Well, good morning, everyone. It's a blessing to be with you this Lord's Day. You can turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 38. Genesis 38, we're gonna look at Judah and Tamar this morning.
Genesis 38 we're going to look at the entire chapter, so we'll begin reading at verse 1 And it came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adulamite, whose name was Hira. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shua, and he married her and went into her. So she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.
And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name Shela. He was at Kiseb when she bore him. Then Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him.
And Judah said to Onan, Go into your brother's wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother. But Onan knew that the heir would not be his, and it came to pass, when he went into his brother's wife, that he omitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord, therefore he killed him also. Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in your father's house till my son Shelah is grown.
For he said, lest he also die like his brothers. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house. Now in the process of time, the daughter of Shuah, Judah's wife, died. And Judah was comforted, and he went up to his sheep-shearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hira the Adulamite.
And it was told to Tamar, saying, Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep. So she took off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face.
Then he turned to her by the way and said, Please let me come into you. For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. So she said, What will you give me that you may come into me? And he said, I will send a young goat from the flock.
So she said, will you give me a pledge till you send it? Then he said, what pledge shall I give you? So she said, your signet and cord and your staff that is in your hand. Then he gave them to her and went into her and she conceived by him.
So she arose and went away and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood. And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adulamite to receive his pledge from the woman's hand, but he did not find her. Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.
So he returned to Judah and said, I cannot find her. Also the men of the place said, There was no harlot in this place. Then Judah said, Let her take them for herself, lest we be ashamed. For I sent this young goat, and you have not found her.
And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the harlot. Furthermore, she is with child by harlotry. So Judah said, bring her out and let her be burned. But when she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, by the man to whom these belong, I am with child.
And she said, please determine whose these are, the signet and cord and staff. So Judah acknowledged them and said, she has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Sheolah, my son. And he never knew her again. Now it came to pass that at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in her womb.
And so it was, when she was giving birth, that one put out his hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, This one came out first. But then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly. And she said, How did you break through? This breach be upon you.
Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out, who had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our great God, we are thankful that we can come into your house this Lord's Day, and we're thankful that we come to sing your praises, and we're thankful, O God, we can come hear about you and your word, come hear about your amazing grace. And, O God, we are thankful that you are faithful. We're thankful, O God, that you are the covenant Lord who does what he says. We're thankful, O God, that even when there is wickedness, even when there's no concern for your covenant, we see your faithfulness to the promises of Abraham, the promises of Isaac, the promises of Jacob, We're thankful, O God, that we see this fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who is the Root of Jesse, who is the One, according to this Lion, O God, that Messiah who has come.
And we're thankful that He lived, died, and rose again on behalf of His people. And we're thankful, O God, that You came to save sinners like us. You came not to save the righteous, but sinners. And we're thankful, O God, many of us, we are all sinners and fallen short of the glory of God.
Yet we're thankful for the gift of faith. We're thankful for the gift of repentance. We're thankful for the things that Christ has purchased for us. We're thankful for righteousness in your sight, justification.
We're thankful, O God, for sanctification, how you cause us to die into sin day by day. But O God, in all that we do, we must be reminded of your grace, day in and day out, that you are a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. So help us this day, O God, to be reminded of your kindness, be reminded of your goodness, be reminded of who you are, be reminded of your power. We're thankful, O God, that you do what you say you will do, For we are weak and feeble, and we do not do what we say we will do.
So God, if there are any here today who need strengthening, we pray that you'd strengthen them. If there are any here today that need to be convicted, convict them. If there are any here today who do not know you, we pray that you would save them. Oh God, that they would confess their sins and come to life in Christ.
And, O God, we know that this only happens by Your strength and by Your power. And we pray, O God, that You be with us now. Be pleased to bless the preaching as it goes forth. Give us illumination by Your Spirit.
And we do pray in all things, O God, that You would be glorified. We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen. Well,
Introduction
in this section of Genesis, the focus is on Jacob as the patriarch, yet it is primarily focused not on Jacob, it's primarily focused on his sons. And even in the section beginning at Genesis 37, we think it's primarily about Joseph. And yes, Joseph is a major player in the story, but it's not just about Joseph, it's about all 12 of the sons. Because you see throughout the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob, there are two key themes.
