We’re often quick to judge someone and decide whether they
deserve our support, love or encouragement.
There are several instances in scripture that appeared to be huge sins
that would derail the work of God. A
case in point is the story of Tamar who bore Pharez and Zarah to Judah, her
father-in-law. Right there you might
say, “Stone her. That is absolutely
disgusting.” Unfortunately you would
have destroyed an important link in the lineage of our Savior Jesus.
Genesis 38:7 - And
Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
Things started out normally enough. By custom Judah went and procured a wife for
his son Er. Er’s name meant awake which
might mean he had awakened the womb of his mother, but in his particular case
he awakened the wrath of God instead.
Genesis 38:7 - And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in
the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him.
We don’t know what Er’s sin was, only that he was wicked in
the sight of God so God killed him. No
doubt Er had some friends and people he was close to, but we will see in the
next two verses that not everyone loved him.
Genesis 38:8 - And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy
brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9 And Onan
knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto
his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give
seed to his brother.
In this natural brotherhood between Er and Onan there was no
great love. Love goes beyond. Love will endure after this Earth is
destroyed and turned to ash. How? Because God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). He will continue to love His children long
after all this is dead and gone. It’s
important to know what love is if you intend to live the life God offers. Scripture says that without faith it is
impossible to please God and that faith operates by love. Why is faith important in this circumstance? Because Faith is the substance of things
HOPED FOR. Faith is the evidence of
things NOT SEEN. Faith is what motivates
us to love and cherish the unlovely BEFORE God can make those important changes
in their lives.
Verse 8 is the first visible instance of a levirate
marriage. A levirate marriage was
ordained by God to prevent family lines from coming to an end through death of
a husband prior to producing children.
In these circumstances the next son in line married the widow and any
children she bore would bear his brother’s name. Onan’s lack of love for his brother meant he
did not want to help continue his brother’s line. He may have had another wife whose children
would have been all his but that did not matter to him. Not only that but his lack of character
extended to where he was willing to have sex with Tamar but not allow her to
become pregnant.
In our walk with God we have certain responsibilities. These responsibilities may come with certain
benefits but we are not allowed to reap the benefits without bearing the
responsibilities. If you adopt an orphan
child because your country offers financial incentives for that act of kindness
but then you turn around and fail to raise the child as your own or even train
the child to be a productive member of society, you have done exactly what Onan
did in this circumstance.
Genesis 38:10 - And the thing which he did displeased the
Lord: wherefore he slew him also. 11 -
Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's
house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also,
as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.
Right about now Judah believes that Tamar is a man eating
woman. We are unlikely to honestly view
our own children or family members with objectivity. We want to believe the very best of our
kids. He managed to raise two sons who
lived so badly that God killed them both.
Rather than have that happen again he put his daughter-in-law away with
her own father and ignored her.
To truly understand how devastating this was you must know
that for a woman of her time not to bear a child was considered a great shame. It’s
certain that she heard the whispers of her family. No man would marry her because she appeared
to have killed two husbands. The law was
clear but so was human nature. Man
killer.
Genesis 38:12 - And in process of time the daughter of
Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his
sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
I suggest you read Genesis 38 from verse 12 on. Judah’s wife died and after he finished
grieving he visited his good friend Hirah the Adullamite. While there he met a veiled woman and had sex
with her. Since he had no money and no
sheep with him she asked for a pledge so she could be paid later. She received his walking staff, bracelet and
signet ring. These items were unique to
him and would prove she had been with him.
After receiving these things she returned home and dressed as a widow
once again.
Genesis 38:24 - And it came to pass about three months
after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played
the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said,
Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
I can’t imagine she told anyone how she came to be
pregnant. Once again it was assumed that
she had to have played the harlot to become pregnant; after all, a woman in
that day was not free to just have casual dalliances with men. Whoever she slept with was not her
husband. Judah’s unrighteous indignation
insisted upon her death by fire though he was guilty of the same crime.
I won’t go into the fact that she presented him with his own
pledge for his illicit sexual dalliances.
It is enough that Judah when faced by his own hypocrisy was quick to admit
his error and restore her honor. She was
allowed to return to her house in peace and in the fullness of time bore two
sons, Pharez and Zarah. These two were
mighty men in Israel though born of odd circumstances. They were also illegitimate children, a
serious sin in Israel. The descendants
of harlotry could not become a true part of Israel until the tenth generation.
Genesis 38:28 - And it came to pass, when she travailed,
that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a
scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. 29 - And it came to pass, as he
drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast
thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called
Pharez. 30 - And afterward came out his
brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called
Zarah.
Pharez was a strong man in Israel but the stigma of his
birth would not allow him to be a true leader.
His name was quite prophetic, and while his brother was legally the
first born, Pharez bore the real distinction by pulling his brother back and
coming out completely first. For this
reason his name was given as “Breach.”
God killed the first two sons of Judah and seemed to ignore the third. The Breach was His chosen path.
In 1 Samuel 17:55, when Saul asks Abner whose son David is,
he knew he was from Judah. According to
Hebrew tradition that question had a double meaning. If he came from Zarah then it didn’t matter,
but if David came from Pharez, Saul could see the end of his reign in
sight. If David came from Pharez, which
he did, then by the pattern set forth in scripture he could be a danger to
Saul’s rule.
