Tamar: Scandalous Grace, Sovereign Plan | Genesis 38 | Mothers of Jesus
We often approach the Christmas season with a desire for the "clean, pure, pretty, idealistic, perfect snow"—a vision of a holiday sterilized from the dirt of the real world. Yet, as we begin our Advent series, Mothers of Jesus, we are immediately confronted with a story that shatters this idealism: the account of Tamar in Genesis 38.
Tamar's story is one of rejection, humiliation, and deep injustice at the hands of Judah, who failed to fulfill his covenant obligation. In her desperation, she resorted to deceptive and immoral actions. The inclusion of this "messy" and "scandalous" event in the very genealogy of Jesus is a powerful, intentional reminder of two central truths:
The Necessity of Christ: Jesus came because the world is fallen, dirty, and needs restoration. We cannot keep the covenant line clean on our own; in fact, human effort has only tainted it.
The Sovereignty of God's Grace: Even when humans are a "train wreck", God's plan cannot be stopped. He is sovereign and bends even evil to His purpose—to bring the Messiah. Tamar was ultimately declared righteous, not for her perfect actions, but because she had faith in the covenant promise.
The lineage of Jesus is not spotless. He inherited a sinful and broken heritage precisely so that we could receive His perfect righteousness. As we move through Advent, let the scandal of Tamar's story reinforce the profound hope of Christmas: Jesus stepped directly into the dirt and filthiness of this world to save us from it.
📖 Click to Show the Transcript of this Sermon
If I were to take a poll of a cross-section of the public on what everyone's favorite holiday is, I believe the results would come out heavily in the favor of Christmas. I think the result of that poll would see Christmas as the overwhelming favorite.
And what isn't there to like about Christmas, right? The music is great. You get presents. The food is fantastic. The decorations are not only beautiful but often there is a lot of fun that you can do to enjoy the decorations. People really get into it. And, it's rarely also the only time of the year that we find snow to be somewhat acceptable.
We've all heard the statement—not one I agree with, but we've heard it: "I really don't like snow, but Christmas just isn't the same without it."
Well, the kind of snow that we desire is interesting, right? It's not what we get very often around these parts. We want the snow to look clean and pretty. But where we live, snow rarely looks pretty. Unlike other parts of the world, snow doesn't come straight down and sit there here where we live. We usually get a moderate amount of snow that ends up looking like a whole lot of snow because the wind comes up and blows it into drifts. And that blowing brings dirt along with it, and you have snow that isn't white and pure anymore. That's just the natural effects on the snow. We also have to move the snow around and we trudge through it, and the result is that it isn't very beautiful anymore.
When we want snow for Christmas, we want it to be picturesque and perfect. But that isn't how it happens.
Now our perception is often that Christmas should be like this as well. We want decorations to be just so. Traditions to be just like they were when we were children. We sort of have an idealism that we put on Christmas that really isn't something that we would get if we were just to think about what the Christmas holiday means.
I mean, just on the face, we have the grimy reality of a young first-century family traveling a distance, and they end up in a stable with animals. Then we have a birth taking place there. That is nothing like our sanitary maternity ward in our modern hospitals, right? But that's just the surface level grime that is on the Christmas story.
Think about why Christmas was necessary in the first place. God the Son did not take on our flesh because he thought we needed a holiday. He came because our first parents rebelled against God in the garden, and we have been continuing in that rebellion ever since. Jesus came to save us from our sin. The very fact of Christmas is a testimony to the fact that the world is fallen, that the world is dirty, that the world needs restoration.
The Mothers of Jesus
And in this series, Mothers of Jesus, we're going to be looking at the stories of five women who find themselves named in that genealogy we read this morning from the Gospel of Matthew: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, and then Mary. As we come to these stories, we will notice that these women have stories that, for lack of a better word, are scandalous. They're not the typical stories that we would associate with the heroes of the faith. But as we look at them, we're going to learn the significant role that their stories play in the story of redemption. And we're going to be reminded that these stories are telling us of the reason that Jesus needed to come and bring light into a dark and dying world.
So the truth is that there are actually scandals throughout that entire genealogy in Matthew. The Bible doesn't hold back, does it, as we follow the story from Adam and Eve to Jesus. We get the story warts and all. These are the type of insights into a family tree that you don't normally get. And as we interact with these stories in the season of Advent, these stories of these women, we will see that this messiness highlights for us the glorious, unexpected grace that God shows to us as His people.
Now we start out with Tamar. Now, I would love to know how Matthew's original audience would have reacted to her name being included in the list. As you know from hearing me read the story a few minutes ago, this is a kind of incident, like I mentioned, that you don't talk about being in your family tree. The whole thing would normally be something you only whispered about in private.
Instead of being one of those types of stories that we all have in our family trees most likely, stuff that you think, "Now, is that just a rumor, or is that true?" Instead, what does God do? God ordained that the Holy Spirit would inspire Moses to include this story we read about Tamar in Holy Scripture.
But there's a reason this messy and scandalous story is included in Genesis, because we need to understand it through the lens of God's covenant promises. We're going to see that through this story, Tamar is declared righteous. So let's look at this passage and see how an outsider, a Gentile Canaanite woman, becomes among those who are mentioned in the ancestry of our Savior.
