Genesis 38:1-30: Judah’s Moral Blunder

Genesis 38:1-30: Judah’s Moral Blunder

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Genesis, and today the next passage we come to is Genesis 38:1-30, so I’ll be reading a selection of verses from that passage. It says,

1 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, 3 and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. 4 She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 5 Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him. 6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. 8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. 10 And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. 11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house. 12 In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” 17 He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” 18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood. 20 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. 21 And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.”… 24 About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” 26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, your Word is more to be desired than gold and sweeter also than honey. So help us to see its value, taste its sweetness, and experience its power this morning through the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Well, as you may have been thinking during the Scripture reading a few moments ago, the story recorded in Genesis 38 isn’t exactly the most family-friendly story in the Bible. If Genesis 38 wasn’t in the Bible and instead came out in the form of a movie, those of you who are parents probably wouldn’t let your children watch it. It would have to be rated at least PG-13 and perhaps even R. The events of this chapter are presented to us in a very direct manner and with a level of detail that’s, at times, downright uncomfortable. There’s certainly no Instagram filter making these events look better. 

Yet, that’s actually something we can appreciate about the Bible. The Bible doesn’t rewrite history but instead tells it the way it really happened. And in passages like Genesis 38, it makes it clear that the characters we encounter aren’t larger-than-life heroes but, instead, sinners in need of a Savior. 

For those of you who have been with us for a while on our journey through Genesis, perhaps you’ve picked up on that as a recurring theme in the book. Genesis isn’t about heroes of the faith obtaining God’s favor through their moral greatness. Instead, it’s about God showing incredible mercy to really messed-up people whose lives are often the opposite of exemplary. 

You know, I sometimes hear people talking about how the Old Testament is really difficult for them to accept because it seems to emphasize God’s wrath so much. And whenever someone says something like that, I just want to ask them, “Have you ever actually read the Old Testament?” Of course, there are plenty of instances where God’s wrath is poured out in particularly dramatic and memorable ways—such as the fire from heaven that came down on Sodom and Gomorrah and other similar occurrences. However, as I read through the book of Genesis—and really through the entire Old Testament—the theme that repeatedly jumps out at me in the most striking way isn’t God’s wrath but rather God’s mercy. Over and over and over again, I see descriptions of people behaving in incredibly wicked ways. Yet instead of giving them the judgment they deserve, God’s unbelievably gracious to them. So, as I read a book like Genesis, I’m left scratching my head not as I wonder “How could God be so wrathful?” but instead as I wonder “How could God be so gracious?” And Genesis 38 is a great example of that. 

So, let’s look at the events that unfold in this chapter, beginning with verses 1-5: 1 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, 3 and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. 4 She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 5 Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him. 

Now, the first thing I think we should notice is in verse 1, where it states that “Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.” So, Judah stopped spending so much time with his brothers and instead started spending time with a Canaanite man named Hirah, who, just like the rest of the Canaanites, would have been a pagan. And there’s a reason this detail is recorded in the passage. It’s intended to be a signal that something bad’s about to happen. As we read about Judah spending less time with his brothers and more time with this pagan guy Hirah, we begin to get the sense that this probably isn’t going to end well. And that suspicion is indeed confirmed in the rest of the chapter.

So, right here at the outset, we have a reminder of the importance of being around people who are going to influence us in a good way rather than in a bad way. That’s why it’s so important for those of us who are Christians to not only be a part of a church but to be deeply embedded in the relational community of a church. Living in community with other Christians provides us with both spiritual encouragement and spiritual protection and accountability. 

Because you have to understand that we have an enemy, called Satan, who, as 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” And he would love to pick us off one at a time. I remember watching this wildlife documentary one time that featured a predator—I believe it was a leopard or something—hunting a herd of gazelles. And the first thing he did was to separate one of the gazelles from the rest of the herd. Only when he had successfully done that did the leopard proceed to chase down that gazelle. Similarly, Satan loves to separate us and get us alone if he can so that he can take us on one-on-one—knowing that, if he can do that, the odds are in his favor. Therefore, one of the best safeguards against Satan is for us to develop meaningful relationships with other Christians. And, by the way, in our church, a great place to do that is in Community Groups.

