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Bible Studies
By Adam Bartlett
Judah-His Sons and their Sins
Genesis 38
It is interesting that chapters 37-50 cover the story of Joseph and for some reason stuck right in the middle of it is this incident regarding Judah and his sons and their sins.
Vs. 2 - Judah's troubles start with him marrying a Canaanite woman. They were strictly forbidden to marry outside the Jewish race.
Vs. 7 - Er was said to be wicked and the Lord slew him. It is not said as to what he did to anger God but according to Job 8:3-4 it is not unlike God to do something like this.
Vs. 8-10 - This passage has caused some questions among Christians as to why Onan was slain. My belief is that he knew what the law was regarding preserving the family name according to Deuteronomy 25:5-6. According to verse 9 Onan consciously chose to directly disobey God's commandment and his father's instruction.
Vs. 14-18 - Two wrongs do not make anything right! Tamar was wrong in her deceptive plot and Judah was wrong for not giving her Shelah to be her husband as the law directed. Judah again was wrong by going to a prostitute and it makes you wonder why Tamar knew that he would do it. Regardless, there are a lot of questions surrounding this incident and there were obviously a lot of bad choices which led to a lot of anguish.
This should be a lesson as to how important it is for us to go to the Lord and seek His guidance before making rash decisions. We do it every day in our lives and even the littlest details are of interest to the Lord.
Vs. 24 - Be careful how we judge! Judah was ready to uphold the law but was rash in his decision, not to mention he forgot the whole law, Leviticus 20:14. According to that law the man was to be burned also. We must be careful about making judgments and misusing laws, especially when we are guilty in the midst of it. We see how quickly Judah realized his rashness when he realized he was the father.
Many times in our own lives we allow anger to override our sense of what is right and wrong and we are guilty of making rash decisions all the time. I believe the lesson to learn is that we really need to seek God with all things and avoid making one wrong grow by making more wrong decisions.
Genesis
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