WEBVTT 00:00:00.296 --> 00:00:04.202 Let us ask the Holy Spirit's grace on the reading of God's word. 00:00:07.252 --> 00:00:15.079 Oh God, by your Spirit, tell us what we need to hear and show us what we 00:00:15.159 --> 00:00:17.910 ought to do to obey Jesus Christ our Savior. 00:00:21.843 --> 00:00:22.116 Amen. 00:00:22.212 --> 00:00:24.413 A reading from Psalm 38. 00:00:26.952 --> 00:00:34.314 At that time Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam 00:00:35.010 --> 00:00:35.981 named Hirah. 00:00:37.696 --> 00:00:41.047 There Judah met a daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. 00:00:42.053 --> 00:00:43.367 He married her and lay with her. 00:00:43.919 --> 00:00:47.542 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son son who was named Er. 00:00:48.647 --> 00:00:53.096 She conceived again and gave birth to a son named Onan. 00:00:54.295 --> 00:00:58.038 She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. 00:00:59.415 --> 00:01:02.284 It was in Kezib that she gave birth to him. 00:01:05.915 --> 00:01:10.874 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:18.990 But Judah's firstborn was wicked in the Lord's sight, so the Lord put him to death. 00:01:20.492 --> 00:01:28.323 Then Judah said to Onan, 'Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce 00:01:28.582 --> 00:01:29.824 offspring for your brother.' 00:01:31.254 --> 00:01:39.167 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground 00:01:39.281 --> 00:01:41.899 to keep from producing offspring for his brother. 00:01:43.350 --> 00:01:48.524 What he did was wicked in the Lord's sight, so he put him to death also. 00:01:50.327 --> 00:01:58.041 Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, 'Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah 00:01:58.154 --> 00:01:58.719 grows up.' 00:01:59.445 --> 00:02:03.468 For he thought, 'He may die too, just like his brothers.' 00:02:04.491 --> 00:02:06.794 So Tamar went to live in her father's 00:02:08.730 --> 00:02:08.859 house. 00:02:08.956 --> 00:02:14.309 After a long time, Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. 00:02:15.889 --> 00:02:23.884 When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, 00:02:24.432 --> 00:02:29.569 and his friend Hurah the Alamite— Aldumite— went with him. 00:02:31.160 --> 00:02:39.086 When Tamar was told, your father-in-law 'is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep, she took off her widow's clothes and 00:02:39.086 --> 00:02:46.629 covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down on the entrance to Enmah, 00:02:47.416 --> 00:02:48.956 which is on the road to Timnah. 00:02:49.839 --> 00:02:56.933 For she saw that though Shelah had now grown up, she had been not given to him as his wife.' 00:02:58.345 --> 00:03:02.804 When Judah saw he saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 00:03:04.022 --> 00:03:11.335 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, 'Come now, let me sleep with you.' 00:03:12.537 --> 00:03:14.077 'And what will you give me to sleep with you?' 00:03:14.301 --> 00:03:14.959 she asked. 00:03:15.969 --> 00:03:18.455 'I will send you a young goat from my flock,' he said. 00:03:19.818 --> 00:03:22.464 'Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?' 00:03:22.544 --> 00:03:23.137 she asked. 00:03:24.003 --> 00:03:25.800 He said, 'What pledge should I give you? 00:03:27.036 --> 00:03:30.986 Your seal and its cord and the staff in your hand, she answered. 00:03:31.949 --> 00:03:35.931 So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. 00:03:37.231 --> 00:03:41.952 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again. 00:03:43.429 --> 00:03:51.056 Meanwhile, Judas sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back 00:03:51.056 --> 00:03:53.528 from the woman, but he did not find her. 00:03:54.572 --> 00:04:02.006 He asked the men who lived there, 'Where's the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?' 00:04:03.323 --> 00:04:06.486 'There hasn't been any shrine prostitute there,' they said. 00:04:07.658 --> 00:04:11.383 So he went back to Judah and said, 'I didn't find her. 00:04:11.913 --> 00:04:16.040 Besides, the men who lived there said there hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.' 00:04:17.400 --> 00:04:21.899 Then Judah said, 'Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. 00:04:23.232 --> 00:04:27.953 After all, I did send her this young goat, but you did not find her.' 00:04:29.474 --> 00:04:37.394 About 3 months later, Judah was told, 'Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result, she is 00:04:37.491 --> 00:04:38.165 now pregnant.' 00:04:39.194 --> 00:04:42.214 Judah said, 'Bring her out and have her burned to death.' 00:04:43.049 --> 00:04:43.146 death. 00:04:43.823 --> 00:04:47.970 And as she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. 00:04:48.647 --> 00:04:52.019 I am pregnant by the man who owns these, she said. 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:58.381 And she added, see if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are. 00:04:59.845 --> 00:05:07.157 Judah recognized them and said, she is more righteous than I, since I would not give her to my son Shelah. 00:05:08.271 --> 00:05:10.789 And he did not sleep with her again. 