The themes of seed, who will be the one to come, who will be the one to carry on the line, and the theme of land. And we've seen threats to both those things, or you would have seen, we've seen the Matsuri threats to those things in the book of Genesis. But that theme continues for us here in Genesis 37 and 38, specifically as we look at Judah. And the question is, who's next out of the 12 sons?
Reuben the firstborn is shown he is not a leader. He tried to usurp Jacob by grabbing Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. That was a power play in that event, trying to assert himself as that firstborn. It did not go well.
That means there's two options, Joseph and Judah. And as you know from Genesis 37 at the end of the chapter, Joseph has been sold into slavery. That leaves Judah as the focus primarily. That's why we have 37 and 38 together to discuss this issue of who the seed would come from.
Now, in Genesis 37, it's important for us to see and be reminded of who Judah is and who Judah was. You see, Joseph had those dreams about his brothers bowing down before him. His brothers didn't like that very much. So what did the brothers do?
They sold him into slavery. Well, first they wanted to kill him. Then they said, let's sell him into slavery. Guess who the ringleader was?
Judah, he's our brother. We can't kill him. Let's send him into slavery instead. Judah was the one who connived those things.
He was the one who made that plan, and he sent his brother into slavery. And thus, the page turns to focus on who would supposedly be the next leader in line, this one named Judah. Now we see a very clear problem in the text. Profaning the covenant promise.
You see, one of the concerns of the patriarchs, at least primarily Abraham, was not intermingling Canaanites with Israelites. Judah doesn't have that concern. Instead, Judah puts the covenant promise in jeopardy with his marriage to a Canaanite, with his Canaanite boys, and with grabbing a Canaanite lady. He's unequally yoked.
He should not have done that. And it's a big problem. The question will be, where will the seed come from? But thankfully, God intervenes, and thankfully, God supersedes.
Because you see, in Genesis 38, the main idea is that God protects the seed against the wickedness of Judah. God's protection of His covenant, God's faithfulness to do what He said He would do to Abraham, supersedes Judah's wickedness and attempts to profane the covenant promise.
Three Headings Introduced
So we'll look at this idea under three headings this morning. First of all, marriage with Canaanites, verses 1-11. Secondly, conduct like Canaanites, verses 12-23. And then thirdly, redemption through a Canaanite, in verses 24-30.
So marriage with Canaanites, conduct like Canaanites, and redemption through a Canaanite.
Marriage with Canaanites
So let's first look at marriage with Canaanites in verses 1-11. Notice, we see the setting set for us, same time that Joseph was sold into slavery. And we see what Judah does. It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers.
He goes away from the promised land. He thought the Canaanite ladies were pretty. He goes to hang out with a certain friend who perhaps influenced him in a wrong way. He visited a certain Adulamite whose name was Hira.
Now, we're not surprised, or we shouldn't be surprised, that Judah goes away from Canaan based on his actions in Genesis 38. But nonetheless, he still goes away from the land of Canaan, goes towards Canaanites more so, rather than his brothers, and hangs out with this one named Hira. And what does Judah do? He hangs out with Hira, hangs out with Hira's friends.
He sees a lady, a Canaanite, a certain one in verse 2. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah, and he married her and went into her. And so she conceived and bore a son and called his name Ur. The language here is not that of a loving marriage.
It's the idea of he saw, he took, and he went into. Language of lust, much like Esau. He saw the ladies of Canaan, he saw, he took, and he went into. Not very good leadership material, is he?
Not one through whom the covenant should come from. One who is not concerned with the covenant line, the covenant seed. Rather, he wants to engage with adult or engage in relations with Canaanites, which is a major problem. Because again, as I said, what was the concern of the patriarch, specifically Abraham?
When he wants to find a wife for Isaac, what does he say to his servant? He says, don't take a wife from Canaan. Go back to my land. Go back to my brother Haran.
Specifically Laban is there as well. Go back to my land. Get a lady from there. What about Isaac and Rebecca?
What's the plan to get away from Esau? Go to Laban. Get a wife there. Don't marry the Canaanites like Esau did.
Because their daughters-in-law were big headaches. But Judah doesn't care about that. And you know what? Jacob didn't really care about that either.
In Genesis 34, that incident with Dinah, you know what the biggest problem is? Yes, the rape was terrible. Yes, the brothers' vengeance is terrible. But you know what the most disgraceful thing is?
