Genesis 38 is so complex that I find myself angry, devastated, and in awe of God’s Goodness, while I weep at how insane we humans are.
Contextually, Genesis 38, is an uncomical tragedy of errors that God turns for good for His Purposes of saving humanity.
Judah of the 12 tribes of Israel does a terrible thing by marrying a pagan woman. Two of evil sons, Er and Onan, are killed by God. (A great pointer to the self-righteous who ask, “Why doesn’t God destroy evil?” He has multiple times- Genesis 38 shows two examples.)
According to various academic sources, the brothers were killed because of serious sexual misconduct, however, the details seem to be less relevant other than the fact that whatever they did was so bad that God killed them. – https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/1243/what-made-er-evil-in-the-sight-of-the-lord
In the culture of that day, a widowed woman, was married to a sibling to have children to support her, or else she would be destitute. It screams volumes of how cruel ancient cultures were to woman, and yet through it all God has shown up terrible men by using woman as part of His Redemptive plan.
Judah refuses to allow his last son to marry Tamar, Er’s wife. Both Er and Onan, Judah’s sons who God killed, had done something seriously bad to Tamar warranting their death.
Tamar out of desperation, disguises herself as a prostitute and has sex with her father-in-law, falls pregnant, redeems herself by showing up Judah’s guilt, and has twins.
Perez, Tamar’s son, is found in the lineage of Jesus.
GOD TURNED A HORRIFIC SET OF EVENTS FOR GOOD FOR HIS PURPOSE OF BRINGING JESUS.
It is easy to judge these people in Genesis 38, but we will only be judging ourselves in the process.
1)Haven’t we ALL been guilty of sexual sin, even if it is masturbation, or lusting after someone?
2) Haven’t we ALL been victim of objectifying someone, reducing them to sexual fantasy or selfish pleasure?
3) Haven’t we ALL made bad choices following our own self-will and then discovered, through consequences, that our choices were motivated by ill-informed emotional impulses?
I KNOW THAT I AM AS GUILTY AS JUDAH AND TAMAR.
‘Enduring Word’, closes its commentary of Genesis 38, by reminding us that God operates above human experiences and does turn bad to good.
DESPITE, our human fragility that is so easily rocked by our perceptions and emotions, God has the POWER to change horrible into terrific.
God redeemed Tamar by including her son Perez into the lineage of THE MESSIAH- KING JESUS.
This screams at the toxic feminists as it puts them in their place as it shows the goodness of God, who despite culture, despite stinking-thinking, despite lack of knowledge, despite wrong choices and actions, has called women unto Himself as His Plan has ALWAYS been a symbiotic partnership of male and female.
Genesis 38, also kicks the lgbtq and (un) progressive (un)Christian movement in the teeth as it clearly shows that despite the wrongness of cultural understanding of men and woman, God redeems both men and women preserving HIS WILL for marriage as HOLY between A SINGLE MALE AND A SINGLE FEMALE.
(God doesn’t say, “Oh well the straights messed up let’s give the lgbtq a chance.” God maintains HIS STATUS QUO that despite the mistakes of men and women, He still holds them accountable, sometimes severely so, to the ONLY PLAN OF MARRIAGE being heterosexual.)
BUT MORE THAN, all the horror of Genesis 38, God shows, AGAIN, the undeserved mercy He bestows on humanity. Regardless of our failures, God stays committed to His Plan to snatch us from the gates of hell, as His Goodness SHOULD LEAD US into repentance.
GOD LOVES US.
Pray this:
FATHER GOD,
I come before today, a beggar. I admit that I am guilty. I have thought, said, and done terrible things in my quest to pleasure myself. I have sinned against Your Holiness, Purity, and Will to save me. I admit that I lacked knowledge and was a slave of my circumstances, culture, and conditioning.
I want to be free. I want to be pure. I want to be who You say that I am.
I admit that as the saying goes, “A broken mind cannot fix itself,” and that I need You, and Your Wisdom to navigate me out of what I became into what You want me to be.
Please, Lord Jesus be my Lord and Saviour. Thank You for dying for a sinner like me. I need Your Help to heal me, change me, and grow me into being a Child of Light that You say I am.
Please Holy Spirit fill me now so that You can be my Counselor, my Teacher, and Guide into Truth. Forgive me for thinking that my learned information is truth because it feels like truth as it is familiar.
I need You God to fulfill Your Plan for my life, as I don’t know how to do it by myself.
In Your Holy Name Messiah King Jesus.
AMEN
#Hayibo 