00:05:11.122 --> 00:05:15.099 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 00:05:15.973 --> 00:05:23.891 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it to his wrist and 00:05:23.907 --> 00:05:26.364 said, 'This one came out first.' 00:05:27.852 --> 00:05:33.007 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, 'So this is how you have broken out.' 00:05:33.543 --> 00:05:34.402 And he was named Perez. 00:05:34.955 --> 00:05:35.116 Perez. 00:05:35.696 --> 00:05:42.405 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out, and he was given the name Zerah. 00:05:44.179 --> 00:05:45.323 This is the word of the Lord. 00:05:58.477 --> 00:05:59.825 I don't deal well with losing. 00:06:00.692 --> 00:06:04.127 But I especially don't deal well with losing and looking ridiculous. 00:06:05.587 --> 00:06:13.548 A few years ago, I was running a half marathon down here in San Diego, and the course opened up to me on a downhill where I could see 00:06:13.548 --> 00:06:16.565 kind of everybody who was leading me in the first few miles. 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:23.146 And most of everybody is wearing their best running gear, their technical shirts and their running shorts and their best shoes. 00:06:23.322 --> 00:06:29.920 And then I see out a ways ahead of me, maybe a half a mile, a mile, a man wearing a pepperoni pizza costume. 00:06:31.795 --> 00:06:39.733 The slice is down here between his legs, and my first reaction is, "I think this is hilarious, actually, that somebody is trying to run 00:06:39.846 --> 00:06:41.636 13 miles wearing a pizza costume." 00:06:42.919 --> 00:06:43.438 But slowly, 00:06:45.341 --> 00:06:50.083 as I realize I'm not catching up to him, my attitude begins to change. 00:06:51.637 --> 00:06:56.476 I am going to get beat by a slice of pepperoni pizza on this race. 00:06:56.565 --> 00:07:04.022 And here was this ridiculous image which was an insult to the sport of running, and I was going to lose to it. 00:07:05.737 --> 00:07:12.182 The Bible demonstrates over and over that the weak shame the strong. 00:07:13.332 --> 00:07:16.152 The weak shame the strong. 00:07:17.141 --> 00:07:20.043 And this is not the way the world is patterned. 00:07:22.178 --> 00:07:23.494 Here's how our culture works. 00:07:24.442 --> 00:07:32.293 People are conditioned to desire power and influence and strength and popularity and social 00:07:32.374 --> 00:07:34.894 credibility from any age. 00:07:36.067 --> 00:07:38.636 And successful people are those people who get it. 00:07:39.455 --> 00:07:45.733 They get the nice house, they get the solid career, they get the stable family, they get lots of friends, they get the purebred 00:07:47.627 --> 00:07:47.708 pet. 00:07:48.497 --> 00:07:51.107 And a social separation begins to occur. 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:55.442 The haves separate themselves from the have-nots. 00:07:56.636 --> 00:07:56.733 Why? 00:07:57.943 --> 00:08:04.771 Well, because the weak and vulnerable and unstable and the socially poor or economically poor in means, 00:08:06.178 --> 00:08:07.763 they can bring the successful down. 00:08:08.605 --> 00:08:09.705 A dragging effect. 00:08:10.562 --> 00:08:13.264 So the haves look down on the have-nots with disregard. 00:08:14.515 --> 00:08:17.904 And the have-nots look up at the haves with envy or contempt. 00:08:18.690 --> 00:08:23.525 And meanwhile, our society is separated, stratified, and destroyed. 00:08:24.986 --> 00:08:32.567 Another pastor friend of mine who pastors a congregation in East Village, where there are all of these brand-new high-rise 00:08:32.599 --> 00:08:40.115 apartments that have gone up and people in their young careers in their 20s and 30s with really successful outlooks before them, for them, 00:08:40.871 --> 00:08:47.668 look out of their windows to thousands of the urban poor pushing around shopping carts 00:08:48.810 --> 00:08:49.759 on the sidewalk below. 00:08:51.401 --> 00:08:59.208 And my friend told me, "If only I can get these people to care about these people, and if only I can get these people to care about 00:08:59.208 --> 00:08:59.772 these people." 00:09:01.943 --> 00:09:04.003 But that is the rub in every society, friends. 00:09:04.196 --> 00:09:08.041 The strong are celebrated and the weak the weak are shamed. 00:09:09.539 --> 00:09:16.009 God's economy, though, that we read about in his scriptures, is radically opposite. 00:09:16.992 --> 00:09:22.761 And we see it from the earliest chapters of Genesis, where he uses the weak to shame the strong. 00:09:25.177 --> 00:09:28.990 After reading today's chapter, you might be thinking, what happened to Joseph? 00:09:29.682 --> 00:09:33.324 I paid good money to see a Joseph series being preached. 00:09:33.438 --> 00:09:34.480 What is happening here? 00:09:34.642 --> 00:09:37.230 Why this interruption to the Joseph story? 00:09:37.588 --> 00:09:38.629 What was all that about? 00:09:40.285 --> 00:09:48.285 Well, it's important that we understand why this story is inserted right here in the story of 00:09:48.285 --> 00:09:48.639 Joseph. 00:09:49.929 --> 00:09:56.750 And it's because of a literary device that we call frame within a frame, or story within a story. 00:09:57.893 --> 00:10:05.792 A frame within a frame is a technique used in literature where a story is going along and suddenly occasionally, seemingly unrelated, a story 00:10:05.904 --> 00:10:07.299 is embedded within it. 00:10:08.454 --> 00:10:16.295 And when you look at the inner story and really listen to it well, you realize that it's meant to teach you something about the outer 00:10:16.568 --> 00:10:16.857 story. 