Judah, Tamar, and More Joseph

Good morning, Good News Church. We are continuing our series through the book of Genesis.

Last week we did Genesis chapter 37. Today we are going to do Genesis chapter

Genesis 37 · chapter mention Genesis 38 · chapter mention

38 and Genesis chapter 39.

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

You may wonder why are we going to do these two chapters together,

especially if you've read ahead at all.

You might notice these next two chapters are two different stories.

So why would we combine them and put them all on one week?

And the answer is because I don't want to do a sermon only on Genesis chapter 38.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

Some of you have read it apparently.

So why would I not want to do a sermon just on Genesis chapter 38?

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

I'm glad you asked. I have three reasons.

Reason number one, Genesis chapter

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

38 is an interruption to the story of Joseph that we began last week.

So if you read through your Bible, you'll notice Genesis chapter 39 picks up

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

right where Genesis chapter 37 left off.

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

So that if you took 38 out of the Bible, which I'm not suggesting,

I'm just saying if you did.

It just reads straight through. Like the story goes straight from 37 into 39

with this sort of interruption.

So I want to continue the Joseph story this morning. So I'd like to get to chapter 39.

The other reason I don't want to do a sermon just on chapter 38 is Genesis chapter

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

38 is a sexually graphic story about human wickedness, just like Genesis chapter 34 was.

Genesis 34 · chapter mention

And I already did a whole sermon on a graphic chapter of human wickedness.

It was just three weeks ago, and I don't want to do it again so soon.

A third reason that I didn't want to just do it on chapter 38 is I believe the

point of Genesis chapter 38, like I think it makes the same point that the larger

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

Joseph story around it makes.

And so I didn't want to make the same point two sermons in a row. Does that make sense?

Okay, it doesn't to you, but to me I did, and so that's why I made the decision I did.

Okay, in fact, it's so compelling, these reasons, that I could imagine someone

here, even if you didn't offer it, you might think, well, why would we even cover this at all?

Okay, if it's an interruption and it's the same point and it's about all this

graphic stuff, why cover it at all?

And one of my answers to that is, well, we have not skipped any major stories so far.

Like, why start now? Like, we made it almost to the end of the book of Genesis.

Let's go. Let's go all the way through.

So today I'm going to briefly summarize and explain Genesis chapter 38 in my

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

own words, And then we're going to move on to Genesis chapter 39 and continue with the Joseph story.

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

Okay. Are you ready? Here we go.

Picking up from the end of last week's sermon. If you remember,

Joseph has a bunch of brothers and the brothers sold him into slavery.

One of those brothers' name is Judah.

So Judah and his brothers sell Joseph as a slave. He ends up in Egypt.

And then this next chapter is like meanwhile.

Like while Joseph is in Egypt, Judah's life, his older brother Judah, Judah's life goes on.

Judah gets married, and he has three children, all sons, named Ur, Onan, and Shelah.

Ur is the oldest, and because he's the firstborn, when he is old enough,

Judah goes and gets a wife for him to have a family with. Her name is Tamar.

Tamar and Ur get married and try to have children, but Ur dies before Tamar gets pregnant, okay?

Ur actually dies because of some sin in his life. God judged him.

So Tamar and Ur get married. They try to have children. Ur dies before Tamar

gets pregnant. In ancient culture, that was terrible.

To be a widow without ever having had a son, in some cases, was almost a death sentence.

Back then, children, sons in particular, were your security.

They would be the legacy that you would leave to the next generation,

assuming that they participated in the family business, they would be related

to your financial success, and they were your social security.

By that I mean, there were no retirement accounts, there were no government

checks, there were no assisted living facilities.

Like, the way that you didn't suffer and die in your old age was by having kids

that would take care of you later in life.

Because of these differences between their culture and our culture.

Childless widowhood was a much bigger deal to them than it is to us.

And so there are cultural practices that they had back then that we would find very strange today.

And one of these practices is called the duty of a brother-in-law.

In ancient cultures, childless widows could expect to have their terrible situation

remedied by marrying the brother of their dead husband.

Often he would marry her and then provide her with children,

and the dead man's inheritance would pass on to those children.

This is a major plot point in the book of Ruth. It's also explained in the book

of Deuteronomy chapter 25.

