Return to Main Page Judah and Tamar: Why Is This Story Here? Genesis 38:1-30 Introduction: A. Chapter 38: A Loud Warning! 1. A loud warning is sounded within this chapter. 2. A son or a daughter can go astray within a family. 3. A young man or woman can leave a godly home to go out into the world, spending years living a worldly life, a life away from God. 4. The world will always swallow up a person who does not trust and follow God. 5. The person will become worldly, seeking the pleasures and possessions of this earth, paying no attention to God. 6. Judah forsook his godly family, left the influence of his godly father and the ways of the world swallowed him up. B. Why is this story here? 1. But wait a minute! a) We are studying Joseph, not Judah. b) Why is this chapter here? 2. Why is this chapter found in the Book of Genesis at all? a) Because of History b) Because of Morality c) Because of a Covenent Community d) Because of God’s Grace I. Because of the History It Records A. The Timing 1. The events in this chapter seem to interrupt the story, but actually they take place during the time of the “Joseph story.” 2. Joseph was seventeen when he was sold and thirty years old when he was elevated to the throne in Egypt, which gives us thirteen years. 3. When you add the seven years of plenty and the two years of famine, you have twenty-two years before Joseph was reconciled to his brothers. 4. That’s plenty of time for Judah to marry, beget three sons, bury two sons and a wife, and get involved with Tamar. 5. If his marriage had occurred before Joseph’s exile, you have even more time available. B. The Tribe of Judah 1. One of the major purposes of Genesis is to record the origin and development of the family of Jacob, the founder of the twelve tribes of Israel. 2. The Israelites went down to Egypt a large family, and four centuries later they came out of Egypt a large nation. 3. Here we see how the tribe of Judah had its beginning. a) Since the tribe of Judah is the royal tribe from which the Messiah would come (49:10), anything related to Judah is vital to the story in Genesis. b) Without this chapter, you’d wonder at finding Tamar and Perez in our Lord’s genealogy (Matt. 1:3) c) Perez was an ancestor of King David (Ruth 4:18–22) and therefore an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1). 4. As we read this account of Judah, there is much that is offensive to good taste, but what happened is descriptive of real life. a) The one truth that must be kept in mind is the mercy and grace of God. (1) God is merciful to man, the disciplined and the undisciplined, the controlled and the uncontrolled. (2) In fact, God’s mercy is needed by every human being as well as by Judah. b) Later, we will see a glorious fact about Judah: he repented. (1) And because he turned his life over to God, God used him in a marvelous way. (2) God chose Judah’s offspring to bear the promised seed, the Savior of the world (Genesis 49:8). c) How could God choose such a man—so great a sinner—to make him and his offspring such a princely tribe? (1) By mercy and grace. (2) God had mercy upon Judah just as He has mercy upon all who sincerely turn to Him. (a) God took Judah and demonstrated that God’s choice is by grace, not by human goodness, merit, or works. (b) Judah gets none of the credit, none of the praise. (c) He deserved nothing. He was a terrible and immoral a sinner. (d) Therefore, God and God alone gets all the credit for saving him. (e) Judah was saved by the grace of God and by the grace of God alone; therefore, God and God alone is worthy to receive all the honor and praise. (3) Moreover, by Judah’s sinful life, God shows all succeeding generations that it is by His grace that all are saved and called. (a) Judah speaks to our generation: he declares that God and God alone is worthy of all praise and honor, for it is He and He alone who saves us. II. Because of the Morality It Teaches A. Practical Lessons 1. This chapter has some practical lessons as well. a) It shows how dangerous it was for God’s people to be in the land with the Canaanites. b) There was always the temptation to live like your neighbors instead of like the people of God. 2. This chapter illustrated why God had to move Israel out of Canaan down into Egypt. a) Judah and his family show how Israel’s family were in danger of being immersed in the worldliness of their environment. b) The result was they were following the lifestyle of unbelievers, of the Canaanites. c) Through intermarriage they faced the very real threat of losing their godly identity and of losing out on the great promises of God and of failing to fulfill God’s great purpose for their lives. 