00:10:17.530 --> 00:10:20.641 The inner story helps you interpret the outer story. 00:10:21.716 --> 00:10:26.318 So this story of Judah and Tamar is not an interruption to the Joseph story. 00:10:26.495 --> 00:10:29.044 It is an interpretation of the Joseph story. 00:10:30.730 --> 00:10:30.906 story. 00:10:30.955 --> 00:10:34.441 Authors of the Bible use this technique to help us with meaning. 00:10:35.662 --> 00:10:39.678 How do I understand the significance or the meaning of the Joseph story? 00:10:39.758 --> 00:10:42.672 Well, I should look at the story embedded within it. 00:10:45.008 --> 00:10:52.905 If you've ever studied Shakespeare's Hamlet, you know that at one point Hamlet pays a few actors to 00:10:52.905 --> 00:10:57.164 put on a play about a brother who poisons another brother and steals wife. 00:10:58.095 --> 00:11:00.054 And you might think, well, that's a horrible play. 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:08.740 But then you realize that that little play embedded in the overall Shakespeare play is meant to inform what's really happening in all 00:11:08.965 --> 00:11:16.062 of the Hamlet play, where Hamlet's father is thought to be poisoned by his brother Claudius and his wife was stolen. 00:11:16.993 --> 00:11:19.081 It's a picture within a picture. 00:11:20.253 --> 00:11:23.434 So, frame within a frame story helps us with meaning. 00:11:24.914 --> 00:11:28.276 And the story of Judah and Tamar is one of those frame within a frame stories. 00:11:28.887 --> 00:11:32.661 It is not an interruption, but an interpretation to the story around it. 00:11:34.317 --> 00:11:37.583 And you will remember what has been going on in Genesis. 00:11:37.858 --> 00:11:39.831 The key question is in this 00:11:41.351 --> 00:11:48.148 book about genealogies—remember Genesis means genealogies—how will God preserve an 00:11:50.173 --> 00:11:58.078 offspring, his messianic offspring, the Messiah to come, who will put all of the creation back in order again after sin 00:11:58.126 --> 00:11:58.689 has entered. 00:11:59.299 --> 00:12:06.966 How will God preserve a family offspring when the family has such a convoluted, tragic, 00:12:07.225 --> 00:12:08.976 tragedy-filled history? 00:12:10.046 --> 00:12:11.765 An offspring who's going to save humanity? 00:12:13.560 --> 00:12:21.344 And to make things even more fun, we also get a story of Tamar Tamar's twin sons at the end of this chapter, which is a 00:12:21.424 --> 00:12:26.889 little frame within the Tamar and Judah story, a frame within a frame within a frame. 00:12:27.851 --> 00:12:33.491 And so today we'll interpret from the inside out, starting with these two twins. 00:12:33.924 --> 00:12:39.228 And what we'll find is that there is a similar interpretation to all of these stories. 00:12:39.276 --> 00:12:44.850 They all have a common meaning, and that is God uses the weak to shame the strong. 00:12:47.485 --> 00:12:49.824 Perez and Zerah are the names of the twins. 00:12:50.824 --> 00:12:54.873 The younger breaks out as firstborn. 00:12:56.535 --> 00:12:57.871 The twin boys are in the womb. 00:12:58.626 --> 00:13:02.177 You'll think of some other twin boys in the book of Genesis, Jacob and Esau. 00:13:03.141 --> 00:13:05.037 They seem to be wrestling in the womb. 00:13:05.712 --> 00:13:08.927 You think of these other twin boys in Genesis, Jacob and Esau. 00:13:09.620 --> 00:13:16.001 A scarlet thread is going to be tied around Zerah's hand, which means— Zerah, his name actually means scarlet. 00:13:16.655 --> 00:13:18.366 You think of Jacob and Esau again. 00:13:18.463 --> 00:13:23.209 Esau was born with red hair and his nickname was Red, Edom. 00:13:25.227 --> 00:13:31.985 But even though Zerah was the one to stick his hand out of the birth canal first, he was not going to be the firstborn. 00:13:32.647 --> 00:13:40.283 His brother makes a break for it, a breach, how you've broken out, and he's named Breakout, Perez. 00:13:41.783 --> 00:13:45.620 See, here we see that the younger has broken out as firstborn. 00:13:46.042 --> 00:13:47.274 The tables have been turned. 00:13:47.598 --> 00:13:51.307 The weak suddenly comes out with the gold medal. 00:13:52.841 --> 00:13:59.122 This is true of the Jacob and Esau story where a prophecy is made over their mother, the older will 00:13:59.171 --> 00:14:01.221 serve serve the younger. 00:14:02.983 --> 00:14:06.057 See, in this tiny story we see a role reversal. 00:14:07.015 --> 00:14:10.791 One son seems to be the younger brother, and suddenly a breach— 00:14:12.993 --> 00:14:17.059 he's become the honored son, the firstborn with the double inheritance. 00:14:18.540 --> 00:14:20.060 So what do we learn from our littlest frame? 00:14:20.158 --> 00:14:24.170 Well, God sometimes works contrary to human convention. 00:14:24.995 --> 00:14:27.967 He repositions the the younger before the older. 00:14:29.583 --> 00:14:35.540 So, I wonder if something is going to happen similar in the frame just outside of it, the Judah and Tamar story. 00:14:37.010 --> 00:14:39.199 There are two central characters in this story. 00:14:39.345 --> 00:14:44.161 One is strong and the other is weak, seemingly. 00:14:45.587 --> 00:14:47.810 But perhaps a role reversal is coming. 00:14:49.437 --> 00:14:51.257 Let's talk about Judah, the strong, 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:55.202 The Strong Deceiver. 