96: Amazing Grace

In Chinese, the word for Tamar used the female pronoun 她玛. But in the old translations, it uses the male pronoun 他玛. Perhaps it was changed to reflect Tamar’s gender.

Apart from the Tamar who appeared in Gen 38, Tamar is also the daughter of Saul and the name of a place.

Two directions will be used in this sermon:

1. Structural description concerning Tamar in the Bible
   Gen 38 has a strange structure. Because of this, those who don’t believe conclude the Bible is unreliable. They go to the extent of denying the first five books of the Bible written by Moses. How can we look at this strange structure?

2. Tamar as a person
   She’s someone who’s pretty contentious. Yet, she appeared in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus.

Matt 1:3
The genealogy of Jesus records Tamar. In Matthew, at least 4 women were recorded. v2 mentions Tamar. v5 mentions Rahab. v5b mentions Ruth. v6 talks about how David begot Solomon through Bathsheba.

Why did these 4 women appear in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus?

Tamar begot a child through her father in law. Rahab is a harlot. Ruth is a Moabite, one who isn’t supposed to enter the assembly of the Lord. Bathsheba committed adultery with David. Yet they were recorded to be part of Jesus’ genealogy.

This genealogy is different from ours. The purpose of our genealogy is to trace back our roots/ancestors. But the record of Jesus’ genealogy has a higher meaning. The Bible talks about how God has chosen the people that resulted in this Messiah.

What can we learn from Tamar who held on to the promise?
Gen 38:1-2, 6 (read)
From these verses we can infer Tamar was a Canaanite woman.
Before chapter 38, Joseph is talked about. When the story of Joseph is built to a climax, suddenly Judah is mentioned in chapter 38. Then it continues the story of Joseph. Those who don’t believe reckon the Bible just put in stories. Is this the case? Of course not. The Bible has good structure. But those who lack faith pass an incorrect judgement. Why did the Bible jump to the story of Tamar suddenly while it was talking about Joseph?

Let us not constrain ourself to examine
One of the theme’s of Genesis is God’s election and salvation. Regarding the aforementioned genealogy, the genealogy has the concept of salvation too. Right from the time Adam and Eve sinned against God, God said their descendants would bruise the head of the serpent. It begins the salvation of God for the descendants. So when we read Genesis, it isn’t just the story of one man. The entire book talks about the promise of God and His salvation to future generations. From how the verses support each other, we can conclude it has a good structure.

Gen 38:25 (read)
Similar verses are recorded in 37:32. The same author used the same style to record this. The main points are different. The story of Judah that’s interspersed here is related to the promise of God. After chapter 37, onwards talks about the 12 tribes.

It shows how God progresses His salvation. That’s why it doesn’t just record the story of Joseph. In the blessings of Jacob to his 12 sons, it talks about how his 12 sons will progress.

When we read the Bible with this perspective, we’d find it very interesting. It’s not a boring book. The question is whether we put in the effort to research.

Now let’s talk about Tamar who held on to the promise. We have looked at how Judah took a wife for himself from Canaan. He had 3 sons. He took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But it’s unfortunate that Er did what was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and so the Lord killed him (38:7).

The story progresses. Er died. Judah told his second son, Onan, to go into Tamar, his brother’s wife, to raise up an heir to his brother. Then, this was a prevailing practice. The purpose is to preserve the inheritance of the dead man, and leaving an heir to the dead man. This means that if the brother goes into his brother’s wife and she has a son, that son would belong to his brother and not him. Onan knew the heir would not be his so “when he went in to his brother’s wife…he emitted on the ground”. He thought it foolish to help his dead brother have a son. v10 What Onan did displeased the Lord and the Lord killed him also. In this family, 2 out of 3 sons had died already. Judah, the father, was fearful in his heart. He may have thought: If I give my youngest son to Tamar, he may die too and I’ll be left with no sons!

So he told Tamar to remain a widow in her father’s house till his third son Shelah had grown. But actually he had no intention of doing that. How do we know this?

In v14, Tamar realised her father in law had no intention of keeping his word of marrying her to his third son.

Why was Tamar reluctant to give his youngest son? Perhaps there was an obstacle he couldn’t overcome in his life. Or perhaps he was superstitious. “After my 2 sons married her, they died. If my third son marries her, he may die too!” So he didn’t keep his word.

The story continues. When Tamar realised her father in law had no intention of giving her to his youngest son, Tamar wanted to hold to the promise (the title of this sermon).

When Tamar realised she was deceived, she took action proactively. She wanted to fight for what was her right. She no longer remained silent.

Earlier she was submissive to whatever her father in law told her. When the eldest son died, “Oh marry the second son? Okay.” When the second son died, “Go home first I’ll give you the third son when he has grown up.” “Okay.” Only when she found out she was deceived did she take action.

Why did Tamar want to hold on to this promise? In the Old Testament, becoming a widow is pitiful. It’s also shameful to return to your father’s house with no children and being a widow.

