A Lineage of Grace (13 page)

GENESIS 38:24-26

• When Judah heard that Tamar was with child, what was his response? Was this a private proclamation or a public one?

• Judah may have thought,
This will let me off the hook with my promise to her of Shelah!
He may also have thought,
Who will blame me for getting rid of Tamar?
What was Tamar’s response to the death sentence her father-in-law demanded?

• Why do you think Tamar asked Judah a question rather than making a proclamation? What does this reveal about her character?

• A choice was now laid before Judah. He could once again run and hide, ignoring the truth; or he could, at last, do what was right. According to the passage we just read, what was Judah’s response?

• What does Judah’s response reveal about his character?

Read the following passage:

People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy.

PROVERBS 28:13

A heart that has confessed and forsaken sin will be declared righteous by God through Christ Jesus. Both Tamar and Judah found God’s forgiveness and saw Him work out His good purposes through their lives. Only God can bring blessing from disaster, deceit, and disillusionment. Only God knows the heart of a person.

Read the following passages:

In due season the time of Tamar’s delivery arrived, and she had twin sons. As they were being born, one of them reached out his hand, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread around the wrist of the child who appeared first, saying, “This one came out first.” But then he drew back his hand, and the other baby was actually the first to be born. “What!” the midwife exclaimed. “How did you break out first?” And ever after, he was called Perez. Then the baby with the scarlet thread on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah.

GENESIS 38:27-30

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

JEREMIAH 29:11

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram.

MATTHEW 1:3

• Tamar had hoped for a son. What did God do for her?

• Judah had hoped for an heir. What did God do for him?

FIND GOD’S WAYS FOR YOU

• Have you ever been privately confronted about something you did or said that was wrong? If so, how did it make you feel?

• Have you ever been openly rebuked, embarrassed, or corrected? How did you respond?

• When Tamar was openly confronted, she presented the truth (as she knew it). When Judah was confronted with the truth, he repented. He had run away from both his family and his faith. God used the consequences of his choices to bring about repentance and restoration. In your experiences of being confronted with something you did wrong, what were the consequences? If you had it to do over again, how might you respond differently?

STOP AND PONDER

Let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

HEBREWS 10:22

God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

EPHESIANS 2:8-9

• How is God drawing you?

SEASONS FOR CHANGE

SEEK GOD’S WORD FOR TRUTH

From our brief study, we have seen how circumstances offer choices to be made in life. Those choices can lead to destruction and disillusionment or to restoration and a productive life. In review, look back at the Bible passage in “
Setting the Scene
.” What kind of man was Judah then?

The following passage is lengthy, but it’s important for learning the end of Judah’s story. It took place many years after the incident with Tamar, when Judah and his brothers appeared before their long-lost brother Joseph. Joseph had risen to a position of great authority in Egypt. He recognized his evil brothers and decided to put them to a test to see whether they had changed. The brothers did not know that the man wielding the power of life or death over them was, in fact, Joseph.

When his brothers were ready to leave, Joseph gave these instructions to the man in charge of his household: “Fill each of their sacks with as much grain as they can carry, and put each man’s money back into his sack. Then put my personal silver cup at the top of the youngest brother’s sack, along with his grain money.” So the household manager did as he was told.

The brothers were up at dawn and set out on their journey with their loaded donkeys. But when they were barely out of the city, Joseph said to his household manager, “Chase after them and stop them. Ask them, ‘Why have you repaid an act of kindness with such evil? What do you mean by stealing my master’s personal silver drinking cup, which he uses to predict the future? What a wicked thing you have done!’”

So the man caught up with them and spoke to them in the way he had been instructed. “What are you talking about?” the brothers responded. “What kind of people do you think we are, that you accuse us of such a terrible thing? Didn’t we bring back the money we found in our sacks? Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? If you find his cup with any one of us, let that one die. And all the rest of us will be your master’s slaves forever.”

“Fair enough,” the man replied, “except that only the one who stole it will be a slave. The rest of you may go free.”

They quickly took their sacks from the backs of their donkeys and opened them. Joseph’s servant began searching the oldest brother’s sack, going on down the line to the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack! At this, they tore their clothing in despair, loaded the donkeys again, and returned to the city. Joseph was still at home when Judah and his brothers arrived, and they fell to the ground before him.

“What were you trying to do?” Joseph demanded. “Didn’t you know that a man such as I would know who stole it?”

And Judah said, “Oh, my lord, what can we say to you? How can we plead? How can we prove our innocence? God is punishing us for our sins. My lord, we have all returned to be your slaves—we and our brother who had your cup in his sack.”

“No,” Joseph said. “Only the man who stole the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go home to your father.”

Then Judah stepped forward and said, “My lord, let me say just this one word to you. Be patient with me for a moment, for I know you could have me killed in an instant, as though you were Pharaoh himself.