00:14:56.915 --> 00:14:58.863 Remember where we left off last week. 00:14:59.990 --> 00:15:02.663 Joseph has 10 brothers who have jumped him. 00:15:03.307 --> 00:15:09.275 They have stripped him of his beloved robe that had been made by his father as kind of the family favorite. 00:15:10.245 --> 00:15:18.234 They cast him into a well to leave him for dead, but then they changed their minds and he is trafficked as a slave and taken down by his 00:15:18.234 --> 00:15:18.332 brothers. 00:15:18.445 --> 00:15:25.364 by his own extended family to Egypt, and he's sold and enslaved to one of Pharaoh's officials. 00:15:26.697 --> 00:15:26.971 Why? 00:15:28.617 --> 00:15:36.452 Because they cannot tolerate Joseph's dreams, his daydreams that his family would bow down to him and he would rule 00:15:36.623 --> 00:15:37.050 over them. 00:15:38.502 --> 00:15:42.714 They take Joseph's special coat his father had made and they dip it in blood. 00:15:43.479 --> 00:15:44.633 Do you remember the blood of 00:15:46.357 --> 00:15:46.920 of a goat. 00:15:47.951 --> 00:15:48.756 That will be important. 00:15:49.899 --> 00:15:57.826 And then they show it to their father and they begin with these two words: "Please examine and see if this 00:15:57.826 --> 00:16:00.511 is your son, if this belongs to your son. 00:16:00.930 --> 00:16:01.994 Please examine." 00:16:03.429 --> 00:16:07.560 And Jacob, believing his son to be dead, he mourns and refuses to be comforted. 00:16:09.179 --> 00:16:10.879 What was Judah's role in all of this? 00:16:10.975 --> 00:16:15.784 This, well, he was the strong deceiver in the last chapter. 00:16:16.574 --> 00:16:20.270 Rather than letting Joseph die in an empty well, he sees an opportunity. 00:16:22.015 --> 00:16:24.285 Perhaps Joseph's loss can be our gain. 00:16:26.492 --> 00:16:29.149 Hey, what advantage is there to us brothers? 00:16:29.263 --> 00:16:31.256 He asked the other 10 brothers. 00:16:32.406 --> 00:16:34.172 What advantage is there if our brother dies? 00:16:35.710 --> 00:16:36.927 But then he says, come, let us sell him. 00:16:37.105 --> 00:16:39.981 they tell him, "Let's not lay a hand on him. 00:16:40.816 --> 00:16:43.966 After all, he is our own family, our own flesh and blood." 00:16:45.396 --> 00:16:51.325 Judah is not painted as a sympathetic character, especially in the chapter we just read. 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:59.921 We see him to be a selfish, heartless liar out to save his own neck while hypocritically condemning his 00:17:00.114 --> 00:17:05.083 vulnerable daughter-in-law while he tries to keep keep his own position of power. 00:17:06.613 --> 00:17:13.984 And to add to the evil of the situation that Judah has created in the whole chapter, we also see that it is shrouded 00:17:14.517 --> 00:17:20.318 in the same language of Adam and Eve being deceived in the garden. 00:17:21.646 --> 00:17:23.766 What similarities exist between the two? 00:17:24.802 --> 00:17:28.169 Well, all along we see Judah seeing and taking. 00:17:28.590 --> 00:17:36.267 He He sees a woman from the Canaanites and he takes, just like Eve sees the fruit and takes and 00:17:36.428 --> 00:17:37.301 eats and gives. 00:17:38.853 --> 00:17:43.042 His wife gives birth to 3 sons, just like Adam and Eve. 00:17:43.964 --> 00:17:48.047 And just like Adam and Eve's sons, those 3 are whittled down to 1. 00:17:49.932 --> 00:17:52.767 One ends up dying and the other ends up exiled. 00:17:52.831 --> 00:17:53.025 Why? 00:17:54.355 --> 00:17:55.894 Unwilling to be his brother's keeper. 00:17:56.792 --> 00:18:01.170 In the same way, Judah and Tamar— excuse me, Judah and his wife have 3 sons. 00:18:01.267 --> 00:18:03.047 They are whittled down to 1. 00:18:03.672 --> 00:18:03.881 Why? 00:18:04.554 --> 00:18:12.493 2 of them were killed and 1 because he failed to be his brother's keeper and raise up offspring for his deceased brother. 00:18:13.936 --> 00:18:18.779 Even the location names in the story remind us of the sin of the garden. 00:18:19.100 --> 00:18:24.060 The place where Judah where the sons are born is called Kesib, which means deceit. 00:18:24.928 --> 00:18:32.281 The place where Tamar sits down and dresses herself as a prostitute literally means the opening of the 00:18:32.474 --> 00:18:35.702 eyes, pathach enayim. 00:18:36.569 --> 00:18:39.603 Remember that when Adam and Eve eat of the fruit, what happens to their eyes? 00:18:40.599 --> 00:18:41.578 Their eyes are opened. 00:18:42.991 --> 00:18:48.678 And lastly, Tamar's very name, Her name means palm tree. 00:18:49.490 --> 00:18:51.180 It's the normal word for palm tree. 00:18:52.265 --> 00:18:59.965 Just as Eve took from the tree and gives to her husband, now Judah takes palm tree and gives her to his 00:19:00.143 --> 00:19:01.788 firstborn, er. 00:19:03.304 --> 00:19:09.740 By Judah's own foolish sin, we are returning back to the same original place of deception. 00:19:11.989 --> 00:19:15.329 This makes the reader of Genesis anticipate real danger. 00:19:16.083 --> 00:19:23.918 Just like the fall in the garden, the stage is set for another deceit to happen and wreak havoc on the characters of 00:19:23.950 --> 00:19:24.480 Genesis. 00:19:25.893 --> 00:19:33.502 And as we read, to our horror, we realize that unlike the Garden of Eden, where the deceiver came from outside the 00:19:33.502 --> 00:19:37.452 family of humanity, now—— the deceiver is in the family. 