April 18, 2024, Day 5 of Week 3 Daily Dose of Hope

Daily Dose of Hope
April 18, 2024 
Day 5 of Week 3
 
Scripture reading for today – Genesis 38-40; Psalm 12; Mark 15
 
Hello, everyone!  This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  It’s also the final reading for week 3.  We will take Friday and Saturday off for you to catch-up, get ahead, or simply rest and spend time in prayer.
 
Oh my, there is a lot to cover today.  Let’s start with Genesis 38.  Judah (who is Jacob's oldest son) arranges for his oldest son, Er, to marry a woman named Tamar.  But Er was evil in the eyes of God, so God took his life.  Judah then arranged for Tamar to marry his second son, Onan.  In levirate marriage, which they practiced at that time, if a man died before he produced a male heir, then the next oldest brother would sleep with his sister in law to try to produce an heir.  The baby would then be considered a child of the dead brother. This may sound weird to us but it was one of several systems that God put in place to ensure that the most vulnerable segments of society would be cared for.
 
But Onan also did evil in God’s eyes, because he prevented Tamar from getting pregnant by spilling his semen on the ground.  (I bet you didn’t realize the Bible is this explicit.)  So, God took Onan’s life too.  At this point, Judah’s third son, Shelah, was too young to marry.  But what we know is that Judah has decided he didn't want to risk his third son with Tamar.  If Shelah dies, then Judah will be without heirs, and any inheritance he may gain from Jacob will be lost.  Judah misleads Tamar into waiting until Shelah is grown up. I'm not sure that we can understand the significance of this. This was a grave sin, denying Tamar the ability to have a husband, a male heir, or any kind of meaningful life.  He doesn't release her from the marriage-he tells her to go live as a widow which means she could not remarry-but he doesn't offer her the option of his third son. Tamaris in a no-win situation here.  She is doomed to live a life of poverty and/or prostitution.  Keep in mind, women were very vulnerable at that time if they didn't have a male to provide for them.
 
After some years go by, Tamar takes matters into her own hands.  Judah has basically abandoned her. Shelah, the third son, is definitely marrying age and Judah has never sent for Tamar.  She knows he isn't planning to, nor is he planning to release her from living as a widow.  She knows that her fate isn't good unless she does something drastic.  She takes off her widow's clothing and dresses like a prostitute. She hangs out where her father-in-law will see her and he propositions her.  So, this gives us more insight into Judah's character.  Maybe he frequented prostitutes, Tamar must have somehow known that he would be willing to solicit her.
 
This is a small thing but when Judah originally solicited Tamar as a prostitute, she was not a shrine prostitute.  Shrine prostitutes were part of the worship of Canaanite fertility goddesses.  It seems that Judah simply acted out of regular old lust and probably a bit of impulsiveness.  Later, he asks his friend to go look for the shrine prostitute, possibly because it seemed more acceptable.  Of course, both were really bad in God's eyes.
 
Tamar gets pregnant by Judah.  When Judah finds out she is pregnant, he considers her guilty of prostitution and is ready to have her killed.  Of course, he has no idea that he is the father of the baby.  Tamar then presents a cord, seal, and walking stick, saying the father of her baby is the owner of these items.  Just so we know, his cord, seal, and walking stick would be the equivalent to a driver’s license and credit card.  When Judah finds that he was the guy who got his daughter in law pregnant, he declares her righteous.  Even though she was deceptive, she was the one who managed to continue to family line.
 
Okay, so this whole scenario seems kind of