Scripture
Genesis 38
Messy, righteous, outsider. Those are three words that describe Tamar. She was an outsider; a Canaanite, Gentile, non-Israelite. She had a messy story. Married a man who turned out to be wicked and God struck him down. Had to marry his brother to give her deceased husband a son. Well, he turned out to be wicked too and God put him to death as well. So, here was this woman, widowed twice, still has no kids and now has really nothing. The law says that she is supposed to marry the youngest brother to give her first husband a son, but his dad doesn’t want to give his only son left to this woman who two of his sons have already married and then they’ve died afterwards.
After a long time, Tamar realized that her father-in-law, Judah, was not going to give his youngest son to her in marriage, meaning she’d have to live as a widow for the rest of her life. The law also said that if the father-in-law didn’t have a son older than 10 years old, he himself could also be the one to give the woman a son for his son who had died, basically being a surrogate for his son. However, he didn’t do this either, so Tamar took things into her own hands.
She took off her widow clothes, put on a veil so he wouldn’t know it was her, and waited on the side of a road she knew he would be walking down. He, thinking she was a prostitute, slept with her, and then they parted ways. He gave her his seal, cord, and staff as a pledge until he could get her a goat as payment, but she wasn’t there when a friend brought the goat to her.
Judah later found out Tamar was pregnant, and he was outraged, and said to bring her out so they could burn her to death. She wasn’t allowed to remarry or anything because she’s technically pledged to marry Judah’s youngest son. So, the punishment for sleeping with someone else was death. She quickly revealed the seal, cord, and staff that the man gave her and he realized that it was him. He got her pregnant. Right away he said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.”
Tamar went about this in a very unconventional way, but what she did was right, and Judah was in the wrong by keeping his son from her. She was stuck in this limbo as a young widow who wasn’t allowed to remarry and had no kids. So, she had nothing essentially. Also, by doing this, she was proving her loyalty to Judah and his family, since she is technically a part of their family as well. She wanted to give them a son to carry on their family’s name, and that’s exactly what she did. She had two sons, Perez and Zerah. Jesus’s genealogy continues on from Judah and Tamar, to Perez.
Tamar went about this in a complicated, messy way, but she saw the redemption that God brought to her story. She acted righteously, even when Judah didn’t. And this outsider, Canaanite woman, was brought into the Israelite family and into Jesus’s family and listed in his genealogy as the first woman and the first Gentile. That may not seem like a big deal, but trust me, it’s a really big deal. Tamar was the first of many Gentiles and women to be brought into the family.
Prayer
God, thank you for bringing Gentiles into your family. Thank you for bringing me into your family. Help me to always seek to do what is right, even when others around me are not acting righteously.
Questions/Journal Prompts
Feel free to use these questions as a guide as you journal and/or pray.
1. Can you think of a time when you did what was right when others around you were not?
2. What does it look like to live righteously?
3. Is there a situation in your life where someone is not treating you rightly? How could you, even in an unconventional way, still do what is right?
Songs to listen to
Spend some time listening to this song, reflecting on the words, and sitting with Jesus.
“Come Ye Souls by Sin Afflicted” by Emily DeLoach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oEEKJR34eE
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