Gen. 37-38: “Joseph’s Brothers Sell Him Into Slavery / Judah Sins Against His Daughter-In-Law Tamar”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study we looked at Genesis chapters 34-36.

1.1.1. While Israel’s family were living in the city of Succoth Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, incurred a great tragedy because a man who was the prince of the city raped her. Then, the man and his father try to get Jacob to accept a marriage proposal for him to take Dinah as his wife.

1.1.2. Jacob’s sons tricked the men of the city to become circumcised so that they can accept the marriage proposal for Dinah. Then, when the men were in pain on the third day after the surgery two of Jacob’s sons went and killed every man in the city with the sword, taking their possessions and women and children as booty.

1.1.3. The Lord then appeared to Jacob and told him to go again to Bethel, and so he went.

1.1.4. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin as they are traveling south to Hebron.

1.1.5. We discussed the generations of Esau listed for us in chapter 36.

1.2. Today, in our study we are going to look at Genesis chapters 37-38.

1.2.1. Joseph begins to have dreams which foretell his prominence among his brothers and family and when he tells them to his brothers they become angry and jealous of him. His father even chides him about these dreams. But, Joseph is the favorite son of Jacob.

1.2.2. When Jacob sends Joseph to find out about his brothers they capture him and contemplate killing him. Then, the end up selling him as a slave.

1.2.3. Then, we discuss Judah and his family. Judah finds a Canaanite woman and has three sons from her. Then, he arranges a marriage for his eldest son with a Canaanite woman. However, the Lord takes this son’s life because he is wicked. The second son is given this woman as a wife to bear up children to the first son, but he refuses and the Lord takes his life also. Judah then promises that when the third son is grown up that this Canaanite woman can have children through him. However, when the son grows up Judah forgets about his promise. The woman then dresses up like a prostitute and waits on the side of the road for Judah. When Judah comes by he has sex with her and she conceives twins from Judah, one of which will be in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

2. VS 37:1-2a - “¹ Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. ² These are the records of the generations of Jacob.” - The author tells us that he is writing about the generations of Jacob

2.1. This next section of the book of Genesis may have been written by Joseph since he is the primary descendant of Jacob’s and even receives a double blessing when Jacob gives Joseph a double blessing by blessings each of his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

2.2. Note that Isaac is spoken of not as living in the land of Canaan but that he ‘had sojourned’ there. As his father Abraham he too was looking for a city whose architect and builder was God.

3. VS 37:2b - “Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.” - Joseph was 17 and came to his father and brought a bad report about his brothers to his father

3.1. Joseph acts like a “tattle tale” here bringing back a ‘bad report’ about his brothers to his father. Tattling like this was foolish because it just caused Joseph’s brothers to despise him.

3.2. Joseph was trying to do what was right and pleased his father while the rest of the brothers were hellions and rebels and caused their father much grief.

4. VS 37:3-4 - “³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. ⁴ His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.” - Israel loved Joseph more than the rest of his sons and he made him a ‘varicolored tunic’

4.1. One of the things that we begin to be aware of as we go through the book of Genesis is that sometimes the scripture refers to Jacob as ‘Israel,’ and sometimes it refers to him as “Jacob.” Many times it appears that the name of ‘Israel’ is used for him because he is acting in faith, however this is not consistently the case. In verse 3, it says that Israel ‘loved Joseph more than all his sons,’ and from what we see later of Joseph’s character we can see why he may have been worthy of this special love. It is also the case that Joseph is the first son of Rachel, the one who was always the love of Jacob’s life.

4.2. Joseph was the first son of Rachel, the love of Jacob’s life, and a child for which Jacob had prayed and waited for many years. Therefore, Jacob loved Joseph more than all of the rest of his children.

4.3. As we saw with Isaac and Rebekah, having favorites among your children causes resentment to brew within their hearts towards each other, and this can eventually even lead to hatred and murder.