“You asked us, my lord, if we had a father or a brother. We said, ‘Yes, we have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, his youngest son. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him very much.’ And you said to us, ‘Bring him here so I can see him.’ But we said to you, ‘My lord, the boy cannot leave his father, for his father would die.’ But you told us, ‘You may not see me again unless your youngest brother is with you.’ So we returned to our father and told him what you had said. And when he said, ‘Go back again and buy us a little food,’ we replied, ‘We can’t unless you let our youngest brother go with us. We won’t be allowed to see the man in charge of the grain unless our youngest brother is with us.’ Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife had two sons, and that one of them went away and never returned—doubtless torn to pieces by some wild animal. I have never seen him since. If you take away his brother from me, too, and any harm comes to him, you would bring my gray head down to the grave in deep sorrow.’

“And now, my lord, I cannot go back to my father without the boy. Our father’s life is bound up in the boy’s life. When he sees that the boy is not with us, our father will die. We will be responsible for bringing his gray head down to the grave in sorrow. My lord, I made a pledge to my father that I would take care of the boy. I told him, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, I will bear the blame forever.’ Please, my lord, let me stay here as a slave instead of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. For how can I return to my father if the boy is not with me? I cannot bear to see what this would do to him.”

GENESIS 44:1-34

• What do we learn about Judah from this account?

• In what ways had Judah changed?

Read the following Bible passage, which tells the end of the story:

Joseph could stand it no longer. “Out, all of you!” he cried out to his attendants. He wanted to be alone with his brothers when he told them who he was. Then he broke down and wept aloud. His sobs could be heard throughout the palace, and the news was quickly carried to Pharaoh’s palace.

“I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. “Come over here,” he said. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t be angry with yourselves that you did this to me, for God did it. He sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. These two years of famine will grow to seven, during which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God has sent me here to keep you and your families alive so that you will become a great nation. Yes, it was God who sent me here, not you! And he has made me a counselor to Pharaoh—manager of his entire household and ruler over all Egypt.

“Hurry, return to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me master over all the land of Egypt. Come down to me right away! You will live in the land of Goshen so you can be near me with all your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all that you have. I will take care of you there, for there are still five years of famine ahead of us. Otherwise you and your household will come to utter poverty.’”

Then Joseph said, “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that I really am Joseph! Tell my father how I am honored here in Egypt. Tell him about everything you have seen, and bring him to me quickly.” Weeping with joy, he embraced Benjamin, and Benjamin also began to weep. Then Joseph kissed each of his brothers and wept over them, and then they began talking freely with him.

GENESIS 45:1-15

• Clearly, Joseph was deeply moved by Judah’s plea. What was Joseph’s response to Judah and the rest of his brothers?

God had made provision for the entire family. He had spared Joseph’s life and given him a position of great authority. He had brought restoration to Judah and his brothers.

Reread the following passage about Tamar:

Then Judah told Tamar, his daughter-in-law, not to marry again at that time but to return to her parents’ home. She was to remain a widow until his youngest son, Shelah, was old enough to marry her. (But Judah didn’t really intend to do this because he was afraid Shelah would also die, like his two brothers.) So Tamar went home to her parents.

GENESIS 38:11

• At that point, what kind of future did Tamar have to look forward to?

Now read the following Bible passage, written many years later:

And may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.

RUTH 4:12

• How was Tamar remembered by her descendants?

Tamar had her hopes and plans, but God had bigger plans. He gave her twin sons, who became the forebears of the tribe of Judah. Ultimately, the Messiah—the promised Savior of the world—came from that tribe.

FIND GOD’S WAYS FOR YOU

• Just as God worked in the lives of Judah and Tamar, He works in our lives today. In what ways is God revealing Himself to you?

• As you have worked through these lessons, what changes do you sense you may need to make in your life?

• Who holds your future? According to
Jeremiah 29:11
, who is offering you a future?

STOP AND PONDER

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.

JOHN 3:16-18

Are you ready for the future? If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, you can do so right now. All you need to do is say a simple prayer. Confess that you are a sinner and that you desire to turn around, and invite Jesus Christ to come into your heart as your Lord and Savior. When you belong to Jesus, you can be assured of an eternal future and hope for today. Choose life!

BLESSINGS AND SONGS

SEEK GOD’S WORD FOR TRUTH

As we’ve already seen, the story of Tamar does not end with the birth of her twin sons. We can trace Judah and Tamar throughout the Bible. The following passages are a few examples of the future God had in store for them:

“I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. “Come over here,” he said. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t be angry with yourselves that you did this to me, for God did it. He sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. These two years of famine will grow to seven, during which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God has sent me here to keep you and your families alive so that you will become a great nation. Yes, it was God who sent me here, not you! And he has made me a counselor to Pharaoh—manager of his entire household and ruler over all Egypt.

“Hurry, return to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me master over all the land of Egypt. Come down to me right away! You will live in the land of Goshen so you can be near me with all your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all that you have.’”