00:19:38.412 --> 00:19:44.427 Indeed, he is the most influential voice of the family, the one whom all of his brothers are listening to. 00:19:44.845 --> 00:19:47.081 Judah, the strong deceiver. 00:19:47.515 --> 00:19:52.300 And in his own deception, he's rendering the family line hopeless. 00:19:53.380 --> 00:19:54.814 There will be no offspring. 00:19:56.344 --> 00:19:57.221 Who will save? 00:19:58.617 --> 00:20:00.630 How will Judah get his family out of this mess? 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:05.458 Judah has gone outside the family to marry a Canaanite woman. 00:20:06.579 --> 00:20:11.472 Wife, something that his fathers and grandfathers would certainly roll over in their graves to understand. 00:20:12.725 --> 00:20:20.521 And he has 3 children, and he takes Tamar, who probably is also a Canaanite woman, and he makes her the wife of his firstborn, Er. 00:20:21.833 --> 00:20:23.534 Er is wicked, so he is put to death. 00:20:25.337 --> 00:20:28.188 And here is what you need to know now about ancient laws. 00:20:29.766 --> 00:20:37.679 It is the deceased brother's excuse me, the brother of the deceased, he has a legal responsibility to 00:20:37.679 --> 00:20:40.422 sleep with his brother's widow and to produce offspring. 00:20:40.791 --> 00:20:44.368 They will not be his own sons, but his deceased brother's sons. 00:20:45.122 --> 00:20:45.395 Why? 00:20:46.406 --> 00:20:53.272 Because women at the time were unable to own land, and by losing their husband, they lost their financial security. 00:20:54.170 --> 00:20:58.004 But if they had a son, ah, then that would ensure the family's future. 00:20:58.165 --> 00:20:59.501 the family farm is kept. 00:21:01.014 --> 00:21:06.649 And there was a particular order in which family members came to possess that responsibility. 00:21:06.794 --> 00:21:08.426 Well, what if the second brother dies off? 00:21:08.507 --> 00:21:10.441 What if the third brother dies off? 00:21:10.523 --> 00:21:12.229 And it starts with the closest brother. 00:21:15.653 --> 00:21:23.372 Interestingly— And a relevant detail in this story is that some ancient laws stipulate that after the brothers die, it was the 00:21:23.372 --> 00:21:28.741 father-in-law's responsibility to raise up offspring for their daughter-in-law. 00:21:31.019 --> 00:21:33.360 And what if somebody refuses their responsibility? 00:21:34.667 --> 00:21:40.321 It would mean that they, as the brother or the father-in-law, would receive public shame. 00:21:41.657 --> 00:21:49.610 There was a ceremony where everyone would gather at the city gate, all of the town would be there, and the person refusing the responsibility, the 00:21:49.610 --> 00:21:52.394 man would stand stand there and be faced by the widow. 00:21:53.131 --> 00:21:59.511 The widow would take off the man's sandal, which symbolizes owning property, and she would spit in his face, 00:22:00.649 --> 00:22:04.561 publicly shaming the man who had refused to take that responsibility. 00:22:04.993 --> 00:22:11.950 It was the refusing brother or the refusing father-in-law that was to receive public shame. 00:22:13.088 --> 00:22:14.403 But what has happened to Tamar? 00:22:15.717 --> 00:22:17.480 She was never given that public vindication. 00:22:19.235 --> 00:22:26.063 Instead, Onan, the secondborn, refuses to raise up offspring in the most wicked way imaginable. 00:22:27.745 --> 00:22:28.726 So the Lord puts him to death. 00:22:30.205 --> 00:22:38.191 Now Judah has one remaining son, Shelah, and he promises him to Tamar, "Remain in your father's house until my youngest son 00:22:38.288 --> 00:22:40.001 is grown, and then I will give him to you." 00:22:40.491 --> 00:22:41.438 But he is lying. 00:22:42.206 --> 00:22:45.357 The text tells us that he has no intention of doing so. 00:22:45.470 --> 00:22:45.665 Why? 00:22:46.765 --> 00:22:50.744 Because he was afraid that Shelah would die too. 00:22:52.965 --> 00:22:55.648 Judah doesn't believe that the Lord put his sons to death. 00:22:56.965 --> 00:22:58.738 He thinks Tamar is the reason. 00:23:00.413 --> 00:23:08.270 It wasn't an uncommon belief in the cultures of the Bible that if a woman was repeatedly widowed, it was because she was 00:23:08.383 --> 00:23:09.900 plagued by a demon. 00:23:11.207 --> 00:23:15.964 She had an evil, dangerous spirit, and Judah is thinking, "Well, I'm not going to lose another son to her." 00:23:17.787 --> 00:23:22.908 And Judah will not risk this on this terrible, dangerous, evil woman. 00:23:23.247 --> 00:23:24.728 He shuts her up with a lie. 00:23:26.871 --> 00:23:28.033 And Shelah grows up. 00:23:29.715 --> 00:23:37.590 Tamar spends every day in her funeral clothes, childless, powerless, voiceless, and without social credibility. 00:23:37.895 --> 00:23:45.767 Ability, she is now a liability and a spiritual danger to the community, deceived by 00:23:45.767 --> 00:23:48.873 the very men who were supposed to be her caretakers. 00:23:49.702 --> 00:23:54.351 So far in this story, though, Tamar has not spoken a word. 00:23:55.955 --> 00:23:57.563 Now remember, frame within a frame. 00:23:58.399 --> 00:24:03.755 What similarities do we already see between Tamar, an object of a plot of 00:24:07.691 --> 00:24:15.499 in the outside story where without any speech he is jumped and stripped and thrown into a cistern and 00:24:15.581 --> 00:24:16.847 sold off into slavery. 