3. There’s also a dramatic contrast between Judah and Joseph. a) Joseph refused to compromise himself with Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39:7–20), but Judah casually slept with a strange woman he thought was a prostitute. b) We also see the continued “harvest” in the family because of deception. (1) Jacob used a garment to deceive his father Isaac (2) Judah and his brothers used a garment to deceive Jacob (37:32). (3) Now Tamar used a garment to deceive Judah! (Gen. 38:14) (4) We reap what we sow. III. Because of the Importance of a Covenant Community A. Separated from His Family 1. Judah got himself into trouble when he separated himself from his brothers and started to make friends with the Canaanites in the land. a) Like Samson, he saw a woman he liked and took her to be his wife (v. 2; Jud. 14). b) Both Abraham and Isaac had been careful to see to it that their sons didn’t marry women of the land lest the “chosen seed” of Israel be polluted with idolatry and immorality (Gen. 24:3–4; 28:1–4). c) Though Judah and his brother opposed the marriage of their sister Dinah with a Canaanite, he married one. d) He believed what was wrong for his sister to do was right for him. 2. Jacob’s brothers were doing things that their father disapproved of, but Jacob was still safer with them than with the people of the land. a) Judah left, trying to flee his guilt and the entire situation. b) But this was wrong. Instead of fleeing, he should have gone to his father, confessed their sin, and launched a search for Joseph to bring him back home. c) By fleeing, Judah was leaving the only godly help and influence there was: his godly father and those around him who were true followers of God. d) Judah needed help: he needed the godly influence and help his father could be to him. e) Judah was turning his back on God, refusing to get right with God and to straighten out the sin he and his brothers had brought upon their father and family. 3. When we have sinned, the answer is not to run away, not to forsake family, friends, and God. 4. The answer is to turn to God and to those who can help us. IV. Because It Reveals God’s Grace A. People Are Not Perfect 1. The story of the patriarchs in Genesis reminds us of the grace of God and His sovereignty in human life. a) The men and women who played a part in this important drama weren’t perfect, and some of them were deliberately disobedient; and yet the Lord used them to accomplish His purposes. b) This doesn’t mean that God approved of their sins, because their sins were ultimately revealed and judged. c) But it does mean that God can take the weak things of this world and accomplish His purposes (1 Cor. 1:26–31). 2. God overruled the sin and shame of Judah—Tamar gave birth to twins, who were eventually to become true believers, a part of the true family of God (v.27-30). B. The Genealogy of Grace (Matthew 1:1-17) 1. Consider the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:1-17. a) It tells more than who Jesus’ ancestors were—it’s more like an abridged tribute to God’s grace throughout redemptive history. b) Matthew wants us to see that Jesus, the King of Israel is a king of grace. c) The people God chose to be a part of the Messiah’s lineage reveal the wonderful grace of God to provide hope for every sinner. 2. In a genealogy otherwise dominated by men, these women are exceptional illustrations of God’s grace. 3. Four other women besides Mary are named in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1: Tamar (v. 3) and Rahab and Ruth (v. 5) and Bathsheba (v. 6). C. Four Outcasts and God’s Amazing Grace (Matthew 1:1-17) Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar … Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, … David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah (Matthew 1:3-6). 1. Tamar was a Canaanite who posed as a prostitute; 2. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho (Josh. 2); and a) Rahab was no example of virtue, but she put her faith in the God of Israel and demonstrated it by protecting the two men Joshua sent to spy out her city. b) God spared her life and the lives of her family when Jericho was besieged and destroyed (Josh. 2:1-21; 6:22-25), and, brought her into the Messianic line. c) She became the wife of Salmon and the mother of the godly Boaz—David’s great-grandfather. 3. Ruth was a Moabitess who converted to Judaism (Ruth 2). a) Ruth was a Moabitess and former pagan. b) She had no right to marry an Israelite. c) It was God’s grace that brought Ruth into the family of Israel, and through Boaz, into the royal line. d) She became the grandmother of King David. 4. Bathsheba is the fourth women mentioned. a) She entered the Messianic line through adultery with David. b) Once again, by God’s grace Bathsheba became the wife of David, the mother of Solomon, and an ancestor of the Messiah. 5. I hope you can see how the genealogy of Jesus Christ is immeasurably more than a list of ancient names. a) It is even more than a list of Jesus’ human forebears. b) It is a beautiful testimony to God’s grace and to the ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ. c) He is truly the friend of sinners who came to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance (Matt. 9:13). d) That’s why this story is in Genesis – It is a glorious demonstration of the grace of God!

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