Chapter 38 – Judah and Tamar – I never knew that this
story even existed until I started this reading challenge, and I was surprised
that this chapter was featured within the middle of Joseph’s story. Basically,
the chapter deals with Judah’s life among the Canaanites and the scandal between
him and Tamar, his daughter-in-law. I have not heard people talk about this
story anywhere, but I did hear in a sermon that this chapter comes before the
story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (chapter 39), contrasting the two brother’s
characters side by side. Judah’s scandal with Tamar has many parallels with
Joseph’s incident with Potiphar’s wife. In both stories, a son of Jacob is
established among the pagans. Joseph becomes the head of the servants in
Potiphar’s house while Judah leaves his family to live among the Canaanites,
starting his own. Then, along come women who frequently bother them, eventually
leading to seduction. Joseph is continually tempted by Potiphar’s wife while
Judah sleeps with Tamar, thinking that she was a prostitute. By the end, both
men lose an object that identifies them and are dishonored as a result. Joseph
loses his clothing trying to escape Potiphar’s wife and then is framed by her,
leading to imprisonment. Judah gives Tamar his signet, cord, and staff, and
they are used to expose his mistreatment and eventual (unintended) affair with
her. As you can see, the parallels only further contrast Joseph and Judah’s
characters.
With each situation, Joseph continues to be steadfast in his
connection to God, and so his troubles are beyond his control. In the end, God
blesses him even in prison. Judah, on the contrary, brings his woes upon
himself with one series of bad choices after another. His decision to leave his
family itself was the initial mistake that started everything. He was not
supposed to marry a Canaanite (Genesis 24:3), but he did. When Tamar gets
widowed twice due to the death of two of Judah’s sons, Judah sends her away to
her father’s house, disgraced. And while Tamar is still in mourning, Judah goes
to a sheep shearing, which signified a time of merriment (2 Samuel 13:23). This
series of mistreatment motivates Tamar to preserve her family line by a
devious, desperate measure. She disguises herself as a prostitute, travels to
where Judah would make a stop, and seduces him. Judah makes yet another mistake
by asking to sleep with a woman who
is not married to him and agreeing to give up his signet and cloak, the very
items that identify him1. Later on, when Judah finds out that Tamar
got pregnant while still a widow, he hypocritically orders her burned alive. However,
Tamar exposes Judah as the man who impregnated her by showing his seal and
cloak. Judah and Tamar’s story, like Lot’s example, shows that one sin can
snowball into another and produce a devastating result. Yet, the silver lining
in all of this is that Judah and Tamar’s illegitimate son is among the ancestors
of Jesus (Matthew 1). This is yet another story in the Bible where God can take
the most wretched things and work them out for His glory. Of course, this
raises the question of why God showed mercy to Judah and Tamar but allowed
Lot’s descendants to become Ammon and Moab, but that would be a discussion
topic for another time.
1: Judah had intended to give a goat to the “prostitute” as
a payment for her…ahem, service with him, and his seal and staff were there as
a pledge that the exchange will be carried out. However, Tamar left the town
soon after, leaving Judah unable to retrieve them or make his payment.
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| Jacob Blessing the Children of Joseph (1656), oil on canvas Rembrandt van Rijn And no, don't ask why they're dressed like Europeans. |
Chapter 48-50 – The last years of Jacob and Joseph
In Chapters 48-49 of Genesis, Jacob blesses each of his sons
and their descendants. The blessings are promises that God makes to the
descendants of Jacob’s sons, reaffirming once again that Canaan is the land promised
to His people. But while the others sons are established as the heads of a
tribe, with Joseph, Jacob adopts Joseph’s two sons Manasseh and Ephraim as
heads of two tribes. This really means that Joseph receives the double portion
of the inheritance. One detail that makes me chuckle is that Joseph, despite
having been favored as the second
youngest son, tries to correct his father into laying his right hand
(gesture of greater blessing) on Manasseh, his older son. Jacob, however, insists on putting his right hand on
Ephraim, the younger son, by prophesying that his descendants will be greater
than Manasseh’s. This serves to remind Joseph that these blessings are from God
and that whatever He wills must be followed.
After Jacob dies in Chapter 50, Joseph’s older brothers are
actually afraid of Joseph taking revenge on them for selling him into slavery
(50:15-17). Imagine, even after the forgiveness and mercy Joseph has shown
them, they still have not gotten over the guilt of what they did to him all
those years ago! It is almost like how sometimes we continue to wallow in the mire
of our guilt, forgetting that Jesus has died for all of our sins.
In verses 24-26, Joseph instructs that his body be buried in
the Promised Land, like his father, when the children of Israel return there.
Even though he made his life in Egypt, Joseph’s final wishes show that he
always considered himself as a stranger in a strange land. His mind was on the
things of God, and he identified himself with His people. He in some respects
represents all of God’s children who have died and gone down to their graves.
They lived their lives on this earth, yet they looked forward to the Eternal
Promised Land, Heaven. They still sleep in their graves to this day, waiting
for the promise of the final deliverance through the Second Coming of Jesus.
Oh, may we be part of that throng when that day comes!
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