Tracking the Promise
So as we find ourselves here in Genesis 38, it's really important that we recall the underlying story beneath every story in Genesis. Starting at the fall, we're tracking the promise of God to bring the one who will come and will crush the head of the serpent, right? The children of God throughout this story find themselves being opposed by the children of the serpent. There's this struggle in Genesis. And as Genesis progresses, it often seems as though the promise of God is going to fail because there isn't going to be a child born in this covenant line.
And when you understand this part of the story, a light comes on for you, and you understand why a woman being barren is such a significant focus of the text. If this promise comes through the line of the children, barrenness is a critical part of the story. And you also understand why it's such a big deal for Abraham to find a proper wife for his son. You want the wife of Isaac to come from the covenant people.
Well, by the time we arrive in this chapter of Genesis, we've seen several obstacles overcome in the process of passing down this genetic line. First one right off the bat: The promise has endured Cain killing Abel. And it has endured a global flood. The promise has also cleared that substantial hurdle I already mentioned of Abraham's wife being barren, along with other dangers like the potential of Jacob's brother Esau taking revenge on him. The covenant line is continually under threat in Genesis.
And at this point in the story, we know that the covenant promise has rested on Judah. The problem here is not that Judah has a wife that is barren or that one of his many brothers is gunning for his inheritance and so they're going to kill him. That's not the dilemma here. The dilemma is that Judah doesn't seem to care. He is indifferent to the whole process of being deliberate that the covenant line be kept pure.
We find that he turns aside to a Gentile, and he sees the daughter of a Canaanite and has children with her. And throughout Genesis, there has been a focus on keeping the line pure and not letting the line of the serpent intermix with the genetic line headed to the Messiah. Well, now Judah just seems completely aloof and indifferent to this whole thing.
Well, the good thing is that he seems to have committed to Shua and he has several children with her, right? So he's at least having children to pass this on, he's at least caring in that way.
Well, as these men come to adulthood, we find that they're evil. They have no interest in the covenant promise of God continuing through them. It seems as though the serpent is going to win here.
The Story of Tamar
So as we arrive in verse 6, we meet Tamar, and she is the wife of Judah's firstborn son, Er. And we find that Er is wicked in the sight of Yahweh, and so he's put to death. Now, in our minds, that would likely be the end of the story, because Tamar is now a widow. Good for her. She was married to this evil man. She can remarry someone outside this family that gave her this husband that's evil—so evil that God killed him. She can move on.
Sure, you're sad for Tamar at this point, but you're maybe thinking through it, "Hey, she's going to be better off in the long run not being married to a man who's so evil that God killed him, right?"
Well, that's our modern perspective, but remember how vulnerable women were in the ancient world. Widows would be left with nothing. And so there was this custom that passed on responsibility for the care of widows to the younger brother. This was not only about caring for the widow, it also included continuing on the line of the deceased husband. Any child that came from a union between the brother of the deceased would be considered the heir of the oldest male child. So in this case, the child of the second brother and of Tamar would be considered the one who would pass the covenant line on.
Well, initially, Judah follows this cultural expectation, and his son Onan is going to provide a child for Tamar, theoretically. Well, Onan goes into her, but he doesn't want to give his brother a child, and so he takes an action that ensures that that doesn't happen.
And we need to remember here that the scandal of this all is more than just not fulfilling the cultural obligation to provide a child. The bigger story that's happening here is that he is working against the divine promise. Not providing a child here is working against the promises of God. He is actively keeping the line to the Messiah from coming. If it ends here, the one will not come who will crush the head of the serpent and redeem humanity.
Well, this was wicked, and so the secondborn is put to death as well. And things aren't going well in the lineage of Judah, and so Judah sends Tamar back to her father's house until his next son is old enough to sire a child. But we see that he isn't just doing this for this purpose. He's also fearing that maybe his next son will die. He's putting blame on Tamar ultimately here.
So Tamar does what she's told to do, what she needs to do. She needs protection somewhere, she goes to her father. But as we progress through the story, we find that Judah just ignores his obligation to his daughter-in-law. Judah looks terrible here. He went outside the promise and had children with a Canaanite. He raises children who have even less concern for the promises of God than he does. And then, instead of fulfilling his obligation, he casts out his daughter-in-law.
Tamar is rejected. She is humiliated, and she is left vulnerable and destitute. She has been cast out. And this is where the story turns, and Tamar takes things into her own hands and does some deceptive and extremely immoral things.
So, as we read this, Moses doesn't tell us how much time has passed here, but there's some implication here that this isn't all happening next week. A lot of time has passed. We're meant to understand that enough time has passed for the third son to provide Tamar with a child, and Judah has ignored this. We're told that not only has enough time passed for Shelah to provide a child, but Judah's wife has died, and he's also had enough time to grieve. The way Moses tells us, we get this idea that a lot of time has passed.
So Tamar learns of this, and we see that she is still in widow's garments. So through all this long period of time, she is identified as a widow. And she's not receiving what is to come to her. And so she plots to take things into her own hands because she has not been given Judah's son, Shelah, in marriage.