00:24:18.945 --> 00:24:26.924 She has become a victim of Judah's selfish plotting just as Joseph had become a victim of Judah's selfish plotting. 00:24:29.611 --> 00:24:31.061 So what might the Holy Spirit already be doing? 00:24:31.165 --> 00:24:32.375 God be showing us here, friends? 00:24:34.004 --> 00:24:39.619 We're being showed how weak and how shameful Tamar is in her situation. 00:24:40.635 --> 00:24:42.100 She has no social capital. 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:43.564 She has no civil rights. 00:24:43.918 --> 00:24:45.591 She has no sexual autonomy. 00:24:45.928 --> 00:24:46.861 She has no freedom. 00:24:47.215 --> 00:24:48.084 She has no future. 00:24:48.565 --> 00:24:54.597 She has no place to go for help because the person in authority is the same person who has been dishonest with her. 00:24:55.470 --> 00:25:02.429 And Joseph also has been stripped of his stripped of his family, stripped of his homeland, and stripped of his freedom. 00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:06.201 Disowned, disinherited, and trafficked as a slave. 00:25:07.407 --> 00:25:09.535 And you may be reading this and saying, 00:25:11.741 --> 00:25:12.645 I know this shame. 00:25:14.486 --> 00:25:15.471 I've lived this shame. 00:25:16.827 --> 00:25:17.699 I see this shame. 00:25:19.087 --> 00:25:20.024 I know this weakness. 00:25:21.479 --> 00:25:25.971 I know what it means to have a dream of a future being stripped away, a dream of children 00:25:27.779 --> 00:25:28.594 being stripped away. 00:25:30.217 --> 00:25:33.167 I know what it means to spend my days waiting alone. 00:25:35.273 --> 00:25:36.715 I know what it's like to be abused. 00:25:37.322 --> 00:25:38.289 I know what it's like to be manipulated. 00:25:39.565 --> 00:25:43.920 I know what it's like to be deceived by the people that were supposed to be my helpers. 00:25:45.469 --> 00:25:49.324 I know what it's like to be someone's object rather than someone's love. 00:25:51.396 --> 00:25:53.411 I know what it is like to be ashamed and powerless. 00:25:55.155 --> 00:25:56.212 This is Joseph's story. 00:25:57.057 --> 00:25:58.163 This is Tamar's story. 00:25:58.927 --> 00:26:00.001 This is the human story. 00:26:01.938 --> 00:26:03.321 So will God offer us any hope? 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:06.565 Yes. 00:26:07.221 --> 00:26:08.482 But it does not come from the strong one. 00:26:10.691 --> 00:26:14.375 The hope of the story does not come from Judah, but from the weak one. 00:26:15.311 --> 00:26:16.668 She will launch a counterattack. 00:26:17.268 --> 00:26:21.394 deception that ends shaming the strong. 00:26:22.791 --> 00:26:29.134 So let's look at Tamar now, the weak counter-deceiver, the weak counter-deceiver. 00:26:30.338 --> 00:26:37.098 The story takes a sudden turn when Judah's wife dies, and the text just tells us Judah was comforted, 00:26:38.157 --> 00:26:38.655 just like that. 00:26:39.731 --> 00:26:41.080 Rather quickly, we're led to assume. 00:26:41.497 --> 00:26:42.380 And what will he do next? 00:26:42.992 --> 00:26:47.120 Well, he goes to the sheep shearers' feast with his good friend, Hira. 00:26:48.156 --> 00:26:51.863 The sheep shearers' feast was like the harvest party for shepherds. 00:26:52.121 --> 00:26:54.704 Look at all of this wool that we've shorn off of our sheep. 00:26:54.963 --> 00:26:56.658 That's going to bring in a big profit. 00:26:57.546 --> 00:26:59.160 And the wine starts to flow. 00:27:00.765 --> 00:27:07.864 Perhaps Judah has already had a few drinks, and this is the reason that he doesn't recognize the prostitute who's sitting at the opening of a name. 00:27:08.572 --> 00:27:10.160 The opening of the eyes. 00:27:12.217 --> 00:27:14.096 "Let me sleep with you," Judah tells her. 00:27:15.495 --> 00:27:16.965 The exchange is devoid of love. 00:27:17.950 --> 00:27:19.210 It is devoid of personality. 00:27:19.259 --> 00:27:20.826 It is devoid even of passion. 00:27:21.747 --> 00:27:22.700 It is a business exchange. 00:27:24.170 --> 00:27:26.648 "What will you give me to have you sleep with me?" 00:27:26.696 --> 00:27:27.069 she asks. 00:27:28.755 --> 00:27:32.973 She is looking the man in the eyes who has refused her any children. 00:27:34.122 --> 00:27:35.120 Now propositioning her. 00:27:37.356 --> 00:27:38.837 One of the goats from all these herds. 00:27:38.885 --> 00:27:39.528 That should do. 00:27:40.075 --> 00:27:41.330 We are at the sheep shears after all. 00:27:41.556 --> 00:27:42.682 I will send you a goat. 00:27:43.485 --> 00:27:47.990 Once again, the goat and the garment plays a role in this deception. 00:27:49.631 --> 00:27:52.221 Until you send the goat, what will you give me as a pledge? 00:27:54.080 --> 00:27:54.838 What should I give you? 00:27:57.047 --> 00:27:57.822 Give me your seal. 00:27:58.926 --> 00:27:59.339 Give me your cord. 00:28:00.269 --> 00:28:06.842 Give me your staff, which is the ancient way of saying, give me your ID, give me your credit cards, give me your car keys. 00:28:08.898 --> 00:28:10.199 Now, does Judah think this through? 00:28:11.255 --> 00:28:12.003 Does he hesitate? 00:28:12.051 --> 00:28:14.164 Does he say, whoa, maybe this is not worth it? 00:28:15.848 --> 00:28:16.687 He hands everything over. 00:28:18.225 --> 00:28:19.143 Tamar becomes pregnant. 