Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #7 in Genesis 37, and we will read Genesis 37:3-4:

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

I will stop reading there.  In our last study, we were looking at the coat of many colours, and we saw that both the word “coat” and word translated here as “many colours” are found in 1Samuel 13 in the account of Tamar, the daughter of King David who had been defiled by her brother Amnon in a horrible way.  Then she was put out from him, and he wanted nothing to do with her after she had lost her virginity.  She was put outside the door.  We read in 2Samuel 13:17-20:

Then he called his servant that ministered unto him, and said, Put now this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her. And she had a garment of divers colours upon her: for with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins apparelled. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her. And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? but hold now thy peace, my sister: he is thy brother; regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house.

As I mentioned last time, this word translated as “many colours” is only found five times in the Old Testament.  Three times it is used concerning Joseph, and twice regarding Tamar who had been raped by her brother.  After being raped, she rent her garment of “many colours” to signify that she was no longer a virgin.  She also put ashes upon her head because she was very grieved about this terrible thing that had happened.

We wonder, “Why is God connecting these two accounts?”  We understand that Joseph was loved of his father.  He was the favored son.  He was a great type of Christ, but he can also represent the elect who are also favored of our Father, God Almighty, and He has clothed us with a garment of many colours, we could say.  The beautiful garment that adorns us is the righteousness of Christ.  And that would seem to be the link.  Back in Genesis 37:3, it started by saying, “Now Israel loved Joseph,” and that was Jacob’s name – God changed his name to Israel.  The name “Israel” means “prince of God.”  And Tamar was the daughter of King David, “the beloved,” who is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So there is a definite connection in that way, spiritually, because both picture children of God who are gloriously attired in the spiritual realm.

But why did Tamar rent her garment?  Historically, she was no longer a virgin, but God is teaching us something spiritual.  How can this garment (that signifies virginity, the purity and righteous that comes with salvation) be lost since one cannot lose salvation?   Tamar’s name means “palm tree.”  By the way, we read in Psalm 92:12:

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Again, that garment represented righteousness, but that garment was “rent.”  We are helped in understanding the renting of Tamar’s garment when we read the entire chapter.  We find that Tamar is mentioned thirteen times, and that points to the time of  the end of the world.  The number “13” ties into the year 1988, especially, which was the 13,000^th year of earth’s history.  In that year the church age ended.  The Lord Jesus Christ, who is Righteousness. had lodged in the midst of the congregations, which made the “faithful city” faithful.  He was the Righteousness that was available as a covering for those that became saved within the churches, but in 1988 the Spirit of Christ departed out of all the world’s churches, and God’s salvation program came to an end.  And those “virgins” that remained in the churches as the 23-year judgment of the Great Tribulation played out upon them became like Tamar.  They were like Tamar whose garment that signified purity was rent – it was over and done with.  It was similar to the occasion when God left Israel, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain, revealing the Holy of holies, signifying that Jerusalem was no longer the “holy city,” and the Jews themselves were no longer the “holy people.”  The renting of the veil of the temple did away with their “holiness” as the outward representation of God’s kingdom on the earth.

Likewise, Tamar is the “palm tree,” and she was flourishing like a palm tree, and she pictured the presence of God within the churches and the blessing of God upon them, and the churches were considered “proper virgins” as long as God was with them.  But then came the time of the end when the cry was heard, “The bridegroom cometh!”  The ten virgins awakened and lit their lamps.  It was the point at which the virgins that were wise became evident, as well as the virgins who were foolish became evident.  I think that is how we can understand this.

As far as “the righteousness of the palm tree,” let us turn to Joel 1 where the Lord gives a description of the judgment upon Israel, and, spiritually, upon the corporate church.  We read in Joel 1:6:

For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

We could consider this to be referring to the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar, in the first instance.

Then it goes on to say in Joel 1:7-12:

He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of JEHOVAH; the priests, JEHOVAH'S ministers, mourn. The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

See the reference to the palm tree.  All the trees of the field are withered.

Tamar rented her garment of righteousness.  The palm tree that is identified with righteousness is withered away once Satan was loosed and came against “the camp of the saints,” the churches and congregations of the world.   It is over.  The previous situation had come to an end, and that is something we have to look at insofar as Tamar’s name being mentioned 13 times in this chapter, pointing to 13,000 years of earth’s history and the end of the church age.

I will just say one more thing, and that is that Tamar’s name is mentioned 11 times from verse 1 to verse 20 where she is going through this experience, and verse 20 is the eleventh time her name is mentioned, and then she remained “desolate” in Absalom’s house.  Perhaps it can identify somehow with the first coming of Christ, as Christ Himself is righteousness.  And Joseph, as a great type of Christ, also has identification with the number “11,” which we will look at shortly regarding his dream where all his brothers bowed down to him.  And we know that Jesus came after 11,000 years of life’s history, and went to the cross.  So perhaps there is some touching upon that regarding Tamar renting her garment, and then remaining desolate. 

And in Genesis 37, Joseph had two dreams.  The first  dream involving his 11 brothers, and the second dream involved his brothers, plus his mother and father, for a total of 13.  You might ask, “What does that have to do with Tamar?”  Remember, again, that God led us to Tamar regarding the coat of many colours, and only to the incident of Tamar, so that is something we should keep in mind.

We are going to stop here.  Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will continue by looking at Joseph’s dream.  And this chapter will get increasingly more interesting as we go further into it.  I hope you will be able to join us when we get together for our next Bible study in the book of Genesis.