47 min
Judah and Tamar Reformed Sermons and Sunday Schools at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Petaluma, CA
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- Christianity
Sermon preached on Genesis 38 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/14/2024 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
We continue today our sermon series through Genesis with another example of sinful failings among the patriarchs. We might immediately wonder why this passage is here, as it interrupts the current storyline. Yet, each of the patriarch sections in Genesis has had such an interrupting passage, one even where the patriarch’s sin failed with at least some negative ramifications on a woman under their care. Abraham lied about Sarah to Abimelech, and Isaac did the same thing. Then there was the violation of Dinah with Jacob failing to properly vindicate her. Today’s passage is along those lines, yet with some unique features.
Yet, if this is following the same pattern in those previous sections of Genesis, we might wonder why this strange chapter is about a failing of Judah instead of about Joseph. In fact, Joseph will show himself to overcome sexual temptation next chapter with Potiphar’s wife. Genesis clearly wants us to see today’s chapter in contrast to that because the verse before and after our chapter tells us about Joseph being taken to Potiphar’s house. Indeed, that contrast surely shows Joseph as more righteous than Judah.
Yet, still, we can ask the question. Why does this chapter put a prominence upon Judah, when so much in Genesis is setting us up to see that Joseph is going to be the leader over and even savior of all his brothers. We saw that story started last chapter, with Joseph’s brothers, Judah especially, selling him off to Egypt. In the end, we’ll see Joseph used by God to save his brothers from famine and death. This strange chapter is in the middle of that larger story about Joseph, and seems to interrupt it and give a prominence to Judah over Joseph, even while for the moment it shows Joseph more righteous than Judah.
I believe this passage reminds us that God’s providential workings to redeem his people have a wonderful complexity to them. God would use Joseph to save his people, but here God is also setting up things for the future where he would use Judah’s line to save his people in an even bigger way. Indeed, while Genesis tells us the story about how Jospeh is favored over his brothers, and he will even receive the family inheritance over them all, Genesis is also giving us prophetic hints that God will ultimately in the future take the leadership away from Joseph’s line and give it to none other than Judah. That is so important, because Jesus will be born the line of Judah. But none of that future would have happened if the events of our chapter take didn’t take place.
Let’s dig in to the passage. Let’s begin first to understand the cultural practice that we see here known as the levirate law, the law of the “husband’s brother”. While foreign to most cultures today, it was considered a very honorable practice back then, and some places still practice it today. Basically, the levirate law was if a married man died before having any male heir born to him, it was his brother’s duty to take the wife of his dead brother and have a male child with her. The child born in that situation would be considered the heir of the deceased brother, even though biologically that was not the case. This would protect inheritance rights. It also was a way society tried to care for the widow too, as son would care for a widowed mother in her old age.
And so, this was a widely practiced custom back then among many peoples, and it would later become formally instituted as civil law for the nation of Israel, Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Deuteronomy even showed the honorable nature of this practice by how it handled a brother who refus...
Sermon preached on Genesis 38 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/14/2024 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
We continue today our sermon series through Genesis with another example of sinful failings among the patriarchs. We might immediately wonder why this passage is here, as it interrupts the current storyline. Yet, each of the patriarch sections in Genesis has had such an interrupting passage, one even where the patriarch’s sin failed with at least some negative ramifications on a woman under their care. Abraham lied about Sarah to Abimelech, and Isaac did the same thing. Then there was the violation of Dinah with Jacob failing to properly vindicate her. Today’s passage is along those lines, yet with some unique features.
Yet, if this is following the same pattern in those previous sections of Genesis, we might wonder why this strange chapter is about a failing of Judah instead of about Joseph. In fact, Joseph will show himself to overcome sexual temptation next chapter with Potiphar’s wife. Genesis clearly wants us to see today’s chapter in contrast to that because the verse before and after our chapter tells us about Joseph being taken to Potiphar’s house. Indeed, that contrast surely shows Joseph as more righteous than Judah.
Yet, still, we can ask the question. Why does this chapter put a prominence upon Judah, when so much in Genesis is setting us up to see that Joseph is going to be the leader over and even savior of all his brothers. We saw that story started last chapter, with Joseph’s brothers, Judah especially, selling him off to Egypt. In the end, we’ll see Joseph used by God to save his brothers from famine and death. This strange chapter is in the middle of that larger story about Joseph, and seems to interrupt it and give a prominence to Judah over Joseph, even while for the moment it shows Joseph more righteous than Judah.
I believe this passage reminds us that God’s providential workings to redeem his people have a wonderful complexity to them. God would use Joseph to save his people, but here God is also setting up things for the future where he would use Judah’s line to save his people in an even bigger way. Indeed, while Genesis tells us the story about how Jospeh is favored over his brothers, and he will even receive the family inheritance over them all, Genesis is also giving us prophetic hints that God will ultimately in the future take the leadership away from Joseph’s line and give it to none other than Judah. That is so important, because Jesus will be born the line of Judah. But none of that future would have happened if the events of our chapter take didn’t take place.
Let’s dig in to the passage. Let’s begin first to understand the cultural practice that we see here known as the levirate law, the law of the “husband’s brother”. While foreign to most cultures today, it was considered a very honorable practice back then, and some places still practice it today. Basically, the levirate law was if a married man died before having any male heir born to him, it was his brother’s duty to take the wife of his dead brother and have a male child with her. The child born in that situation would be considered the heir of the deceased brother, even though biologically that was not the case. This would protect inheritance rights. It also was a way society tried to care for the widow too, as son would care for a widowed mother in her old age.
And so, this was a widely practiced custom back then among many peoples, and it would later become formally instituted as civil law for the nation of Israel, Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Deuteronomy even showed the honorable nature of this practice by how it handled a brother who refus...
47 min