Jacob's response. What does he say? He's not concerned with his daughter's rape. He's not concerned with his brother's anger.
He's not concerned with the fact that the Shechemites wanted to intermingle together and to absorb them, which is what Abraham said they shouldn't do and which God does not want them to do. And it's a good application for the people of Israel because they did that all the time. What does he say? You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land.
You made me look bad, sons. Among the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I. His concern was not so much with the covenant promise, but looking good so that he was not killed, and Judah learned a few things from his dad in Genesis 38.
Like father, like son. He has three boys. Thurshua, Ur. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.
And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. He was at Kaseb when she bore him. So he's got three boys. Now at that time, it was the place of the father, it was the task of the father to find wives for their sons, much like Abraham does.
And so what does Judah do? He goes and gets a Canaanite. Then Judah took a wife for her, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him.
You see, he had wicked sons too. The Lord strikes down Ur, no indication as to what Ur did, but he's a Canaanite, it was probably something very grave, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord strikes him down. Now what happens here? It leaves Tamar childless.
There is no heir for her. And the theme of firstborn and heir comes up again for us in verses 6 through 10. And so what does Judas say? Judas says to the second son, Onan, in verse 8, go into your brother's wife and marry her and raise up an heir to your brother.
You see, this is what's called the Leverite Law or the Leverite Marriage. A brother was obliged to marry the widow of his brother to raise up an heir for him. So his name would continue on. The law does forbade marriage between a brother and a brother's wife, except for this ground.
You see this in Deuteronomy 25, and we'll look at this a little bit later. We'll see this in Ruth as well. So the second brother's task was to raise up a seed for her. Onan was supposed to do this.
But Onan's a wretch too. You see, Onan's only concerned with himself. Onan is only concerned with his heir. And so, verse 9, very clear.
Onan knew that the heir would not be his. And it came to pass that he went into his brother's wife, that he omitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. He wants the inheritance all to himself. He doesn't want to give any to his brother who has died, and instead wants to keep it.
We see his greed, we see his sin, same fate. The Lord, the thing displeased the Lord, therefore he killed him also. But notice Judah's response. Now, there's some contrast, I think, with Jacob in Genesis 37, when Joseph supposedly, or when Jacob thinks that Joseph has died, he mourns for his son.
There isn't any indication of that with Judah here. But notice what he does. He says to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in your father's house till my son, Shelah, is grown. Seems good, but...
For he said, lest he also die like his brothers. He's blaming Tamar. He thinks Tamar is some sort of, you know, unlucky charm. He thinks Tamar is the reason that they're dying.
And so what does he say? Get out of my house lest you kill Shayla. Get out of my house lest you kill my other son. Go back to your house.
Go back to that place and go be with your father as a widow until Shayla grows up. But the key problem is lest he also die like his brothers. And Tamar, she obeys. She went and dwelt in her father's house.
So that's marriage with Canaanites.
Conduct like Canaanites
Let's then look secondly at conduct like Canaanites, verses 12 through 23. Notice in verses 12 through 14 we see Judah the Canaanite. Now what's interesting is verses 1 through 11, that's 20 years have gone by. 20 years fly by just like that. It's really setting the stage for verse 12.
And verses 12 to the end is only about a year that passes by. So the story slows down for us to see what's going on. And so what happens, verse 12. The process of time, the daughter of Sheua, Judah's wife, dies.
Judah loses his wife. What does he do? So you go, he was comforted. He goes up to his sheepshears at Timnah.
He and his friend, Hira, the Edulamite. Now, Hira has not been a good influence, and he's probably still not a good influence, and the language of sheep shears there was actually a festival. It's not like they just all went and, you know, they do all shear sheep at that time, but it was meant to be a big party. You actually see this in 2 Samuel 13, when Absalom tries to kill his brother Amnon.
What does he do? It's the sheep shear festival to get Amnon a little merry so that he can take him out. Well, same here. There's going to be a lot of wine, a lot of partying going on, and he wants to go to that place with his higher of the Edulamite to be comforted.
And so he goes. He goes to Timnah. He goes with his friend. He goes to this party and notice verse 13.
Tamar knows. She sees it was told Tamar saying, look, Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep. And then notice verse 14. She took off her widow's garments.
