DBG - January 15- Genesis 38-40

This chapter is the record of Judah’s great sin.

vs. 1 – The fallout from selling Joseph into slavery causes Judah to remove himself from his family home and relocate to Adullam, about 16 miles to the northwest.

vs. 2 – Judah marries the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shuah, which means “wealth”.

vs. 3 – Er means “watchful”.

vs. 4 – Onan means “strong”

vs. 5 – Shelah means “a petition”.

vs. 6 – Tamar means “palm tree”.  If this chapter is to fit into the time between the sale of Joseph into slavery and his brother’s visit to Egypt in chapter 42 (a period of about 21 years), it would mean that Er and Tamar marry in their mid to late teens.

vs. 7 – God has not seen it fit to reveal what sins Er was guilty of to deserve an early death.  Before we judge him, we should remember that as sinners we are all guilty and doomed to a death penalty (Romans 6:23).

vs. 8 – This is called a Levirate marriage and was common in the ancient world.  When a husband died and left a childless widow, a near kinsmen would marry her.  Any children they had would be counted as the deceased husband’s.  The most famous example of this is in the Book of Ruth.

vs. 9-10 – Onan refused to perform his duty because of greed.  He wanted to absorb his brother’s estate and not lose any of his own possessions.  For his actions God kills him as He did his brother Er.

vs. 11 – A problem arises in that the third brother Shelah is not old enough to be married to fulfill the Levirate obligation.  Judah promises his daughter-in-law that she will marry the youngest brother when he is of age.

vs. 12 – Judah’s unnamed wife dies in the time waiting for Shelah to grow older so he could marry Tamar.  Judah goes with his shearers to Timnah, about six miles from Adullam.  This is typically a time of great celebrations like at a time of harvest.

vs. 13-14 – A key detail is buried in vs. 14, namely that Shelah is now old enough to marry but nothing has been arranged between him and Tamar as Judah had promised.  Tamar takes matters into her own hands in order to humble her father-in-law into fulfilling his obligations.

vs. 15-18 – Judah bargains with Tamar, not realizing who she was, for her services as he believes she is a prostitute.  He promises a sheep, but provides surety until its delivery by leaving some of his personal items.  Through these sinful relations, she conceives twins.

vs. 19-23 – Tamar slips away before Judah can send the promised kid as payment.  His friend Hirah the Adullamite cannot find her to deliver the payment.  Instead of going around and proclaiming what had happened by looking for the harlot, they decide she could just keep the personal items Judah had left with her as her payment and be done with the matter.

vs. 24 – When it is know that Tamar is pregnant Judah demands her death, which the custom of this time was by burning.

vs. 25-26 – Judah is forced to admit that he was the father of the Tamar’s children when she produces the personal items he had left with her.   He acknowledges that he is to blame and that the root cause was that he had not given Tamar to Shelah as promised.  He claims that Tamar was “more righteous” than himself in this affair, but in reality all are guilty of shameful acts.

vs. 29-30 – Realizing there are twins, the first baby that began to be born was duly marked by tying a thread on its finger as it was being born.  However, this first baby pulled his hand back in and the second baby was born fully before the first.  Pharez means “breach or burst” and Zarah means “dawn or rising”.  It is through Pharez that Christ’s genealogy goes, see Matthew 1:3.

In this chapter we return to Joseph and see him tempted by Potiphar’s wife.

vs. 2-6 – God’s hand of blessing on Joseph is evident.  He rises through the ranks of slaves until he is steward over Potiphar’s household.  Reese’s Chronological Bible calculates that this occurs over 9 or 10 years.

vs. 7 – KJV – wot means “to know, to be aware” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

vs. 7-10 – Joseph refuses the advances of Potiphar’s wife.  This places him in an awkward position.  He had little or no rights as a slave, and she could easily have him disposed of if he did not give in to her.  If he did, he violated the trust of his master and would face his wrath and death.  Joseph walks this tightrope for some time by denying his master’s wife’s advances.

vs. 11 – Joseph violates the modern “Billy Graham rule”.  Graham established a safeguard for his ministry by refusing to be alone with any woman that was not his wife.  This is good advice and removes the likelihood of temptation and talebearing. 

vs. 11-19 – The playwright William Congreve wrote in 1697, “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.”  How true these words are in this situation!  Potiphar’s wife’s affections toward Joseph turned to anger when she tired of Joseph’s refusals.

vs. 20 – These ancient prisons are a far cry from their modern versions.  Men were treated little better than animals, thrown into rocky cells with no thought of comfort or wellbeing.  It may have been preferable to die than to endure prison.  Some think that Potiphar did not kill Joseph because he did not believe that he did it.

vs. 21-23 – God continues to bless Joseph in spite of his circumstances.  As a slave he rose to be the steward of Potiphar’s household.  As a prisoner he rises to be something like a deputy jailor. 

In this chapter we read about two of Joseph’s fellow prisoners and their dreams.

vs. 1 – Both of these men held offices that required trust.  The butler was the cupbearer, selecting and tasting the drinks the Pharaoh took.  The baker was the chief cook, whose foods were daily set before the Pharaoh.  While the accusation against them is not recorded, it is likely that the Pharaoh believed one of them had attempted to poison him, throwing them in to prison until the investigation was over.

vs. 8 – Remember that Joseph has some experience in the area of dreams (37:5-10).

vs. 9-11 – The men’s dreams both relate to their occupations.  The butler dreams of a vine with three branches, from which he took grapes and made wine to serve to Pharaoh.

vs. 12-13 – Joseph interprets the dream to mean that in three days the butler will be restored to his former position.

vs. 14-15 – Joseph asks only this simple boon for interpreting the dream: that the butler would take his case to Pharaoh.

vs. 16-17 – The baker’s dream is that birds eat the food that he carried in three baskets atop his head.

vs. 18-19 – Joseph interprets this dream to mean that in three days the baker will be hanged.

vs. 20-22 – All transpires just as God had revealed through the dreams.

vs. 23 – One of the saddest verses in the Bible to me.  The butler forgets the kindness paid to him by Joseph in interpreting his dream.  Joseph remains in prison for another 2 years.

It would be easy to focus on Joseph here, but I want to instead look back on the drama regarding Judah and Tamar.  It is such a terrible situation and no one really does right in it.  We would be tempted to think that surely no good could come this.  But we see in I Chronicles 2:3-15 that it is this from this line that the royal line of David would spring.  We already saw that in Matthew 1:3 that it is the line from which Christ came.  God can take hopeless situations and bring beauty out of them.

When God used Joseph to interpret the dreams of the baker and butler, he says in 40:8, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” We something similar in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God”.  There is so much we simply do not understand, but we serve a God who knows all things!  It reminds me of the famous words penned by William Cowper in 1774, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”:

God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sov'reign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain:
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.