And Judah's actions are scandalous and disrespectful, and so Tamar goes and does some scandalous and immoral and disrespectful things as well. She disguises herself as a prostitute and puts herself in the path of Judah, and he plays right into her hands. He succumbs to the lust of the flesh. He goes in with her.
And in negotiating payment, he offers her a young goat, but she wants proof that he's going to pay. And this is the point where she has him right where she wants him. He gives her items that clearly identify him. It's like if she gets him to give her his driver's license and his favorite pair of boots, right?
In God's sovereignty, we see that this is an acceptable transaction for them—not acceptable in the eyes of God, but acceptable for Tamar. Judah goes into her, and she conceives. And the obligation that he refused to honor through his son Tamar is now happening through this deceptive, immoral act of Tamar.
And so, after returning home, Judah sends a friend to take the young goat to this cult prostitute, and he discovers that she's gone, and there never was a cult prostitute there in the first place, I guess. At this point, you have to wonder what went through Judah's mind when he got this news. Yes, he gets to keep the goat, but now someone is out there with these items that prove his identity.
And we see a little bit of what went through his mind, but you know that he did not think that what is going to transpire here was going to be the result of this sequence of events.
So Tamar ends up pregnant, and Judah is outraged at the immorality of his daughter-in-law. And the irony and hypocrisy of what Judah has to say here is so blatant in all of this. The one who was failed here was Tamar. Judah did not fulfill his obligation to his family. And then afterwards, he was willing to fornicate with a prostitute. He now has moral indignation against Tamar. To the point where he calls for her to be burned.
This isn't just words that he's saying in anger. "Oh, she deserves to be burned." No, this is what they were going to do. They're going to punish her this way.
Vindication
But as she is being brought out, she sends word to Judah about the identifying items that she obtained from Judah on that fateful day. Now, this whole story is surprising, but I think Judah's response is arguably the most surprising part of the story. He acts in humility and he confesses and repents.
He acknowledges that Tamar is more righteous than he is. He had not only forsaken the moral obligation of caring for her, but he had forgotten the covenant promise. She is now called righteous because she had faith, and the line that comes from her is blessed.
In the mess of this story, we learn that God is sovereign. And He is able to bend evil and turn it to bring about His purposes, and ultimately the purpose of bringing the Messiah to earth to save us from the mess of our sin. The seed of the woman continues through Tamar and will come to the full promise in the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes on Christmas Day.
And this story shows us that God's promises prevail, even when humans are a train wreck. The persistence of Tamar reminds us of the truth that God has stubborn grace for His people and that He does not break His promises.
As I started out this morning, I was talking about the kind of snow that we want for Christmas, right? The clean, pure, pretty, idealistic, perfect snow. We desire the kind of holiday that is idealized on greeting cards and the covers of Christmas albums, right? That's what we want. We want it sterilized from the grime and dirt of the real world.
But the story of Tamar reminds us the reason for the season is our sin and our uncleanness. And we saw in the story of Tamar that even the lineage of Jesus is not exempt from radical examples of human brokenness and sin. Genesis 38 vividly shows broken responsibility, selfish lust, and rank deception. But the story ended with vindication.
Through all the mess, the line to the seed of the woman continued. The line to our Savior was not kept pure because of human effort. In fact, it was tainted by it. But God kept the promise alive because He is sovereign and He is a God of stubborn grace.
The promise of the Messiah was like a lot of the snow that you saw on the way to church this morning. It was clean, but then it got tracked through by humans.
In this story, we saw the indifferent attitude of Judah messing up the story. The dirt of the wickedness of Er and Onan blew through and left its mark on it. But in the end, the desperation of Tamar eventually let the promise continue. She was declared righteous by Judah because the plan of God had prevailed over human sin.
And this is the message that we need to remember in the season of Advent: The family tree of Jesus is not spotless, but it didn't keep Jesus from coming and taking away our sin. He took on our flesh through a messy, scandalous heritage precisely because we couldn't keep it clean on our own.
And as you prepare to celebrate Christmas this year, remember the story of Tamar, and know that Jesus stepped directly into the dirt and filthiness of this world to save us from it and to cleanse us through His sinless life and His atoning death.
The hope of Christmas is that the only pure and perfect thing in the entire story of redemption is the Savior Himself. He inherited a sinful and broken family tree so that we could receive His perfect righteousness.
So may the truth that Jesus came to save sinners like us bring you great joy this coming holiday season. Amen.
Prayer:
Great and merciful God, we praise you for your word telling us the story of redemption and showing us that you cannot be stopped by our sin. You bring about salvation through your purposes that we might be a people for your own possession, a righteous people made righteous by the work of Christ for us, that we might bring glory to your holy name. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas this year, we pray that we would be mindful of the truth that the reason for the season was our sin and Jesus came to cover it and to make us white as snow. In Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.
Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about First Reformed Church, head to our Facebook page or website: EdgertonFRC.org.
Looking Deeper into the Hope of Advent?
The story of Tamar is just the beginning of understanding the depth of grace Christ brought into a broken world. We pray that this message encourages you to embrace God's sovereign and stubborn grace this season.
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