But, for a Jewish person, there was another story about Judah in the Bible that made him even more unimpressive, which they would be reminded of in the very next sentence of Jesus family tree:
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,In the Bible, there are probably few stories that are as scandalous as the story of Judah and Tamar. And the average Jewish person, for reasons we will soon see, was very familiar with the story of Judah and Tamar. To understand the story of Judah and Tamar, let me first give you some background.
Judah had married a Canaanite woman who did not believe and worship God. As a result of this marriage, Judah had three children who the Bible says were wicked in God’s sight and failed to follow the Lord. Judah’s first born son, named Er, married a Jewish women whose name was Tamar. Er was so wicked, however, that God ended up killing him for his wickedness. In the culture of the day, Jewish fathers were responsible to provide and care for their daughter-in-laws in the event that their husbands died. Part of that responsibility was to ensure that Judah’s son’s family name would continue.
Judah’s second son, named Onan, however, failed to fulfill that responsibility out of selfish rebellion and greed, which led to his death at the hand of God. Judah, who had raised these two wicked children who rebelled against the Lord, responded to what occurred by failing to fulfill his responsibility to care and provide for his daughter-in-law Tamar, which led to what we read in Genesis 38:12:
Now after a considerable time Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. It was told to Tamar, "Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." So she removed her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face. So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, "Here now, let me come in to you"; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?" He said, therefore, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." She said, moreover, "Will you give a pledge until you send it?" He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" And she said, "Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and departed, and removed her veil and put on her widow's garments. When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. He asked the men of her place, saying, "Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?" But they said, "There has been no temple prostitute here." So he returned to Judah, and said, "I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, 'There has been no temple prostitute here.'" Then Judah said, "Let her keep them, otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her."Now right about now you are thinking what every Jewish person already knew when they heard Judah and Tamar in the same sentence “What a messed up story. That is a disgusting and scandalous story”. I told you the Bible was not boring. It gets even better:
Now it was about three months later that Judah was informed, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and behold, she is also with child by harlotry." Then Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned!" It was while she was being brought out that she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "I am with child by the man to whom these things belong." And she said, "Please examine and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?" Judah recognized them, and said,Uh oh, busted! Not exactly. This is exactly what Judah said:
"She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah." And he did not have relations with her again.Now at about this point, you may be thinking “well neither one of them seem very righteous to me”. And that is exactly what a Jewish person would be thinking as they remembered this story. And this is why Judah would be such an unexpected candidate to be in the Christmas story as part of the family tree of the Messiah.
For a Jewish person, Joseph was the righteous brother who had the qualifications to be part of Jesus family tree. Joseph would be the expected candidate because Joseph was the one who was faithful to God and always did the right thing when it came to following God, despite the consequences that came upon him. Joseph was the brother who rose to become second only to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. And it was Joseph who saved the nation of Egypt, and the Jewish people from starvation as a result of His faithfulness to God and his leadership abilities.
You see, when the famine became severe, Joseph’s brother’s had to come to him to receive food. And while Judah and his brothers did not recognize Joseph, Joseph sure recognized them. And the amazing thing is that while Joseph had every opportunity and had the right to exercise vengeance and pay back his brothers for selling them into slavery, Joseph did not take that opportunity. Instead Joseph tested his brothers to see if they had changed by accusing them as being spies and commanding them to return with their youngest brother, who did not make the initial trip. And this is where we see Judah enter back into the story.
Tomorrow we will see not only what happens: we will also see the timeless reason as to why Judah and Tamar are a part of Jesus family tree.
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