4.4. Because of his great love of Joseph, Israel made him a ‘varicolored tunic,’ and it appears that this tunic was a symbol of Joseph’s special importance and position in relation to all of the sons of Jacob. This coat may have symbolized that since Reuben had slept with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine and the mother of Dan and Naphtali, that Jacob had determined to give to Joseph the firstborn son’s birthright.

4.5. Joseph’s brother ‘hated’ Joseph and resented him for having special favor with his father, and especially because of this ‘varicolored tunic’ which was a constant reminder of their father’s favoritism towards Joseph.

5. VS 37:5-11 - “⁵ Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; ⁷ for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸ Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. ⁹ Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰ He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.” - Joseph had two dreams in which he saw himself being exalted over his brothers, and then even over his brothers and his father and mother, but when he told his family his dreams his brothers got resentful and angry towards him and his father chided him

5.1. In these two dreams, we can see that God is foretelling the future to Joseph. Joseph will one day become the second most powerful man on the earth, second in command to Pharaoh, and in that capacity when a famine hits the land Joseph will have his family come to visit Egypt in order to buy grain, and each of his brothers will bow down to him, as will his father Jacob, not realizing that it is their brother and son, Joseph.

5.2. Joseph first has a dream and in this dream he sees that he and his brothers are all ‘binding sheaves’ in the field and then when his sheaf stood up, all of their sheaves gathered around him and ‘bowed down’ to his sheaf. As mentioned, this dream will be fulfilled in Egypt many years in the future when Joseph is exalted above all but Pharaoh.

5.3. In Joseph’s second dream, this time ‘the sun and the moon and eleven stars’ were bowing down to him. In this dream his father was represented by the sun, his mother by the moon, and each of his brothers was a star. When Joseph tells his father this dream his father chides him for dreaming that he (Jacob), his wife, and his sons would ever bow down to Jospeh.

5.4. Notice here that Joseph’s brothers were not only angry at Joseph for these dreams, but it says here that they were also ‘jealous of him.’ They each desired to have the position of prominence in the family that Joseph held, and they certainly did not think that Joseph deserved to have any special privilege in their family, especially since he was one of the youngest sons.

5.5. Note here that Jacob kept this saying in mind which his son Joseph had told him regarding these dreams he had dreamed. This reminds me of Mary keeping in her heart what had been told her by the angel about the child that she conceived from the Holy Spirit in Jesus, the Messiah.

5.6. It has been assumed that when Joseph was a young man that he was a bit prideful and arrogant and that these dreams which he had caused him to boast, and in the process incur the wrath of his brothers towards him. In time, Joseph will truly become a meek and gentle giant of the faith. He will also be the one of all of his brothers to truly reflect most completely the character of Christ in his life.

5.7. The trials that Joseph faces at the hands of his brothers and then after being sold into slavery will be used in his life to produce that beautiful and Christ-like character than will define Joseph.

5.7.1. We Christians need to welcome trials into our lives joyfully knowing the blessed and pleasant fruit that they in time will bear in our life.

6. VS 37:12-17 - “¹² Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³ Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “I will go.” ¹⁴ Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. ¹⁵ A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “What are you looking for?” ¹⁶ He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷ Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.” - Jacob sent his son Joseph to check on his brothers who were tending his sheep in Shechem, and Joseph finally found them in Dothan

6.1. Jacob knew all too well that his sons were prone to get into trouble and he worried about what they might be up to now since he hadn’t heard from them for a while. These sons of Jacob had already plotted to kill all of the men of Succouth by deceiving them into becoming circumcised so that they could accept a marriage propose for their sister Dinah to marry a man in the city. Then, on the third day after the mass circumcision of the men of the city, Simeon and Levi had gone about house to house and slain all of the males in the city with the sword.

6.2. Certainly their was some sort of a pecking order amongst these boys, perhaps based upon age, and the fact that they lived together but had four different mothers between them must have caused their to be many different sub groupings and rivalries between them all.