Deuteronomy 25 · chapter mention

So in this case of Genesis 38, marriage is not specifically mentioned,

but the duty for the secondborn son, his name was Onan, to make sure that Tamar

got pregnant and had children, that is specifically mentioned in verse 8.

However, Onan didn't want to do it. And by that, I don't mean that he didn't

want to sleep with his sister-in-law. He was fine with that.

And he did so repeatedly. However, he did not want to actually get her pregnant

and have his son not be considered legally his son.

So he slept with Tamar, but he used the pullout method to try to prevent her from getting pregnant.

And God was not pleased with this and killed Onan for it.

Now, before you go, I cannot believe the pastor just said the words pullout method in church.

Let me inform you that the way that Genesis chapter 38 actually describes it

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

is more graphic than what I just said.

At this point, Judah has now given two sons to Tamar, and they both end up dead.

So he denies her his third son, Shelah, thinking that maybe everybody who sleeps with Tamar dies.

Maybe you do need to go read this. But Judah, as he's imagining,

like, oh, I don't think I want to give her son number three.

I only got three, and the other two died. But he doesn't say that outright.

Instead, he lies to Tamar, and he strings her along for years.

In order to remedy this unjust situation, Tamar dresses up in a disguise.

She imitates the appearance of a prostitute, which apparently involved a veil covering her face.

Judah's wife had recently died, and he was interested in a prostitute,

but certainly not his daughter-in-law.

But he doesn't know. So he sleeps with her, he gets her pregnant,

but because of her disguise, he is unaware of all of this, and so he just thinks

that he has a one-time encounter with a random prostitute.

Three months later, it is revealed that Tamar is pregnant, out of wedlock, you might say.

And Judah hypocritically says

that she should be killed for the same sin that he had just committed.

And I don't mean the same kind of sin that he had just committed.

I mean, literally the same, like he was there in the room sinning with her at

the same time and said that she should be killed for it.

So Tamar was shrewd enough to have kept Judah's necklace and staff back from

the encounter that they had together. Okay.

So then when it's revealed that she's pregnant, she says, oh,

I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.

And when he realizes that and recognizes there's him, that they're his,

and he realizes what happened, he proclaims that he is an even bigger sinner

than her. He actually says, she is more right than I.

Tamar gave birth to twin boys, and they grew up and became the tribe of Judah.

This was the way that God preserved the line of Judah, which is the tribe that

produced King David, King Solomon, and ultimately Jesus Christ.

Now, as I said earlier, I think the point of this chapter in the Bible is the

same as the larger story that surrounds it, the story of Joseph.

Do you remember last week I said God uses sinful choices and bad circumstances

to bring about his will and bless his people?

That's what I think's happening here. God uses childless widowhood,

a brother who will sleep with a woman but not look out for her,

a lying father, and prostitution to bring about the kingly line of Judah and

ultimately the family of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world.

Tamar is mentioned by name in the New Testament. She is in Matthew chapter one,

verse three, when Matthew explains Jesus's genealogy and Matthew did not,

and you'll see this because I'm going to read it to you.

He did not try to hide or downplay the sinful or embarrassing portions of the

stories of Jesus's people.

I want you to see it. So I'm going to read it to you. This is Matthew chapter

one, the first three verses.

This is crazy when you think about it. Okay. This, what I'm about to read to

you. These are the first three verses of the New Testament.

The New Testament would be, if you did not know this, the most influential book on the planet.

The New Testament is the most influential book that has ever been written,

and this is the opening to that book.

The historical record of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham fathered Isaac. Yeah, we know that from our series in Genesis, right?

Isaac fathered Jacob. We know that from our series in Genesis.

Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers.

Yep. One of those brothers is Joseph. We're in the middle of his story right now.

Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron fathered Aram. And then it goes on and on and

on and on for a whole bunch of people until it ends up with Jesus Christ,

who is called the Messiah.

Now, did you catch what's in here? Did you catch the unusual thing in here?

Abraham fathered Isaac. It doesn't say Abraham fathered Isaac by Sarah.

Isaac fathered Jacob. It doesn't say Isaac fathered Jacob by Rebecca,

right? The female's names are not mentioned here, right?

Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

So Tamar is the first woman mentioned in the New Testament. The first female

mentioned in the most influential book on the planet is Tamar.

And it seems to me that what Matthew is doing here as he's telling the story

is not only does he not hide the story, he does not hide the scandal of Genesis chapter 38.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

He like highlights it. Just in case you didn't catch it, Judah,

Perez. No, no. Remember Tamar? Oh, I remember the story of Tamar.

Yeah. Just in case you didn't catch that, that's the one thing I'm referring

to here. He puts her in there by name when no one else gets put there in name.

None of the other females do.

He is highlighting the scandal of this story. Why?

I don't know. But my guess is that Matthew knew that God uses sinful choices

and bad circumstances to bring about his will and to bless his people.

That was Genesis chapter 38. Now let's move on to Genesis chapter 39.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention Genesis 39 · chapter mention

Genesis 39, as I said, picks up right where we left off last week.

Joseph is sold as a slave by his brothers. He gets transported to Egypt and

the story picks up right there in Genesis 39.

So here we go. I'm going to start reading to you in verse 1.

Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt.

An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard,

bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

The Lord was with Joseph and he

became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything

he did successful, Joseph found favor in his master's sight and became his personal attendant.

Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.

From the time that he put him in charge of his household and all that he owned,

the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house because of Joseph.

The Lord's blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.

He left all that he owned under Joseph's authority. He did not concern himself

with anything except the food he ate.

Now, Joseph was well-built and handsome, which you might go like,

oh, that's good. He's had a hard life, but at least he's handsome.

No, it's like, the downfall becomes because of that.

Verse 7, after some time, his

master's wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, sleep with me, right?

She is lusting after him because of his handsomeness, right?

And she says, sleep with me, verse eight. But he refused.

Look, he said to his master's wife, with me here, my master does not concern

himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.

No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except

you, because you are his wife.

So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God.

Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.

Please notice this is not a one-time temptation, but an over and over and over again thing.

Verse 11. Now, one day he went into the house to do his work,

and none of the household servants were there.

She grabbed him by his garment and said, sleep with me. But leaving his garment

in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

But when she saw that he had left his garment with her and had run outside,

she called the household servants.

Look, she said to them, my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us.

He came to me so that he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could.

When he heard me screaming for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside.

Amen. she put Joseph's garment beside her until his master came home.

Then she told him the same story. The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool of me.

But when I screamed for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside.

When his master heard the story that his wife told him, these are the things

your slave did to me, he was furious and had him thrown into prison where the

king's prisoners were confined.

So Joseph was there in prison.

But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.

He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. The warden put all the

prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph's authority, and he was responsible

for everything that was done there.

The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph's authority because the

Lord was with him and the Lord made everything he did successful.

So that is Genesis 39.

And what you see is Genesis 38

is this chapter with a bunch of like just difficult, tough things in it.

And then Genesis 39 is another story.

With a bunch of difficult and terrible things in it.

So in this chapter, we see Joseph is sold into slavery, and even though the

story doesn't emphasize it, I think we can imagine that the first several months

that he spent in Egypt, they would have been filled with intense suffering and depression.

You agree? Like he suddenly lost every possession that he has.

He is separated from the father that loves him and that he loves.

He's now getting orders barked at him by people who speak a different language.

Can you imagine this? It's your job to do this stuff, and the people are saying

a language you don't know, and they're pointing at stuff, and you're just having to figure it out.

He suddenly has to learn a new culture, make new friends, eat new food,

figure out new customs, and is surrounded by a new religion.

No one around him even believes in the God that his father taught him about.

He must have gone through several months of grief and heartache, I would think.

And then the story takes an upward turn. He works from the bottom of the ladder

all the way to be the top employee of one of the most prestigious men in Egypt.

And this wasn't simply because of his own hard work and effort.

The story specifically says that God was with him and caused the successes that he accomplished.

God had not abandoned him. Even in the difficulty, God was with him and God was blessing him.

At this point, it feels like the story's starting to get good.

Sure, Joseph was betrayed by his brothers. He's in an awful situation,

but at least this new situation has now become like as good as it could get.