Then, it was okay to marry one’s sister in law. It was also in the Mosaic law. The spirit of the law emphasises on the love of God. God doesn’t want Man to be left without descendants and no one to take care of them. We recall what’s recorded in the book of Ruth. When Ruth went back to Israel, Naomi wanted her to marry the closest kinsman. If he didn’t want to marry the dead man’s wife, that’s not keeping God’s law, which means not loving God. Not keeping your duty also means you don’t love men. This good intention embedded into the law is to ensure the dead man’s name isn’t blotted out in future generations.

The story continues.
Gen 38:14
Tamar decided to act. “You have not kept your promise? Then I’ll resort to my own method to solve my own problem.” Tamar took off her widow’s garments, wrapped herself in a veil and sat in an open place. Her intention? Judah, her father in law, passed by that place. Because of the veil, he didn’t recognise her and thought she was a harlot. Some references say there were some temple prostitutes then. Actually, Judah was on the way to shear his sheep.

Tamar is executing her plan step by step. She was no longer the old Tamar. What was the old Tamar like? When Onan the second son emitted on the ground, she knew of this. But she didn’t protest. The old Tamar was a quiet and submissive woman. But she no longer kept her silence.

When Judah wanted to come into her, she said, “What will you give me?” He said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.” Tamar was very clever and asked for a pledge, purposely requesting for a signet, cord, and staff. With lust burning in him, he just agreed. This is just like giving your IC.

She conceived! In just one try! So she arose and went away, laying aside her veil and putting on the garments of her widowhood.

Judah kept his word and sent a goat but couldn’t find her. 3 months later, Tamar’s tummy became bigger. Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter in law has played the harlot, furthermore she is with child by harlotry.”

Judah was so incensed, he wanted her to be burned. He was seemingly meting out righteous judgement. But he didn’t know he was the one who impregnated her. Just like David who said the man Prophet Nathan described ought to be put to death.

Tamar was brought out. She sent to her father in law and said, “Please determine whose these are - the signet, and cord, and staff.” Judah said it was his and said Tamar was more righteous than he was.

Let us ponder. It’s incorrect for Judah to visit a prostitute. But is what Tamar did correct? Can we do something immoral just because the other party didn’t keep his word? But Judah concluded she was more righteous than he was.

Note that it’s RELATIVE; a companion. Judah clearly didn’t keep to his promise. His intention was for Tamar to remain a widow forever. But Tamar wanted to do her duty to have an heir for his eldest son. Comparing these two, Tamar is more righteous.

This is a point of contention. Can Man sin to inherit righteousness? No. Because God hates sin. He won’t want anyone to go against His will to fulfil His will. This is very contradictory.

Some question: If she’s unrighteousness, why is she part of the genealogy of Jesus.

The story continues. Judah didn’t kill her, she didn’t die.

We won’t say what she did was right. But we can sympathise with Tamar; she was weak and helpless. Sympathising and feeling whether she’s right or wrong are two separate matters.

The book of Genesis talks about the salvation of the Lord. From what happened to Tamar, we can look at an important concept of salvation. The work of God won’t discontinue because of the weakness of men. Gen 38 emphasises on descendants. God promised Abraham his descendants would be blessed through him. Even though Er and Onan, Judah’s sons, undermined the plan, salvation still continued. God won’t allow His promise to be in vain just because of the weakness of Man.

From the genealogy, we see God accepted Tamar. But we cannot take this and say if we do the same thing today, we won’t be judged. What Tamar did to redeem herself was wrong. But in her circumstances when she couldn’t do anything else, she was compelled to do it. This is a grace God gave her.

Rom 5:20
Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.

In Genesis, a time before the law was given, God gave her this grace. In the Old Testament where they had polygamous relationships, God didn’t judge them also. But we don’t live in that era. We live in the era of the New Testament.

“Why was David forgiven when he committed adultery but I’m judged today for the same thing?”
Remember that Jesus has died and resurrected already. We have been baptised and cleansed by the blood of Jesus already. We have no excuse for committing a sin leading unto death.

“Why does God have double standards? That’s not righteous!”
God doesn’t.
Heb 9:15
The author of Hebrews tells us that those who believe in God in faith and trusted in Him are washed by the precious blood of Jesus after He came. Jesus died on their behalf. Nobody will be able to say they’re wrong.

Today we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. In the New Testament, we have been saved. We should comprehend this grace of salvation. As a result, we should never commit a sin leading to death.

Heb 10:26, 29 (read)
If we sin wilfully, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. We don’t just not have a sacrifice for sins anymore, we receive a worse punishment. Why? Because we treat the blood of the covenant as common and trample the son of god underfoot.

We can never use the Old Testament context to today and say, “How come he could get away with this/how come he is forgiven while I’m condemned today?”
We’re simply in two different covenants. There’re sins in the Old Testament we can never commit.

The story of Tamar tells to us the faithfulness of God; His promise will be carried out. God’s faithfulness is something we have to hold on to. Today, we have received precious salvation. We have to do all things to grab hold of it and never let go. Tamar used different methods to grab hold of the promise Judah gave her. What about us? We must look at the promise of salvation as promise.

The emphasis: hold fast to the promise of salvation.

363: Standing on the Promises
Hold on to the promise of salvation. It’s really sad when someone says, “Why can’t my sin be forgiven when David was forgiven?” It’s sad because it shows how lightly they take Jesus’ blood to be. Let us hold on to the promise of salvation.