6.3. Already thinking that he would eventually give the oldest son’s birthright to Joseph, Jacob determined to send Joseph to find his brothers and check on what they were up to and then bring word back to him. Again Jacob is naïve concerning his sons not realizing what hellions they were. He should never have sent Joseph alone to his brothers seeing how much the brothers had resented Joseph because of being his father’s favorite.

6.4. Joseph looks for his brothers in the ‘valley of Hebron’ and came to ‘Shechem.’ However, he cannot find his brothers there. Finally, he asks a man there if he has heard anything about his brothers and the man tells him that he had heard them say that they were going to ‘Dothan.’ So, Joseph goes to Dothan and finds his brothers there.

7. VS 37:18-28 - “¹⁸ When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! ²⁰ “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” ²¹ But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.” ²² Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father. ²³ So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; ²⁴ and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. ²⁵ Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. ²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. ²⁸ Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.” - Joseph’s brothers see him coming from a distance and they discuss putting him to death because of their anger towards him, however Reuben talks the brothers into instead throwing Joseph into an empty cistern to die slowly of thirst and starvation, but then when Reuben is away a caravan of Ishmaelites come by on their way to Egypt and the brothers sell Joseph as a slave to them for 20 shekels of silver

7.1. Jacob’s sons had already plotted killing all of the males in the city of Succoth, a deed which was then carried out by Simeon and Levi. Now, they are angry and jealous of Joseph and seeing him coming towards them in the distance they begin to plot how to kill him.

7.1.1. We Christians need to be wary of the sin of jealousy and envy. It was envy that planted the seed in Cain’s heart bringing about the first murder which occurred in the garden of Eden when Cain slew his brother Abel because the Lord had accepted his brother’s sacrifice but rejected his own. This is likewise the seed that has been planted in the hearts of Joseph’s brothers towards him.

7.2. I think that just seeing that ‘varicolored tunic’ incensed Joseph’s brothers. As soon as he reaches them they strip it off of him and then throw him into a empty cistern.

7.3. People’s lives are often filled with empty cisterns. They dig a cistern for fulfillment in their lives but it is an empty cistern and therefore it can’t fill them up or bring fulfillment. The Lord spoke to Jeremiah about this very thing in Jeremiah 2:13, “¹³ “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.” Interestingly, in the 38^th chapter of Jeremiah the officials in Jerusalem lowered Jeremiah into an empty cistern and kept him captive there, and in Jeremiah’s case he sunk down into mud at the bottom of that empty cistern.

7.4. Joseph is a type of Christ in the scriptures and commentators often remark in this chapter how that Joseph typifies Jesus Christ who was sent by His Father to His brothers, the Jews, only instead of receiving and welcoming Him they instead put Him to death.

7.5. In Genesis chapter 42 when a famine in the land drives Jacob’s sons to Egypt to buy corn they meet up with but do not recognize their brother Joseph, who has now become the number two man in all of Egypt. Then, when Joseph messes with his brothers and makes them worry that he thinks that they have stolen from him, note how Joseph’s brothers speak about Joseph pleading for his life at this time here in our study: Genesis 42:21-22, “²¹ Then they said to one another, “Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.” ²² Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”

7.6. Notice who it was who suggested that they sell Joseph into slavery. It was the one through whom the Messiah would come, ‘Judah.’

8. VS 37:29-36 - “²⁹ Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” ³¹ So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; ³² and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” ³³ Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” ³⁴ So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. ³⁶ Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.” - Reuben returns to free Joseph from the cistern only to find out that he is gone, then when the brothers tell him what they have done with Joseph they come up with a plan to dip Joseph’s tunic in goat’s blood and bring it to their father telling him that they have found his tunic

8.1. We can see from this verse that all along Reuben, the oldest of the 12 sons of Jacob, was trying all along to keep his brothers from harming Joseph, and that he had planned all along to come and free Joseph. In Gen. 42:22 that is quoted above, note that Reuben tells his brothers in essence that they should have listened to him and left the boy Joseph alone.

8.2. Since Reuben had lain with his father’s concubine, Bilhah, he had lost all moral authority with his brothers, though he was the eldest of them. Therefore, attempts by him to restrain his brothers, such as this story reveals, were mostly futile.