00:28:19.853 --> 00:28:23.093 She returns home and she puts her funeral clothes back on. 00:28:24.683 --> 00:28:26.024 Now Judah sends the goat. 00:28:26.073 --> 00:28:28.878 He is true to his word, but he is not going to take it himself. 00:28:28.878 --> 00:28:30.515 No, he needs to save face. 00:28:30.965 --> 00:28:33.067 He sends Hira instead, his friend. 00:28:34.078 --> 00:28:35.201 Hira can't find the woman. 00:28:35.956 --> 00:28:41.188 As he's looking around for her, rather than saying, "Have you seen the common whore?" 00:28:42.102 --> 00:28:46.259 Rather than using that word, he uses a euphemism, trying to keep up appearances. 00:28:46.307 --> 00:28:51.523 "Have you seen the sacred woman, the religious worker who's been here?" 00:28:52.935 --> 00:28:54.588 "Oh, there's been no temple woman here." 00:28:54.685 --> 00:28:54.962 they say. 00:28:56.511 --> 00:28:59.626 And so when Hirah goes back, he explains things to his friend Judah. 00:29:00.885 --> 00:29:05.191 "We need to keep things quiet," Judah says, "otherwise we'll be made a laughingstock. 00:29:05.919 --> 00:29:08.542 After all, we sent the goat and couldn't find her. 00:29:08.671 --> 00:29:09.661 I did right by her. 00:29:11.038 --> 00:29:11.923 She's the one who went missing. 00:29:13.261 --> 00:29:15.989 My dignity is intact," Judah thinks. 00:29:17.619 --> 00:29:19.991 3 months pass and Judah's babies begin to show. 00:29:21.738 --> 00:29:24.944 Judah is told, "Your daughter-in-law is guilty of prostitution. 00:29:25.009 --> 00:29:25.839 She's now pregnant. 00:29:27.674 --> 00:29:30.296 Bring her out and let her be burned," he says. 00:29:32.275 --> 00:29:34.653 Now everything hangs on the edge of this moment. 00:29:35.746 --> 00:29:41.938 Judah thinks he's in power, but he has no idea that he's the one who needs saving. 00:29:43.331 --> 00:29:46.214 And Tamar will be the one to save him and his whole family. 00:29:48.589 --> 00:29:51.080 I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong. 00:29:51.775 --> 00:29:57.131 Examine, please, this seal and this cord and this staff. 00:29:59.975 --> 00:30:04.292 Judah's story as a new man has just begun. 00:30:05.327 --> 00:30:10.325 He realizes his wickedness and the innocence of the woman he was about to burn. 00:30:11.493 --> 00:30:12.450 She is more righteous than he. 00:30:13.469 --> 00:30:13.858 'He says.' 00:30:16.383 --> 00:30:19.199 These frames within frames have taught us something. 00:30:20.284 --> 00:30:23.407 God sometimes works contrary to human convention. 00:30:23.747 --> 00:30:25.397 The older will serve the younger. 00:30:26.417 --> 00:30:31.721 And here a deliverance has come for the family of Judah, but not from the strong one. 00:30:32.091 --> 00:30:39.454 It was the weak, socially despised Canaanite woman disguised as a sex worker to Twice widowed, 00:30:39.761 --> 00:30:47.453 neglected, and duped, yet God has used her to counter-deceive the deceiver. 00:30:48.266 --> 00:30:50.346 The weak has shamed the strong. 00:30:52.269 --> 00:30:59.696 And if we look at the pages of scripture, we will see this theme played out over and over again continually. 00:31:00.100 --> 00:31:03.575 God using the weak, vulnerable, ridiculous things 00:31:05.144 --> 00:31:07.058 to shame the strong things of the world. 00:31:08.525 --> 00:31:11.655 David comes at Goliath with sticks and stones. 00:31:11.784 --> 00:31:14.428 What a disgrace to the art of war! 00:31:15.774 --> 00:31:16.601 And David conquers. 00:31:18.433 --> 00:31:24.323 Naaman is told with all of his leprosy, "Go and cleanse yourself in the humble Jordan River." 00:31:24.452 --> 00:31:29.081 And he thinks, "What an insult to all of the great rivers of Assyria where I came from." 00:31:30.457 --> 00:31:31.688 But the Jordan River cleanses him. 00:31:34.630 --> 00:31:37.451 Noah, come on, told to build a boat. 00:31:37.500 --> 00:31:38.830 How ridiculous is that? 00:31:40.191 --> 00:31:41.861 The weak shame the strong, friends. 00:31:43.189 --> 00:31:50.889 And when we come to the climax and crux of the entire Bible, what we learn is that in Jesus Christ, ultimate weakness 00:31:51.565 --> 00:31:53.917 and shame is triumphant. 00:31:54.867 --> 00:31:58.582 In Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ's ultimate weakness and shame is triumphant. 00:31:58.903 --> 00:32:06.658 As amazing as Tamar is, Jesus Christ not only saves a family, but the entire creation 00:32:07.413 --> 00:32:11.732 in a display of weakness and foolishness and social shame. 00:32:12.487 --> 00:32:13.354 What does it look like? 00:32:14.092 --> 00:32:14.670 The cross. 00:32:16.003 --> 00:32:20.884 The cross of Jesus was as renowned for its shame as for the pain that it inflicted. 00:32:20.965 --> 00:32:21.318 Afflicted. 00:32:21.863 --> 00:32:26.743 For the Romans, it was illegal to crucify another Roman citizen. 00:32:27.096 --> 00:32:28.107 That's how bad it was. 00:32:28.765 --> 00:32:33.291 For the Jews, the cross was considered to be cursed by God. 00:32:33.660 --> 00:32:37.705 How could someone cursed by God be the Messiah? 00:32:38.427 --> 00:32:41.460 It's a scandal, another— an utter stumbling block. 00:32:42.247 --> 00:32:49.361 For the Greeks and those pagans, a crucified Lord was utterly contemptible in their imagination. 00:32:51.405 --> 00:32:54.821 One piece of graffiti was found in Rome from the 3rd century. 00:32:56.325 --> 00:33:04.198 The Jews were often mocked as worshiping an ass, and on this graffiti that insult was transferred to Christians 00:33:04.696 --> 00:33:06.906 worshiping Jesus on the cross. 