Why is that important? You see, Tamar does what she's supposed to do. Tamar all this time has obeyed. She went to her father's house and remained a widow.
She'd go find another husband. She'd go find another mate. She remained a widow during that time. And so what she does, it's important for us to see that she does what is right throughout this entire section.
And you're probably going to be like, Mike, that's a little scary, but we'll deal with that as we get to the unsavory bits in just a moment. But she took off her widow's garments, she's done what she's supposed to remain there, but she covers herself with a veil, wraps herself, and sat in an open place that was on the way to Timnah. Why? For she saw that Sheila was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife.
Judah doesn't care once again about the covenant seed. Judah doesn't care again about passing the line along. Sheila is grown. She's supposed to give Tamar to him.
He doesn't do that. Meanwhile, all this time, Tamar has done what she's supposed to be doing. He's evidenced this his lack of concern by not by even marrying a Canaanite We'll even see it here with his lack of concern for Tamar during her barrenness You see throughout the patriarchs. What's a key theme barrenness?
Not by choice for some but for Tamar it is not by her choice but by the the negligence of Judah not to provide a seed for her and so This sets the stage for the unsavory part that we sometimes, our tummies get, you know, kind of grumbly. We kind of get a little nervous when we read it, but it's there. It's in the Bible. We must read it.
And so Judah, verse 15, when Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot because she'd covered her face. There were other guard for prostitutes at that time. One key distinguisher was the veil, but she doesn't say that she, I mean, she's doing it on purpose as to look like a harlot. And he thinks she's a harlot.
She covers her face. He comes to her. He speaks with her. This is where it slows down even more.
Then he turned to her by the wayside and said, please let me come into you. For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law." This is where, like, Judah, do you know what you're doing right now? Do you know what's about to happen? Do you know who that is?
You see, this is incest, even though it's his daughter-in-law. Even our confession in, you know, London Baptist Confession 25 on marriage speaks against what's called consanguinity. That just means by blood. You can't marry someone who you're related to by blood.
But then it says affinity. Affinity means by law. That means you can't marry someone whom you're related to by law. And so he's engaging in incest here and he doesn't know it yet.
I mean, she knows it, but he doesn't know it just yet. But there's something important the way she does it, yet it's still unsavory. We'll get there in just a minute, but he has no idea what's about to happen. So they give the verbal exchange.
So she said, what will you give me that you may come into me? That is, what's the payment gonna be? What will you grant me? And he said, I will send you a young goat from the flock.
Okay, seems like a good payment, but he doesn't have it with him, and so she says, will you give me a pledge till you send it? Will you give me a down payment to make sure I receive it? And he says, he asks, probably shouldn't have done that either. What pledge shall I give you?
And she said, your signet and cord and your staff that is in your hand. That is the things that clearly identify who you are. Your signature signed in pen. So you can't, I guess you could white it out, but you can't erase it.
It's there. His initials carved on his staff, his signatory, his special seal, the sign of authority, all those things that show that you are you. Give those things to me as that pledge. And Judah must have been struggling real bad.
He does it. Then he gave them to her, went into her, and she conceived by him. Verse 19. She arose and went away and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood, of her sadness, of her difficulty, and puts them back on.
Now Judah probably has some shame because he tries to cover it up, verses 20 through 23. And so look, verse 20,
Judah's Attempted Cover-Up
Judah sent the young goat by Hira again. He's back, the Edulamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand, but he did not find her. You know what the irony is? Judah is willing to fulfill his obligation to a harlot? but he won't fulfill his obligation to his daughter-in-law.
He wants to make sure the harlot is paid for, the harlot is provided for, but his daughter-in-law he forgets. You see, Judah throughout this narrative does not look like a leader, does not look like a godly man. Not even he doesn't look like a godly man, he's not a godly man. He's not someone you would think the line would come from.
Abraham had his problems, but yeah, Abraham trusted. Isaac had his issues, but he had some good things there too. Jacob, yeah, there were difficulties with Jacob there too. He deceived his blind dad and did some terrible things against his brother.
You don't do certain things like that, but there's some good things there. Judah, there's no redeeming quality with Judah at this point. There's nothing good about Judah at this point. There's nothing, you know, savory about Judah at this point.