8.3. After Reuben discovers that Joseph is gone from the empty cistern he goes to his brothers and they tell him what they have done in selling Joseph into slavery. The brothers decide that the best way to keep from enduring their father’s wrath and to quell his curiosity about what happened to Joseph is to dip Joseph’s tunic in goat’s blood and tell their father that they have found it. They realize that Jacob himself will come to the conclusion that Joseph has been eaten by wild animals.

8.4. What Jacob’s sons didn’t plan on was how greatly their father would be affected when he thought that his favorite son, Joseph, was dead. Jacob cannot get over his mourning for this favorite son. No matter how Jacob’s sons try to console him, he remains consumed with grief over the loss of his son.

9. VS 38:1-5 - “¹ And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. ² Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her. ³ So she conceived and bore a son and he named him Er. ⁴ Then she conceived again and bore a son and named him Onan. ⁵ She bore still another son and named him Shelah; and it was at Chezib that she bore him.” - Judah left his brothers and went and stayed with an Adullamite friend named Hirah, and while there Judah saw a Canaanite woman named Shua and he began to have relations with her, after which she conceived and gave birth to three sons: Er, Onan, and Chezib

9.1. Its interesting here that after all of the turmoil over the years in the family, whether it was from the polygamy and resultant competition of wives and children, the plot and killing of all of the males of Succoth, or the plot to kill Joseph only to sell him into slavery, that Judah finally has had enough and leaves his brothers to go off on his own. He probably was tired of all of the banter and scheming amongst the brothers and there were probably also just too many bad memories for Judah to remain with them.

9.2. The way that these brothers who were the patriarchs of our faith treated each other is despicable and it is hard to believe that they would want to kill one of their own, Joseph. Their actions remind me of the church. The church is comprised of those who love the Lord and have been called by Him to be members of the body of Christ. The church is to walk in love and rejoice with those who rejoice and sorrow with those who sorrow, to share all things common. We are to show more honor to the weaker one and build up the weaker one in the body. We are to each be in connection with Jesus Christ, the Head, and we are also to be interconnected in love to one another, being held together with the bonds of love. Yet, we see so often strife, contention, envy, and jealousy between those who are in the body of Christ. Churches split and people hate each other and treat each other poorly, but none of this should be this way. We should be a reflection of the love of Christ in all that we do.

9.3. We don’t know how the friendship bond developed between Judah and this man who is an Adullamite, named Hirah.

9.4. It is significant here that it doesn’t even mention that Judah took this woman Shua to be his wife, it simply says that he went into her and she kept bearing children to him. It seems that Judah has become more and more hardened into the immoral lifestyles of the Canaanite peoples living around him. Perhaps this woman’s name is not mentioned as being Judah’s wife because she was a Canaanite idolater.

10. VS 38:6-11 - “⁶ Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷ But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life. ⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” ⁹ Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother’s wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother. ¹⁰ But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord; so He took his life also. ¹¹ Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he thought, “I am afraid that he too may die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.” - Judah arranged for his son Er to take a wife named Tamar, however Er was evil and the Lord took his life, then Judah gave Tamar to his son Onan as a wife, however when he had intercourse he pulled out at the last and spilled his seed on the ground because he didn’t want to raise up children to his brother, so the Lord took his life also, then finally, Judah told Tamar to go to her father’s house until his youngest son Shelah grows up and then he can take her for a wife and give her children to Er

10.1. Judah realizes that if he is called to be a nation himself that he must find wives for his sons. He possibly does not realize right now that the Messiah will come through his blood line. So, he decides to arrange a marriage for Er, his firstborn son. He finds a woman named Tamar who becomes Er’s wife.

10.2. We aren’t told what it was that Er did or did not do that caused him to be ‘evil in the sight of the Lord’ though some have speculated that it was that he refused to procreate with Tamar and have children. It sounds like a bit of a stretch to me, but in any case he was up to the wrong things before the Lord, and so the Lord slew him.