So, back in Genesis 38, the statement that Judah “turned aside from his brothers” creates a sense of foreboding as we wonder where this path Judah’s taking will ultimately lead him to go. We then read in verses 2-5 how Judah marries a Canaanite woman. And again, remember that the Canaanites were thoroughly pagan. They had no knowledge of God or devotion to God. That’s why Abraham had made his servant Eliezer take a solemn oath in Genesis 24:3. He said, “Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell.” Then, in Genesis 28:1, Isaac had said something similar to Jacob. It states, “Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, ‘You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.’” So, both Abraham and Isaac had strictly forbidden marrying Canaanite women. They knew how godless the Canaanites were. And Judah would have certainly been aware of that prohibition. So, what does Judah do? Well, of course, he goes off and marries a Canaanite. He seems to have become infatuated with a Canaanite who isn’t named in this passage but who is said to be the daughter of Shua. Apparently, Judah found this woman to be so attractive that he just couldn’t help himself. So, he takes her and marries her and has three children with her. The names of these children are Er, Onan, and Shelah. 

We then read this in verses 6-7: 6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. We then read about how Er’s brother Onan marries Tamar but ends up being put to death as well for his wickedness. 

By the way, there are some who try to cite these verses as evidence that contraception is sinful. But that’s clearly not what these verses are intended to teach. Onan’s sin wasn’t practicing contraception but rather selfishly seeking to exalt himself by depriving his brother of offspring. And that’s so evil in God’s sight that God puts him to death. We’re not told if Onan had done other wicked things prior to this that were also factors in God putting him to death. But, one way or another, God ultimately finds Onan to be so wicked that he strikes him down. 

And one observation I’d like to make from that is that Judah’s deviation from God’s will resulted in a legacy of sinful behavior that was passed down to his children. And that’s the way it works today as well. If you’re a parent, you’re going to pass down some kind of legacy to your children. And that legacy will most likely be tied to the kind of person you are and the kind of life you live. You know, you can tell your kids about the right way to live all you want to. But if you’re not practicing what you preach, don’t expect them to listen to what you’re telling them. Instead, expect your kids to pay more attention to the way you live than to what you say. 

Many of you know that I have a three-year-old son named Luke. And Luke recently started telling me about a certain kind of shirt that he called a “daddy shirt.” He said that I wear “daddy shirts” and that he also was wearing a “daddy shirt” that day as well. And at first, I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant, but I eventually figured out that a “daddy shirt” is simply a button-down shirt. Apparently, I wear button down shirts a lot more than anyone else in my family, so Luke started thinking of them as “daddy shirts.” And he was so proud of that fact that he was wearing a “daddy shirt” that day as well. I think that might be the only one he has, so he was very excited. 

And that’s the way it works. Children naturally adopt many of the behaviors they see their parents modeling. That’s why the legacy you leave will most likely be tied to the kind of person you are. I once heard it said that we can teach what we know, but we’ll reproduce who we are. So, what kind of legacy are you leaving? Is it a godly one? Unfortunately, in Judah’s case, it wasn’t a godly one—as we can see from the wickedness of his children being so pronounced that God finds it necessary to put two of them to death. 

Also, another principle we can glean from these verses is that sin has consequences. Judah may not have experienced any immediate consequences from his morally deviant decisions in life, but the decisions he was making eventually caught up with him and brought him terrible heartache in the deaths of two of his sons. Similarly, the consequences of our sin are often delayed, but that doesn’t mean they’re not coming. As Galatians 6:6 reminds us, “whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” Sin always has consequences, even if we don’t experience them right away. 

Then, as we continue on in Genesis 38, we discover that everything we’ve read so far about Judah and Judah’s family is merely preparatory to the climactic moral blunder Judah makes, which is recorded in the rest of the chapter. 

Verses 13-14 record how Tamar sees that Judah hasn’t kept his promise of allowing her to marry his third son Shelah. So, when she learns that Judah’s going on a business trip to the city of Timnah, she takes off her widow’s garments and disguises herself by dressing like a prostitute with a veil over her face. She then positions herself at the side of the road going into Timnah. 

We then read in verses 15-18: 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” 17 He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” 18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.

So, Judah doesn’t have a goat with him to pay for the services he desires to purchase, so he instead hands over some very personal items—his signet, his cord, and his staff. He’s so consumed with lust that he’s willing to just hand over these items to a prostitute that, as far as he knows, he’s never met. These items are intended to be a pledge so that, whenever he sends over the goat, he gets the items back. A similar situation today would be turning over your driver’s license as a pledge. Not too long ago, I rented a canoe and had to let the rental place hold onto my driver’s license until I brought them their canoe back and paid the rental fee. It’s sort of a similar idea here in these verses. 

After that, Judah and the prostitute, who we know to be Tamar, go their separate ways. But when Judah later tries to send over the goat as payment, the prostitute he encountered is nowhere to be found. 