However, that doesn't last long. Mrs. Potiphar tries to commit adultery with

Joseph, and when he refuses, she falsely accuses him of attempted rape.

Now, in that culture, there obviously was no innocent until proven guilty philosophy

like we have in our country. Joseph was simply thrown into prison without a trial.

And then the chapter ends the same way it began. Joseph works his way from the

bottom, if you will, to the highest position of authority within the prison.

And again, it's not because of his talents and his skills.

The story specifically says that God made all of the things that he did successful.

So what do we do with this part of the story?

I would like to highlight a few things. The first thing I would like to highlight

is Joseph's commitment to God and Joseph's commitment to God's idea of righteousness.

This is something that you see in verse 9. There's actually,

I think, a lot that you can learn just from verse 9.

Look at verse 9. It says, and remember, this is Joseph speaking, this verse.

He says, No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing

from me except you, because you are his wife.

So how could I do such a great evil and sin against who? God.

Doesn't say and sin against Potiphar. How could I do such a great evil and sin

against God? So I think a lot can be learned from verse 9.

First of all, I think we can learn Joseph is still following God at this point.

Even though he's gone through a lot of suffering, even though he's probably

been presented with some alternative religious views at this point,

he seems to be saying, no, to sleep with you would be a sin.

Sure, it would be a sin against Potiphar, but it would be a sin against my God.

I think a second thing that we can learn from this verse is there are more boundaries

around sex than just consent.

Do you see that? Like in our culture, I think we live in such a weird culture.

And about maybe 70, 75 years ago, and in this culture, the boundary that was

around sex was marriage.

Like that's what the majority of people believed in this country about 75 years

ago. The boundary around sex is marriage.

Then maybe 30 years ago-ish, the boundary became not marriage,

but love. Do you remember that?

I do. I can remember it. Growing up in like the 80s and 90s,

even early 2000s, I can remember the sitcoms and the movies and stuff where

you could just tell the boundary had changed. The boundary became love.

Make sure they're the right person. Make sure you're in love.

Whenever I watched like a sitcom back then or a movie, there will always be

this scene where there's like a kid.

Usually it's a kid like it's their senior year and they're about to go to prom

and they're talking about like, oh, what am I going to do on prom night?

Am I going to lose my virginity on prom night?

Something like that happens. And then in this sitcom or in the movie,

whatever it is, an adult like hears about it and finds out and then swoops in

and has a conversation with the teenager.

Okay. The adult could be, sometimes it's grandma, sometimes it's,

you know, an older brother, sometimes it's mom.

But anyway, what mom always did though, sit him down and go,

well, you need to understand sex is about love.

You know, you need to make sure you really love the person. This is not just

a pretty, you know, something you can't, ever take this back.

You got to make sure that it's love. And then the teenager always,

in all the sitcoms, the teenager was like, you're right.

You're right, mom. Or you're right, older brother. Thank you so much for this

talk. Yeah, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that on prom night.

Definitely later, but not on prom night.

And that's what, do you remember this? Okay, I'm not just making this up.

This is what they all, this was what the episodes were all about.

And then somewhere within the past 30 years, it just changed to consent.

It went from marriage to make sure you love them to just make sure they're into it.

And so in this story, I know, maybe you've not thought about that,

but you've got to watch more sitcoms and realize where we're going, okay?

So in this particular case, Mrs. Potiphar clearly is consenting, all right?

So if Joseph had gone along with it voluntarily, if he had consented,

some people would say it's fine, but that's not what he says.

He says, how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?

Third thing that I think we can learn from verse 9 is that when you believe

that sins are not simply that you do against, it's not something that you just

do against a human being, but it's something that you do against God.

Like when you believe that, it motivates you to not do that sin,

even in the cases where you could get away with it.

Like think about the situations in your life where there are certain things

that you don't do, But the reason you don't do it is because the consequences

would be greater than what it would be to be worth it for you.

Okay? Like, think about things that you're like, man, I just,

I wish I could do that. If I could get away with it.

You know, I just, but I'm not going to do it because it would bring shame on my family.

Or I would get fired if I did that. You know what I mean? I'm just so,

oh, man, I just, I would punch him, but I'd lose my job. Right?