And so, she goes, or he goes, the Adulamite goes, his friend, to find her. 21, then he asked the men of that place, saying, where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside? And they said, there was no harlot in this place. So he returned to Judah and said, I cannot find her. Also the men of the place said, there was no harlot in this place.
Man, that would make someone go white. Then verse 23, Judah said, let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed. For I sent this young goat and you have not found her. Stop looking. lest our shame be exposed.
Stop looking, lest what I did be uncovered. Stop looking, lest I be found out. His signet ring, his cord, his staff is much like losing your credit card at a brothel. That's a key identifier of who he is, and he loses those things with this harlot or with this Tamar, and he says, let's cover it up.
Let's not keep looking. Let's keep things quiet. Judah is very much acting like a Canaanite at this point. So that's the second point.
Redemption through a Canaanite
Let's then look thirdly and finally at redemption through Canaanites, verses 24 through 30. Time passes. Three months. She can't hide the pregnancy anymore.
Little bumps begin to show. And it's found out, verse 24, and it came to pass about three months after that Judah was told, saying, Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the harlot. Furthermore, she is with child by harlotry. That also brings a testament to the fact that she stayed in her father's house, stayed in her father's area, was engaged as that widow.
But here we see she's found out as one of the pregnant. And the only way that could be is if she is with or be through harlotry. And so, it's found out. And what does Judas say?
Notice his response here. Bring her out and let her be burned. Now he's concerned with righteousness. Now he's concerned with keeping the law.
Now he's concerned with doing what is right. And so he does bring her out. Let's burn her even under the mosaic law Adultery was punishable by death and burning is one of the ways in which they did that and so he says let's bring her out and let's burn her And this is one of those places in scripture. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when it happens You see, it's almost like what happened, or it is like what happened with Nathan and David, after David did that wretched thing by killing Uriah the Hittite, and Nathan comes to find David, and he tells the parable about the rich man with a big herd, the poor man with only one little sheep, and the rich man takes the poor sheep, and then David gets fired up, and then Nathan says, you are the man.
Well, that's a similar situation here. 25. When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law saying, by the man to whom these belong, I am with child. And she said, please determine who these are, the signet and cord and staff.
Tamar Exposes Judah
She rebukes him. She exposes him, not just for his harlotry, but also for his lack of concern with the covenant seed. And notice Judah's response in verse 26. So Judah acknowledged them and said, she has been more righteous than I because I did not give her to Sheila my son.
This section is so difficult for us, isn't it? The incest that goes on. And what I'm about to say in no way condones incest. You shouldn't engage, you know, have relations with your brother, sister, someone you're related to by blood or by law.
But What she does here is an act of faith, brethren. As we consider the theme of seed, as we consider the carrying on of the covenant promise, she has more concern for it than Judah does. And you see this in the fact that Judah doesn't do what he's supposed to do, and rather she takes matters into her own hands. As Wolke says, Normally, Canaanite women absorb Israelite men into their debased culture.
You see this throughout the Old Testament. You see this perhaps even in life as well. You can't conversion date. That just never works.
You can't say, I love that person, but they're not believers. No, that never happens. Usually you're dragged down. That's typically what happens.
Not with Tamar. Tamar acts more like an Israelite than Judah ever does. Waltke continues on. In that light, her deception as a Canaanite prostitute to snare her widowed father-in-law into fathering covenant seed should be evaluated as a daring act of faith.
Her faithful deception wins her a place in the Messianic lineage along with the faithful treachery of Rahab. She does what is right. Again, that's difficult for us, but throughout the series, throughout what happens here, she never marries. She remains loyal to Judah, and she's concerned with the covenant seed, takes matters into her own hands when Judah doesn't.
You see, it's difficult for us, but Judah commends her. And later on in redemptive history, she is also commended as well. Yes, in Matthew, but in Ruth. In Ruth, we see another Leverite marriage happen.
Another Leverite plan happen. That is, actually, Ruth raises up a seed for Naomi. But we see, with respect to Boaz redeeming Ruth, in verse 11 of Ruth 4, And all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel.
And may you prosper in Ephrathath and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman. Her act is commended in Scripture. Her act of faith is commended in Scripture as a way to keep the covenant line going forward.
Judah, she is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son. He confesses his sin, he realizes his wrongdoing, and he makes amends. He never went into her again. And even though it's not in the text, I do think that there is forgiveness for Judah here.