Ruth 4:9-13 - And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all
the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was
Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of
Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon
his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his
brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.
Ruth is a wonderful little book written by the prophet
Samuel. It is so short I recommend you
read it through. Boaz was quite taken
with Ruth even though she was a Moabitess and one of a people hateful to
God. If it wasn’t for the fact that she
was widowed by a Israeli man she would have no possible way of marrying a man
of Israel. Her first husband married her
while living in sin in Moab. The
Moabites were considered cursed for their treatment of Israel during the Exodus
from Egypt. Boaz had one major thing in
his favor. A widow in Israel, no matter
what nation she originally came from, was entitled to a Levirate marriage.
She could be married if a man from Israel would have her and
was part of her late husband’s lineage.
Boaz was. He may have been more
willing to marry outside of the people of Israel since his Grandmother was
Rahab the Harlot from Jericho.
Undoubtedly her influence made a big difference. The other nearer kinsman was not willing to
do the kinsman-redeemer part and raise
up seed for his late brother’s family.
He handed his shoe to Boaz for whom it was a marriage license. To hand a shoe to someone because you were
unwilling to do the kinsman redeemer part was considered to be shameful but God
had Boaz waiting for this honor.
Ruth 4:11 And all the people that were in the gate, and
the elders, said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into
thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel:
and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
This verse and the one below were obligatory toasts given to
the new groom. The first verse seems to
be quite gracious. “The Lord make this
woman like Rachel and Leah who built the house of Israel. They prophesied that they would do well and
prosper in all they did.
Ruth 4:12 And let thy house be like the house of Pharez,
whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this
young woman.
This verse however is something different. At first it seems like a serious insult. Let your house be like the house of Pharez,
that illegitimate child of whoredoms?
How dare you offer that kind of blessing…but that wasn’t it at all. They, the elders of this tiny town called
Bethlehem, the town that the Messiah would one day come from, would benefit
from the many strange twists and turns that God ordained in the path of His
only begotten Son Jesus. Like many
blessings over the centuries, this one had a strong prophetic tone. Let the house of Boaz one day upset the other
houses and put a great leader on a throne.
Ruth 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and
when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. 18 Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez
begat Hezron, 19 And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, 20 And
Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, 21 And Salmon begat Boaz,
and Boaz begat Obed, 22 And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.
David was a breach who was not loved in his own family or
respected by his father or brothers. He
was the Ketan, the least esteemed one.
He was a loner and the tenth in line after Tamar. Pharez was one. Hezron was two. Ram was
three. Amminadab was four. Nahshon was five.
Salmon was six. Boaz was
seven. Obed was eight. Jessie was nine and David was ten. Deuteronomy 23:2 had been satisfied. David could be king!
It’s important to remember that while Boaz was extremely
wealthy and a man of influence in his city he was not considered to be in the
congregation of the Lord. All his predecessors back to Pharez were
considered to be unworthy to lead Israel.
When they blessed Boaz and said his seed would be like Pharez, they
meant that against all odds, Pharez was born.
When His first father and second father were unworthy and
struck dead by God he beat the odds.
While still just an egg in Tamar’s belly, God intervened to make a woman
desperate enough to break the rules so he beat the odds. When his brother tried to force his way out
first, Pharez wrestled with his brother and came forth first so he beat the
odds.
What they couldn’t know at the time was that Israel would
get so fed up with judges in a few years that they would demand a king. The first thing God gave them was a pretty
boy king that was tall, smart and good looking.
Surely this was the man of the hour.
He turned out to be afraid and unable to obey God’s simplest rules. Like Er and Onan, he had to go. He looked like the real deal but was just a
pretty copy.
Albert Einstein once said that if God played dice He would
win. This is a paraphrase of Proverbs
16:33 which basically says, “The dice are in the lap of God.” In other words, God controls all the
dice. Sadly, in this day and age we
forget that God planned all this before time even began. We try to dilute the scripture more and more
but God will ensure that every jot and tittle comes to pass.
1 Corinthians 13:7 (AMP) - Love bears up under anything
and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person,
its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything
[without weakening
What am I trying to say here? Don’t assume that because someone WAS a
criminal or prostitute or liar that they still are. Don’t insist that the child who drives you
crazy right now won’t amount to a thing.
Whatever negative thing you believe about someone, put God in that
equation and see if the answer doesn’t begin to add up. Love bears up – You can handle the
foolishness and trials until Christ is formed in them. Believeth all things – See everyone as a ten
until they prove they are not worthy of that score. Even if they do prove it, remind yourself
that the lot is in God’s lap. He can
change things. Love never fails – It
keeps working in the middle of your worst nightmare. Love endures – it has the power to keep going
year after year until God’s will is proved.
There was a reason that scripture says, “The foolishness of
God is greater than the wisdom of man (1 Corinthians 1:25).” God likes to do things differently. He likes to us the dregs of society, the
whoremongers and idolaters who are willing to change. God came to heal so we should not be
surprised to see our churches filled with sick bodies, sick minds, sick souls
and sick spirits. He sent them to you to
make a difference. He sent them to be
accepted and loved.
Does that clarify the matter?
Bishop J
