Advent Foretold Day 6: The Line of Messiah Through Judah

God did not choose perfect people for the genealogy of Jesus. He used flawed, broken, messed up, very real humans who made incredibly bad choices at times. He used people....real people.

Judah was a real person who made some very bad decisions. His actions that would bring about the birth of his son, the next in the line of the Messiah, are not circumstances anyone would be proud to be born into. Perez was born as a result of broken promises, deceit, and disguises. He would almost die along with his mother and twin brother while she was pregnant with them...because she is ordered to be put to death.....by his father....who doesn't realize he is the father.

Genesis 38:1 tells us that after Jacob's sons sold their brother Joseph into slavery, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with an Adullamite man named Hirah. My guess is he could not bear to look his father in the face after what they had done to Joseph. Judah then married a Canaanite woman and had three sons.

Judah’s oldest son, Er married a girl named Tamar.  However, Er was very wicked. In fact, the Hebrew word used to describe Er implies it was an evil that needed God to intervene. The Lord took Er’s life, He died before having any children.

In those days, when a man died without having a child, his brother could marry the widow to raise up an heir for his dead brother. The first son of that union would be considered the dead brother's child, and the child would inherit accordingly. This ensured a man’s name and line would not die with him. This was a common practice in the Middle East in ancient times. Judah followed this practice.

Judah gave Tamar in marriage to his second son, Onan. Onan was not a good guy either, and did not enter into this union honorably. He had no intention of letting his brother’s name be given to a son who might come from Onan's union with Tamar, so he made sure this would not happen. This was not pleasing (to put it mildly) to God. Onan dies without having any children.

Judah was a bit unnerved at this point. He now had two dead sons. He sent Tamar back to her father with a promise of calling her back to marry his third son Shelah when he was old enough. However, Judah had no intention of doing this. He was worried his third son would die if he married Tamar. Judah seemed to lay the blame at Tamar's feet. He did not seem to wonder about his sons' actions.

During this time Judah’s wife had died, and Tamar had become aware that her father-in-law had no intention of keeping his word.  With this realization, Tamar did something that is almost impossible for us to understand because we can't fathom the culture and time she lived in. We cannot begin to imagine how her situation had and would impact the rest of her life. 

You can read the account of how Tamar took matters in her own hands in Genesis 38:12-30, but for our purposes, let me just say Tamar disguised herself as a temple harlot and waited for her father-in-law to pass by the gate of Enaim. Judah saw her and was deceived by her veiled disguise. Believing his daughter-in-law to be a harlot for hire, he went in to her. He has no money with him, so she took his signet ring as a sign of good faith that he would come back and “pay” her. When he sent the payment with a friend, she was nowhere to be found.

Three months later Judah found out his daughter-in-law was going to have a baby. With this discovery, he ordered her to be punished by being burned to death for her “harlotry”. However Tamar had a card up her sleeve, or rather a signet ring, to show Judah who the father of her baby was. When she produced the ring and Judah recognized it, he acknowledged he was the one in the wrong. He had not fulfilled his promise to marry Tamar to his youngest son. Judah declared that his daughter-in-law had behaved in a more upright and righteous manner than he had.

From the onetime union of Judah and Tamar twin boys were born: Zerah and Perez.  From this grievous, man-made mess the lineage of our Savior, Christ Jesus, would continue from Judah through the line of Perez.

If you have ever felt like God cannot use you because of something that has happened in your past...something you have done or something done to you....think again. The genealogy of Jesus is an awesome reminder that God can use any circumstance or situation for His glory. Remember Jesus is the descendant of a liar, a defrauder, a harlot, a negligent father, a murdering adulterer.....and the list goes on.....

The very things in our lives we have done or that have been done to us are the very things God will be able to use in other people's lives. It may help bring about a healing, or it may be to let them know they are not alone on some path they are walking. God will use all things for His glory. We just need to be ready and willing to be used by Him. God knew who you would be before He laid the first foundation stone of creation. He knew what trials you would walk through, He knew what choices you would make and He planned accordingly.

We are His handiwork created in Christ Jesus to to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Ephesians 2:10

I pray the Lord blesses you this Christmas Season! I pray you can see His handiwork in your life. I pray you can see times when He has taken something you thought would never come to any good and He has used it for something wonderful in your life or someone else's. Merry Christmas, dear ones!!