Walk ye again.
Judah's Confession and Transformation
As when the formerly self-righteous David is confronted with the sin of fathering an illegitimate child and owns up to it, So also Judah's true character emerges with his confession. We may assume that just as the Lord forgives the repentant David, he also forgives Judah. We'll see this throughout, but we'll see a transformation in Judah later. The one who connived, the one who sold his brother into slavery, the one who engaged in marriage with Canaanites, the one who engaged in prostitution, the one who had no concern for the covenant seed, the one who had so much concern for himself, changes, doesn't he?
In Genesis 43, he becomes the spokesman for his brothers. In Genesis 44, he assumes leadership. In Genesis 46, he spearheads migration. And throughout that section, he says, take me instead to be the one instead of Benjamin.
Take me instead. This is so different from Reuben. Reuben tries hard, but he fails miserably. In one of the sections with respect to Benjamin and Jacob not wanting to send Benjamin to Joseph, Reuben says, kill my two sons.
What does that do? Kill my grandsons? How is that going to help anything? He doesn't offer himself, but Judah does.
Judah emerges as the champion. Judah emerges as the faithful one. Judah emerges as the one through whom the promised line would come, especially with Joseph in Egypt. Now, what's interesting is Judah and Joseph both received blessing. 1 Chronicles 5, speaking about Reuben's line, it shows that the line, the seed, comes from Judah, the blessing is given to Joseph.
So they both win in the end, but the primary Messianic lineage will come through Judah. And you see this in Genesis 49 with the promise to Judah. Verse 8 of Genesis 49, Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise. Your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies.
Your father's children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down.
He lies down as a lion. And as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah. nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of the people, binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine.
And he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. But that royal scepter shall not depart. The royal offspring of kingship shall come to him.
It was promised to Abraham in Genesis 17, The kingship was promised to Jacob in Genesis 35, and Judah receives the promise of the king in the line as well.
God's Grace Magnified
And so, we see in verses 27 through 30, the promise fulfilled and God's grace magnified. Verse 27, now it came to pass at the time for giving birth that behold, twins were in her womb. And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the wand put out his hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, This one came out first. Then it happened that as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly, and she said, How did you break through?
This breach be upon you. Therefore, his name was called Perez. Afterward, his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. His name was called Zerah.
This is where we see the grace of God towards Judah. Judah doesn't deserve anything, does he? Especially with his conduct. But he confesses his sin.
And what does God do? Notice, Tamar is barren. She now has children. Perez and Zerah.
God gives her the seed that she should have had a long time ago, that the brothers should have engaged in, but now he provides it for her. And then notice the grace given to Judah. Two sons killed, two sons born. God restores it.
God brings back, or not brings them back from the dead, but restores the line through the one of Perez, through Zerah. And it is through Perez, the younger, and Zerah, the older, that God would bring forth the seed, bring forth the lineage, bring forth the covenant one, bring forth the Davidic son who would come from Him. You see,
Application
the whole point of Genesis 38 is God's grace. Yeah, we could talk about how we shouldn't be unequally yoked. Yeah, we could talk about how we shouldn't act like Canaanites. Those are all good things.
The main idea is the grace of God. God protecting and keeping his covenant. God doing what he said he would do. And God's plan, what man means for evil, God means for good.
You know, Genesis is driving to that point. That's the main idea. What man means for evil, God means for good. And it's seen very clearly here with Judah.
Judah meant evil. Judah meant wrong. Judah sinned. But God exposed that sin, God showed him his sin, and God demonstrated his grace to him and forgave his sin.
And he forgave his sin based on the one who would come, the Lord Jesus Christ. But before we get there, at the end of Ruth, it ends with a genealogy. And that genealogy is the genealogy of Perez. Ruth 4.
If I can turn there. Ruth 4, verse 18. Actually, verse 13, you see that Boaz takes Ruth. She became his wife.
When enters, she conceives. She bears a son. Naomi has a son, Leverite. Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom and became a nurse to him.
Also, the neighbor woman gave him a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Verse 18.
Now this is the genealogy of Perez. Perez begot Hezron. Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Aminadab.
Aminadab begot Nashon. Nashon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz. Boaz begot Obed.
Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David. It is through Judah that David would come, and it's through Judah that Christ would come. And we see this in Matthew 1.1.
The Lord Jesus is David's greater son. The Lord Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But we see in the genealogy where the Lord comes. And what's interesting, all four women, all four women mentioned in the genealogy are what?
They're Canaanites, brethren. Redemption through Canaanites. Salvation through Canaanites. And what's interesting is all four of them have some unsavory kind of part to the story.
Rahab's a harlot. Tay or sorry Tamar is technically first Tamar, you know, there's that incest going on yet. It's commended for protecting the line, but it's still unsavory and not quite great and then rehabs a harlot and then you know with with Ruth she's a mobile tests and you know this yeah, there's some you know, some interesting things there and then with Bath Sheba that's just terrible in and of itself and But through all those things, through all those difficulties, through all those sins, God brings forth the Christ. God brings forth the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's because of His covenant-keeping, His faithfulness, His righteousness, His goodness, that you and I, that Judah, that David, that Rahab, that all those ones in the line, that all those who believe might have life, might have peace. The whole point of Genesis 38 is to marvel at the grace of God, that He saves wretched sinners like us. That He saves vile men like Judah. That He protects and keeps and saves a man.
Yet David is a man after God's own heart, but he engages in a grave sin. Yet God saves sinners. He did not come to save the righteous, but sinners. He did not come to save the perfect, but the imperfect.
And I think you see with David, Psalm 51, David, 2 Samuel 12, and with Judah in Genesis 38, we see the confession of faith, of the confession of forgiveness. She is more righteous than I. Brethren, we must walk through life marveling at the grace of God, that He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, that He would save sinners like us. And as we realize who we are and who He is, that we would be before Him always marveling at His grace.
Grace doesn't stop once we believe. Grace continues on throughout the Christian life. We must always lean on our Lord who is faithful to guide us and keep us until the end.
Call to Unbelievers
Now, if you're an unbeliever here today, don't wash your hands and come to Christ. come to Christ and be cleansed. Maybe there's certain sins you think you can't shake. Maybe you think you're vile, and the reality is you are vile, but come and find forgiveness in the Lord Christ. Believe on Him.
Believe that He has lived, died, and rose again. Believe that He is perfect. Believe that He is the perfect sacrifice. Confess your sins to Him and ask for forgiveness.
And God is a God who forgives. God is a God who gives grace. Turn to the Lord in faith and trust and find life and hope in the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Well, let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, O God, for your amazing grace. And we're thankful, O God, that you do save sinners in Christ. We know, God, that one wicked thought is enough to put us in hell forever and ever. And, O God, yet we are thankful that Christ did not engage in one sin, one wicked thought, one wicked deed, and He is righteous in every way.
And, O God, we're thankful for Your promises, we're thankful for Your faithfulness, we're thankful for Your goodness, O God, and we're thankful for the promise that what man means for evil, You truly do mean for good, O God. And so we are thankful for your promises that David did come. We're thankful for your promises that David's greater son came. We're thankful, oh God, that he is the root of Jesse.
He is the one promised of old, the seed of Abraham, the seed of the woman, and he is righteous in every way. We're thankful that he is our king. We're thankful that he is our prophet. We're thankful that he is our priest.
We're thankful, O God, that he speaks to us through the word. We're thankful, O God, that he is our perfect sacrifice praying for us now. We're thankful that he is our king who went on conquest for us and will help us die to sin day by day. And so, God, help us to cling to your promises.
Help us to cling to your grace day by day, even as we see salvation of wretched sinners, even in your Old Testament, and we're thankful, O God, you saved wretched sinners in the New Covenant era. And, O God, we do pray that you'd be pleased to save sinners this Lord's Day, whether it's here or in other parts of the world, that your Word would go forth and sinners would come to life, sinners would confess their sins and find hope in Christ, find forgiveness in Him, find grace in Him. We're thankful, O God, that you are a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And, O God, we do pray that you keep us and protect us as we go into the world, and we pray that you'd help us to always be before you, always marvel at your grace, always have it before our eyes, that you might cause us to die to sin day by day, and love the things that you love, O Lord.
Help us to put on the mind of Christ day by day. And, O God, we do pray that all that we do, we pray that all that we say, you would be glorified. We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen.
Well, for our final hymn, we're going to sing