No one is too sinful, broken, or tarnished to receive the gift of salvation and live a new life devoted to the Lord. The women in Jesus’ genealogy demonstrate that truth. Matthew lists 5 remarkable women (four from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament) and we can learn much from each of them.
It is most unusual to find the names of women in Jewish genealogies, since names and inheritances came through the fathers. But in this list we find references to four women from Old Testament history: Today we will focus on Tamar
1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Matthew 1:1-3 (NLT)
Sometimes the juiciest, most drama-ridden stories can be found in the most unexpected of places: the Bible. One case in point is the story of Judah and Tamar, a bizarre tale about a father-in-law who mistakenly impregnates his daughter-in-law—who’d concealed her identity from him on purpose.
Who was Tamar?
Genesis 38 intersects the Joseph narrative with an absolutely bizarre story regarding one of Joseph’s brothers, Judah, and his relationship with his daughter-in-law, Tamar.
In the story, Judah, the fourth-born son of Jacob (Israel), had left his father and brothers and married a Canaanite woman named Shua. When their oldest son, Er, came of age, Judah and Shua found him a wife named Tamar. However, according to Scripture, “Er was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life,” making Tamar a widow (Genesis 38:7).
In levirate marriage, the brother-in-law’s duty was to father a male heir with his brother’s widow to carry his brother’s name and ensure his inheritance (Deuteronomy 25:5). In this case, the responsibility fell to Onan, Er’s younger brother. Now, although Onan took Tamar as his wife, he refused to bear a child that he would not be able to call his own. So, instead of conceiving a child with Tamar, Onan “wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother.” It was a vile act that displeased the Lord, and so “He (the Lord) took his life also” (Genesis 38:10).
Now twice widowed, Tamar was childless and alone. Here, Judah was expected to provide another one of his sons to marry and care for Tamar. But rather than offering up his third son, Judah refused, telling Tamar, “remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up. I am afraid that he too may die, like his brothers” (Genesis 38:11).
Now, although Judah argued that he wanted to wait until Shelah was older, it’s clear that he had no intention of marrying off another son to Tamar, inexcusable neglect of his fatherly duties, and injustice to Tamar. Not only that, but Judah had grossly assumed that Tamar was the cause of Er and Onan’s downfall, a failure to acknowledge and address the sins of his own children.
And then the story takes another odd turn. Following Shelah growing up, Judah’s wife passed away and he became a widower. After learning that Judah planned to go to Timnath to tend his flock, Tamar plotted to disguise herself as a prostitute and lay with Judah. Assuming she was a prostitute, he traded for her services. Tamar’s intention was to become pregnant by this ploy so that she might carry a child in Judah’s line since she had been denied to be with Shelah. So she acted the part of a prostitute and negotiated a deal with Judah for a goat, assured by his staff, seal, and cord. When Judah was later able to have a goat sent to Timnath, in order to collect his staff and seal, the woman was nowhere to be found. (Genesis 38:12–23)
Three months later, Tamar was accused of prostitution from the fact of her pregnancy. Upon hearing this news, Judah ordered that she be burned to death. Tamar sent the staff, seal, and cord to Judah with a message stating that the owner of these items was the man who had made her pregnant. Upon recognizing these items as his own, Judah freed Tamar from her sentence. In essence, Tamar had tricked Judah into performing the duties his sons should have.
Filled with guilt, Judah recognized his sin and acknowledged his failure to provide for his daughter-in-law, confessing, “she is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah” (Genesis 38:26). In doing so, Judah became one of the first recorded examples of a public confession of personal sin.
Tamar and Judah later bore twin boys named Perez and Zerah. Ironically, out of Perez’s line, both King David and later Jesus Christ, the Messiah, were born (Matthew 1:3). This is a testament to God’s prevailing mercy, for even the most flawed and sinful of men can be used and blessed by God, not because of their merit, but because of His grace and the power of repentance.
In Tamar’s life story we we see the spiritual blindness of a father figure and the spiritual corruption and moral failure of young men. It also reveals injustices towards women and explores the consequences of sexual sin upon families. In Tamar’s story, the grace of God is on display for those willing to confess and repent from their sin.
We might wonder why such a complicated story filled with sinful actions and deception is part of Jesus’ genealogy. The story, though, shows us that God is working even when people choose to do wrong.
A woman such as Tamar might be an unconventional choice for God to carry the lineage of the Messiah through, but she is remarkable for being included in Jesus’ genealogy. Even the sinful actions of humans cannot stop the Lord’s plans.
In the next post we will learn more about another of Jesus’ relatives, Rahab, the prostitute.
Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/watch-now/leander-campus-videos
Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church
Sources:
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 1, (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2001), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 13.
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/people/who-was-tamar-in-the-bible.html
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/tamar-in-the-bible/
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