the word “repentance.” Judah had learned what Jesus would teach us in the Lord’s Prayer... “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
God honored that change in Judah’s life and what a surprise we have when we read the New Testament and discover in Matthew 1:3 that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, the Holy One came down through the child that was born to Tamar. No matter how messy and scandalous your life, your family, your world.... there is forgiveness, hope and grace found in Jesus Christ. He can make something beautiful come out of every mess we create.