It always makes it more meaningful to a story to understand its setting, what came before to influence the story line and where and when the story takes place. One’s genealogy helps to do that for an individual. Today there is great interest in one’s genealogy, learning from where one’s ancestors hailed and...
interesting anecdotes about them. I’ve even had my ancestry checked out, only to find that I had a significant amount of ancestors from a country I didn’t even know figured into my life at all. Matthew supplies that genealogy for
Jesus in the opening chapter of his book in the New Testament. What makes
Matthew’s genealogy so interesting is that there are four women mentioned as
mothers. This was done at a time in Jewish history when women weren’t even
considered a person but a thing by many men. Eugene Peterson reminds us that
“In the regular form of morning prayer, a male Jew would give thanks that God
had not made him a Gentile, a slave or a woman.” It’s really extraordinary that
they are mentioned by name here considering that all were either immoral, or
foreign. Pastor Tim Dilena of Times Square Church in NYC says, “Not only did
Jesus associate with liars, cheaters, adulterers, murderers, and
prostitutes—but Jesus had them in his lineage.” Regardless of your ancestry,
God’s plan always prevails, and that’s good news for all of us. For the next
four months we will be looking more closely at these four women.
The first mother mentioned is Tamar, the mother of Perez, a son of Judah. Tamar was a widow, and, like you, found out that there were battles and challenges after becoming a widow that overshadowed the death of her husband. While the pain of grief that accompanies the death of a spouse can be great, often that is only the beginning of the pain.
Let me
quickly summarize the story for you to help you understand what led to Tamar’s
depth of despair and hopelessness. (Genesis 38:5-30) Tamar was married to
Judah’s oldest son, Er, but because of his wickedness, God caused him to die
before Tamar conceived a child. Onan, the second son, was, according to Jewish
tradition, to raise up a son through Tamar to keep the brother’s lineage alive,
but he refused to do so and he too died at God’s hands. There was a third,
Shelah, who was much younger, but Judah promised when he was old enough, he
would give him to Tamar in marriage to conceive a child. This was in keeping
with the custom of “kinsman redeemer” found in the book of Ruth. The closest of
kin was to insure the line of the deceased husband. Once Tamar had married into
Judah’s family, she was a part of it and he was legally her father. But he told
her to go back to her own father and he would call for her when Shelah was
mature.
Tamar remained
a widow waiting for Shelah to become mature so that she could conceive a child.
However, Judah, fearing that Shelah would also die, refused to give him to
Tamar. It’s not an exaggeration to say that childless widowhood was shameful in
those days. Yet she, with the promise of Shelah, the youngest son, waited in
anticipation of an end to her widowhood and the shame of childlessness, only to
realize that Judah had deceived her. This was a crushing blow to her as Shelah
had been her last hope to fulfill her long-held desire for motherhood and an
end to her shame. In fact, she considered it her religious duty to produce an
heir from the tribe of Judah, and she was not going to her grave without one.
A plan began to foment in her mind, one that might appear devious, but took a lot of courage. She dressed in the veiled clothing of a temple prostitute and seduced, not Shelah, but Judah who had been recently widowed. Can you imagine the fear Tamar experienced attempting to conceal her identity by disguising her voice and making sure Judah didn’t catch a glimpse of her face? She deserved a medal for chutzpah, if nothing else. She became impregnated by Judah and bore twins, one of whom was Perez.
Tamar
suffered greatly from the sins of her two husbands. Doubtless she was shamed by
the wickedness of Er and humiliated and insulted by Onan’s behavior. But, since
she was a woman, she had no rights of her own; no one cared about her opinions
and certainly less about her feelings – except God. God knew that His son, the
promised Messiah, would come from the tribe of Judah and I suggest that it was
He who put a strong desire in Tamar’s heart for bearing a child.
Her story
demonstrates how God can take the greatest disappointments, the deepest pain,
even the failures and sins in our lives and turn them around for good. God gave
her not just one, but two sons from the tribe of Judah. Finally, she was
vindicated and recompensed all in one birth. Think about it, the law said that
she deserved death, yet God gave her life and the privilege of being in the
lineage of his son. That demonstrates His great love for and compassion toward
her.
Ladies,
no matter the situation in which you find yourselves, God’s grace is greater still
and He will come to your rescue. He, as your loving, caring Father, will rescue
you from your deepest pit and make those plans He has for you become a reality.