The story then continues in verses 24-25: 24 About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.”

So, notice the utter hypocrisy of Judah in verse 24. When he’s informed that Tamar has become pregnant, he’s determined to punish her for her immorality to the fullest extent of the law. And in ancient culture, that punishment was death. Because, technically, Tamar was betrothed to Judah’s son Shelah, and being unfaithful when you were betrothed was considered to be essentially the same as being unfaithful when you were married. It was considered adultery and was punishable by death, especially if the offender was a woman. So, in his moral outrage, Judah gives the order for Tamar to be brought out and burned to death for her adultery. Yet the great irony, of course, is that Judah himself was just as guilty of immorality as Tamar was. So, there he was, seeking the death penalty for Tamar, while he himself was guilty as well. 

You know, isn’t it interesting how the sins of others always seem to be more significant and serious to us than our own sins? Isn’t it interesting how we’re quick to make excuses for our own sins and seek to justify our behavior to ourselves while, at the same time, being quick to point out the sins of others and condemn them for their behavior? It reminds me of one of those fun house mirrors that intentionally distorts the things it reflects. Some things appear disproportionately large, while others appear disproportionately small. That’s the way our minds often work when it comes to viewing our own sins and the sins of others. 

And this is highly relevant not only for our lives individually but also for our society as a whole. We live in a society that’s increasingly polarized and filled with immense conflict and strife. Yet I wonder how things would change if everyone in our society would put just as much energy into examining their own lives and potential shortcomings as they did into examining the lives and shortcomings of others. Maybe we need to put away our fun house mirror and take a look in a real mirror a lot more frequently than we often do. 

Then, of course, the climax of the story in Genesis 38 is in verse 25. It says, As [Tamar] was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” Now, I have to admit that this is one of those instances where I would have loved to be there and see the look on Judah’s face when he saw those items and put two and two together. I can just imagine the way his eyes must have widened with shock and surprise and then him probably becoming a bit red in the face from embarrassment as he had to get down off of his moral high horse and publicly acknowledge not only that he had been immoral but that he had shared in the very same act of immorality for which he was about to have Tamar executed. 

And that leads us to the main idea of this passage, which is that Judah’s moral blunder is exposed for all to see. Judah’s moral blunder is exposed for all to see. He thought his sin would remain a secret. He thought that what happened in Timnah would stay in Timnah—that he could just be this anonymous person who got what he wanted from a prostitute without anyone ever knowing. But we see here that that’s not at all the way it turned out. Judah’s supposedly “secret” sin was publicly exposed in a very dramatic way. 

Likewise, it’s important for us to understand that our sins also will one day be exposed. And that happens quite often even during our earthly lives. I remember several years ago when a website named Ashley Madison was breached and a list of all of its subscribers was posted on the Internet. For those of you not familiar with the story, Ashley Madison is apparently a website for people who are already married but who desire to have an affair. That’s the specific purpose of the website. You pay them money and you’re then able to view the profiles of others in your area who have subscribed because they want to have an affair just like you. It’s a pretty disgusting concept. But some hackers were able to breach this website and get a list of everyone who had subscribed. And they then posted that list publicly on the Internet. And everybody’s secrets were revealed. Sadly, a few of those people ended up committing suicide. 

Yet even if your sins are never brought to light in that sort of a manner or even brought to light at all in this present life, you can be sure that they will be brought to light in the future when you’re standing before God. And that includes not only your sinful behaviors but even your sinful thoughts and motives and attitudes. The Ashley Madison data breach was just a small foretaste of what it will be like in the future when every secret will be exposed and every sin will be brought to light. Jesus warns us about this in Luke 12:2-3. He says, 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. 

In addition, here’s what we read about the final judgment in Revelation 20:11-12, 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened….And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. So, right now in heaven, there’s either an angel or God himself with an open book and a pen keeping a meticulous record of everything you do, every word you say, and every thought you entertain. And one day, that record will be publicly displayed for everyone to see and will be the basis upon which God judges you and sends you to hell for all eternity. That should cause us all to tremble. Just as Judah’s sin was exposed in Genesis 38, our sins will eventually be exposed as well. 