10.3. The second son of Judah, Onan, took Tamar as his wife in order to create children to his brother. This law of raising up children to your brother should he die later becomes part of the Law of Moses and it is interesting to see it already employed here.

10.4. Onan rebelled against his responsibility to give children to Tamar for his deceased brother Er, probably thinking that he didn’t want to raise up children to his brother when he could be creating his own children. This was evil in the sight of the Lord for him and so the Lord took his life also.

10.5. After the death of this second son, Judah told Tamar to go and to live with her family again until such time as his third son. Shelah, grew up to the age to where he could be married. Then, she would be given to Shelah as a wife and then he would give her children to Er.

11. VS 38:12-23 - “¹² Now after a considerable time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ It was told to Tamar, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, “Here now, let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” ¹⁷ He said, therefore, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” She said, moreover, “Will you give a pledge until you send it?” ¹⁸ He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” And she said, “Your seal 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 departed, and removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments. ²⁰ When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. ²¹ He asked the men of her place, saying, “Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?” But they said, “There has been no temple prostitute here.” ²² So he returned to Judah, and said, “I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no temple prostitute here.’ ” ²³ Then Judah said, “Let her keep them, otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”” - Judah’s wife finally died, Shelah had grown up but Judah did not give Tamar to him as a wife, so Tamar went down to where Judah was shearing sheep, dressed up as a temple prostitute, and waited on the road until Judah came and then when he came he propositioned her and had relations with her, and for her services Judah gave her his seal, cord, and staff as a guarantee for later payment of a goat

11.1. Time went on and Shelah grew up. However, Judah forgot about his promise to Tamar and he didn’t give Tamar to Shelah to raise up children to Er, his deceased son. Judah was probably concerned that this third son would also be killed by the Lord and thus held back giving him also Tamar.

11.2. When Tamar finally realizes that Judah does not plan to give Shelah to her to raise up children to her deceased husband she becomes desperate for children. In Tamar’s day if a woman didn’t have children then she would end up with no inheritance and poor and perhaps even starve to death. Tamar also wants to be a partaker of the covenant promises made to Abraham. Realizing that she will never be able to have a marriage since she has become used goods, so to speak, she comes up with a desperate plan in order to have children.

11.3. Tamar is told that Judah has gone ‘up to Timnah to shear his sheep’ so she decides to dress up like a temple prostitute and wait alongside of the road in his path. She will wear a veil so that her face will not be shown and Judah will not recognize her. She knows that Judah will want to purchase her as a prostitute and that by having his child she will finally be able to have children and live a normal life (sort of).

11.4. Tamar’s plan works perfectly. Judah comes down the road and sees her and wants to have sex with her. The only problem is that he does not have any money for such a purchase. He agrees to get back to her a goat for payment later. Tamar agrees but only on the condition that he leave some surety with her. She demands that he leave with her as a guarantee that he will return with payment his signet ring with the seal, a cord, and a his staff. Judah agrees and gives these to her, then Tamar takes off and doesn’t wait around to receive payment.

11.5. Judah is probably a little bit embarrassed to return to the temple prostitute that he had sex with, so he sends his buddy the Adullamite to go and find her and pay her the price of one young goat, and also receive back from her his signet ring, cord, and staff. However, the Adullamite man cannot find the woman. When he asks around about where to find this woman no one has even heard of her and they deny that a temple prostitute used to hang out at that place.

11.6. When the Adullamite man returns and tells Judah about his bad luck finding the temple prostitute, Judah tells him not to worry anymore about it and just to let the woman keep his things.

11.7. Notice here that Judah is not concerned about his actions from a moral perspective when he tells the Adullamite man to let the woman keep his signet ring, cord, and staff, he is afraid that he will ‘become a laughingstock.’ He didn’t want people to make fun of him.