So I don't do it because it would bring shame on my family. I don't do it because

I would get fired. I don't do it because I would get thrown in jail if I did

that. Okay? Think of those things.

Here's my question for you. What if you had a guarantee that those things would not happen?

What if you knew like you could do it and it will not bring shame on your family.

You will not get fired. You will not get thrown in jail.

Would you still not do it?

Because if not, like you don't really believe that's a sin.

That's just the thing you do because you don't want to deal with the consequences

of that thing. Do you realize that? But you don't really think it's a sin.

The thing about believing in God, that he is the judge over all of our comings

and goings, and believing in that whatever he calls sin is sin,

like what that causes is if like you believe that something's wrong, then you don't do it.

Like you believe it's wrong to do, even if you could get away with it in this

life, which of course there will be times where you can get away with it in this life.

One more thing that I wanted to highlight, not from verse 9,

but just the chapter as a whole.

Did you notice how many times in Genesis chapter 39, it said that the Lord was with Joseph?

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

It was over and over again. Let me show it to you. Look at verse 2.

Genesis 39 verse 2. The Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man. Verse 3.

Genesis 39:2

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord had made everything

he did successful. Look at verse 5.

From time to time, he, sorry, from

that time, he put him in charge of his household and all that he owned.

The Lord blessed the Egyptian's household because of Joseph.

There it's implied, because the Lord was with Joseph.

Verse 21, but the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.

He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. Look at verse 23.

The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph's authority because the

Lord was with him and the Lord made everything he did successful.

And so that must be one of the important themes of this chapter because it's

repeated over and over and over again, particularly at the beginning of the

chapter and at the end of the chapter over and over again.

So if you're going to sort of describe the plot line of this chapter,

this chapter begins with the Lord was with him.

The chapter ends with the Lord was with him. And then what's in the middle?

Joseph obeys the Lord and gets punished for it.

Wait, let's review that timeline. The Lord was with Joseph.

Joseph obeys the Lord and gets punished for it. The Lord is with Joseph. That's the chapter.

What? Wait, you would think if the Lord was with you, you wouldn't get punished for obeying the Lord.

You would think if the Lord was with you, you would not get punished unjustly.

But apparently that happens sometimes.

So God can be with you even when it doesn't look like it.

God can be with you even when it doesn't feel like it how can that be?

I think it can be because God uses even sinful choices and bad circumstances

to bring about his will and bless his people.

I'm sorry, I told you I didn't want to make that the same point two sermons

in a row, but that's the point. Two sermons in a row.

God even uses sinful choices and bad circumstances to bring about his will and bless his people.

Now, how can people nowadays, people like me and you get in on this covenant

that God has with Abraham and Isaac and Joseph's father, Jacob,

and then extending from Jacob, right?

That Joseph is preserved and the rest of the story goes on and on.

Like how can we, because we're not people that are in the promised land that

are directly related to Abraham, at least not most of us.

How can we get in on this covenant that God has?

The Bible goes on to teach that that is available. Being a part of this covenant

is available only through Jesus Christ.

Like that's what happens by the time you get to the New Testament.

You can be in covenant relationship with God, but only through Jesus Christ.

The covenant went from Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, and then goes all the

way to Jesus, who is the ultimate fulfiller of the covenant.

And if you are in him, you are in.

And if you are not, you are not.

If you are united to Jesus Christ, the Lord is with you in good times and in bad, wherever you go.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for these stories.

Some of them are just so outrageous that it's like, gosh, I didn't know if I

wanted my kids to be in the room when they heard this.

But I think it's great because some of us look at our own lives and go,

wow, I mean, I've done some stuff that's outrageous.

And to think that we are not beyond your reach is beautiful and comforting.

And so I thank you that you redeem and you use even the difficult portions of

our lives and sinful choices of things we've done and sinful choices other people

have done to us and you use them for your plan.

And that you ultimately have our back for eternity if we are in Christ.

And so I just pray, I pray that everybody in this room would be in Christ.

I pray if there's anybody who's not, that they would be united to him by faith,

by trusting in Jesus as their Lord and Savior and being in on everything that he's about.

We love you and we thank you that any of this is possible. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Let me end with these good words from God's word. For we know that all things

work together for the good of those who love God, those who are called according

to his purpose. That is good news.