So, what’s the answer then? How can we escape from this judgment that’s coming? Well, the first thing to understand is that the answer isn’t simply trying to be a better person. That approach is often referred to as “the law.” It involves trying to keep God’s moral law found in the Bible in order to earn God’s favor and merit eternal life. It involves relying on our own efforts and our own moral abilities in an attempt to be good enough for God and acceptable to him. Yet, the Bible’s very clear that “the law” can’t save. Paul describes this in great detail in Romans 7. He says in Romans 7:5 that “while we were living in the flesh”—that is, in our sinful and unsaved condition—“our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.” So, with our hearts being the way they are and having the sinful inclinations they have, the law actually has the effect not of helping us to live righteously but of arousing sinful desires within us. 

John Bunyan, in his classic book Pilgrim’s Progress, compares it to a room within a house that’s completely covered with dust. And in the story, a man goes into the house, grabs a broom, and starts sweeping. Now, what do you think happens when he does that? Does his sweeping do anything to help clean up the dust? Obviously not. Instead, it just has the effect of making the dust worse by stirring it up. And the more vigorously the man sweeps, the worse the problem becomes, so that he and the others in the room eventually begin to choke from the clouds of dust in the room. That’s the effect that the law has on our sinful hearts. Instead of helping us to live righteously, it simply stirs up our sinful desires. 

And listen: even if we’re able to keep certain sins from manifesting themselves externally, that still doesn’t solve the problem of the sins that are beneath the surface—the sins we commit in our thoughts, motives, and attitudes. In fact, our attempts to follow God’s law in our own strength and through our own moral willpower can actually do more harm to us on the inside than they can on the outside. Because, when we achieve a certain level of success in making ourselves look good on the outside, we become even more entrenched in our self-righteous and self-sufficient mentality and consequently are blinded even more to our need for God’s mercy. 

So, what’s the answer? The answer, according to the Bible, isn’t the law but rather the gospel. In Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan compares the gospel to a maid who walks into that dusty room and sprinkles the room with water, which washes the dust away.  And that’s what the gospel does to our sin. 

The gospel is the message of God graciously sending his own Son Jesus into this world on a rescue mission to save us. And unlike us, Jesus was sinless and perfect. Because he was miraculously born of a virgin through the Holy Spirit, Jesus didn’t inherit the sinful nature that the rest of us inherit. As a result, he was able to live his entire life in perfect obedience to God’s law. He then voluntarily allowed himself to be crucified in order to suffer the penalty for our sins. The consequence for our disobedience to God’s law was death—and not just physical death but eternal death in hell. But Jesus stood in our place and suffered that punishment so we wouldn’t have to. That’s how much he loves us. 

Then, after that, Jesus triumphantly resurrected from the dead so that everyone who puts their trust in him can share in his victory and enjoy eternal life in heaven. That’s the only hope that sinners and you and I have. That’s the only way we can escape the judgment that’s coming. It’s not about trying harder to please God and seeking to become a better person but rather about putting our trust in Jesus to do for us what we could never do for ourselves and rescue us from our sins. So, have you ever done that? Have you ever renounced your misguided efforts to earn God’s favor and instead put your confidence in Jesus for rescue? 

Friends, understand that it’s not like God’s up there looking for an excuse to punish us. Instead, God’s natural disposition toward us is one of mercy. God’s deepest desire is to be merciful and gracious toward sinners. And we can see the abundance of God’s mercy even in Genesis 38. God didn’t cast Judah aside after his moral blunder but graciously began to work in his heart and shape him into a different person. We can see the beginnings of this in verse 26. After being confronted with the items Tamar sends him, Judah humbly confesses, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” Judah now sees at least one of his sins and publicly acknowledges it and seems to have a much softer heart. After that, he conducts himself in a much more honorable way in the subsequent chapters of Genesis—especially in chapter 44, where he pleads for the welfare of his younger brother Benjamin in the midst of what appears to be a very dangerous situation. 

Yet the greatest way in which God was gracious toward Judah is that he gave Judah a very important role in his redemptive plan for the world. In Genesis 38:27-29, we see that Tamar gave birth to twins and that one of them was named Perez. And eventually Perez would grow up and have children of his own, who would have children of their own, and so on and so forth until eventually a woman named Mary was born and then from her a baby named Jesus. So, God chose Judah to be the one through whom the Messiah would come into this world. This is foretold in Genesis 49:10 in the blessing Jacob pronounces over Judah. He says, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” That would be fulfilled of course, in Jesus, who’s referred to in Revelation 5:5 as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”

The God of the Bible is a God who delights in showing incredible grace to unworthy sinners. He was gracious to Judah, he was gracious to Tamar in allowing her to be included in the lineage of Jesus as well even though she was a Canaanite, and it’s in God’s heart to be gracious to you as well.