12. VS 38:24-26 - “²⁴ Now it was about three months later that Judah was informed, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and behold, she is also with child by harlotry.” Then Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!” ²⁵ It was while she was being brought out that she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “I am with child by the man to whom these things belong.” And she said, “Please examine and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?” ²⁶ Judah recognized them, and said, “She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.” - Judah is informed that Tamar, his daughter-in-law is pregnant and he comes to her house to have her burned at the stake for her unfaithfulness, but he realizes that the baby is his when she sends out to him his signet ring, cords, and staff, then Judah admits that Tamar is more righteous than he is

12.1. Judah is told that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, is pregnant and he is enraged that she would do such a despicable thing as to have sexual relations with another man when she was a widow and spoken for by his son Shelah.

12.2. Judah decides that for Tamar the worst type of punishment available should be employed. Let her be burned at the stake!

12.3. When Tamar is being brought out of the house by Judah to be burned at the stake she sends out to him his signet ring, cord, and staff and tells them that the father of her baby is the owner of those things.

12.4. Judah is convicted of his sin. He realizes that he had sinned against Tamar by not keeping his word and giving his son, Shelah, to her to raise up children by her deceased husband, Er. Further, Judah is convicted and publicly humiliated for having sex with a temple prostitute.

12.5. Instead of burning Tamar at the stake he will now take care of her the rest of her life and raise up the baby she will bear (which turn out to be twins) as his own.

12.6. Judah did not have relations any more with Tamar we note.

13. VS 38:27-30 - “²⁷ It came about at the time she was giving birth, that behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸ Moreover, it took place while she was giving birth, 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 it came about as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out. Then she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” So he was named Perez. ³⁰ Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand; and he was named Zerah.” - When Tamar is giving birth to the twins conceived by her father-in-law Judah the boys struggle to get out first, and Zerah reaches out his hand and the midwife ties a scarlet thread on his hand, however when Zerah retracts his hand his brother Perez is born first

13.1. Here we see that something very similar to what happened to Rebekah at childbirth occurs. Rebekah had Jacob and Esau fighting with each other in her womb. Here, Tamar has twins within her and they appear to be wrestling to see who would be delivered first.

13.2. Initially, Zerah sticks his hand out of the womb. The midwife thinks that Zerah will be coming out first and so she ties a red string around his wrist. However, Perez comes out first when Zerah pulls his hand out .

13.3. This boy Perez, conceived of Judah by his daughter-in-law Tamar, will now be found in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

13.4. There are four women who are in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. All four of these women were non-Jews who had been won to the faith by other Jews, and all four came about by reason of dubious moral consequences.

13.4.1.Tamar.

13.4.1.1.A Canaanite.

13.4.1.2.Committed incest with her father-in-law Judah when he wouldn’t give his youngest son to her to raise up children to his oldest son who had been her husband but died prior to her conceiving children.

13.4.2.Rahab.

13.4.2.1.From the city of Jericho.

13.4.2.2.A harlot.

13.4.3.Ruth.

13.4.3.1.A Moabitess.

13.4.3.2.Slept at the foot of Boaz in his threshing floor as he slept intoxicated.

13.4.4.Bathsheba.

13.4.4.1.Probably a Hittite.

13.4.4.2.Committed adultery with David.

13.5. Isn’t it amazing that God caused the Lord Jesus Christ to come of such stock as His genealogy reveals? Perez is born out of incest of a man with his daughter-in-law and because he had sex with the woman thinking that she was a temple prostitute. The Lord wants you and I to realize that His grace prevails in the lives of His people. The scripture tells us not that you and I were worthy of Jesus Christ coming and dying upon the cross for our sins. Instead it tells us that “God commends His own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us,” Rom. 5:8. Salvation comes to us only by God’s grace and our placing our faith in Him for salvation. Jesus died in our place and we are wretched sinners undeserving that the Lord should do any good for us. We are only saved because God in His grace imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

14. CONCLUSIONS:

14.1. Again, beware not to have favorites among your children for this will just cause strife and resentment between them and conflict in the home.

14.2. Don’t let jealousy and envy occupy your heart for this is the precursor for hate and even murder.

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