00:33:07.860 --> 00:33:14.975 The inscription reads, "Alexamenos worships God with his hand raised in reverence. 00:33:15.024 --> 00:33:22.720 Just like the graffiti we see on the underside of an overpass mocking a minority or defaming a politic, shaming someone else, 00:33:23.573 --> 00:33:29.677 this is how Jesus and his followers were seen: ridiculous and weak, the butt of jokes. 00:33:31.282 --> 00:33:36.507 Yet the Bible tells us that when Jesus endured the cross, he despised the shame. 00:33:37.610 --> 00:33:41.395 He despised the shame connected to it and instead Instead, he greeted the cross with joy. 00:33:42.230 --> 00:33:42.487 Why? 00:33:43.370 --> 00:33:51.048 Because God was going to show once and for all that his weakness triumphs over human and worldly strength. 00:33:52.188 --> 00:33:57.216 Rather than being ashamed, he put the rulers and authorities who crucified him to shame. 00:33:58.163 --> 00:34:02.516 Examine, please, the place where they laid him, the angels say. 00:34:02.886 --> 00:34:05.391 Examine, please, he is not here. 00:34:05.767 --> 00:34:06.604 He is risen. 00:34:08.317 --> 00:34:12.295 And this is why the message of Christ has always been good news for the poor. 00:34:12.827 --> 00:34:15.693 It's been good news for the weak and the socially vulnerable. 00:34:17.063 --> 00:34:19.769 And it's been confusing to those who are in worldly power. 00:34:21.411 --> 00:34:25.744 To those who have great influence in the world, they can't make sense of the good news of Christianity. 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:33.021 A 2nd century Greek philosopher named Celsus was opposed to Christianity. 00:34:34.460 --> 00:34:39.818 And when he wrote about it, he wrote about it as a superstition for the non-contributors to society. 00:34:40.805 --> 00:34:44.252 This is a religion for the weaklings and the women and the slaves. 00:34:45.650 --> 00:34:46.183 He says this: 00:34:48.491 --> 00:34:56.152 Their Christian invitations are like this: Let no one educated, no one wise, no one 00:34:56.219 --> 00:34:57.558 sensible draw near 'Come near.' 00:34:58.201 --> 00:35:05.286 But as for anyone stupid, anyone uneducated, anyone who is a child, let him come boldly. 00:35:06.636 --> 00:35:14.557 Those who summon people to other superstitions, Celsus says, make this preliminary proclamation: 'Whoever has pure hands 00:35:14.654 --> 00:35:15.521 and a wise tongue.' 00:35:16.261 --> 00:35:24.215 And again others say, 'Whoever is pure from all defilement and whose soul knows nothing of evil and who has lived well and and righteously. 00:35:25.132 --> 00:35:29.589 Such are the preliminary calls of those who promise purification from sins. 00:35:30.008 --> 00:35:32.196 Ah, but let us hear what the Christians say. 00:35:33.515 --> 00:35:35.209 They call whoever is a sinner. 00:35:36.210 --> 00:35:43.849 They say whoever is unwise, whoever is a child, in a word, whoever is a wretch, the kingdom of God 00:35:44.433 --> 00:35:45.326 will receive him. 00:35:47.914 --> 00:35:54.264 Brothers and sisters, Our proud hearts are opposed to the scandal of Christ's grace. 00:35:55.669 --> 00:35:57.673 Following him, after all, means decreasing. 00:35:58.865 --> 00:36:02.859 Following him means dying each day, living not for power, but in weakness. 00:36:04.505 --> 00:36:06.145 The world calls it wasteful 00:36:07.851 --> 00:36:10.369 to give up a day of the week in worship and not work. 00:36:11.359 --> 00:36:16.525 The world calls it weak to pray for what we need rather than working hard hard in making more money. 00:36:17.817 --> 00:36:25.809 The world calls it shameful to be seen in the company of druggies and sex workers, but 00:36:25.809 --> 00:36:29.209 Jesus has told us this is exactly who he has come for. 00:36:31.203 --> 00:36:34.699 And only in him the weak things shame the strong. 00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:44.086 Friends, in closing, receive these words from the the Apostle Paul as you consider your own calling. 00:36:45.745 --> 00:36:47.514 Consider your calling, brothers and sisters. 00:36:48.270 --> 00:36:50.973 Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. 00:36:51.970 --> 00:36:53.080 Not many of you were influential. 00:36:54.217 --> 00:36:55.757 Not many of you were of noble birth. 00:36:57.038 --> 00:37:00.021 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. 00:37:00.985 --> 00:37:03.321 God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 00:37:04.481 --> 00:37:12.378 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, 00:37:13.414 --> 00:37:15.939 so that no one may boast before him. 00:37:18.169 --> 00:37:18.491 Let's pray. 00:37:25.320 --> 00:37:29.131 Thank you, Lord, for the deliverance that comes at the cross. 00:37:30.344 --> 00:37:38.104 Thank you for the salvation, the saving power that is considered a scandal and a weakness and an utter shame to the world, 00:37:38.572 --> 00:37:40.266 the rugged cross. 00:37:42.485 --> 00:37:49.635 Lord, will you help us to have minds and hearts that are humble before you, to follow you not in our own strength. 00:37:50.551 --> 00:37:58.549 Instead, that we would deny our strength and follow you in weakness, and that in doing so, we would know more more and 00:37:58.549 --> 00:38:01.147 more who the Lord Jesus Christ is. 00:38:03.164 --> 00:38:04.783 We give you praise in Christ's name.