Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #5 in Genesis 38, and we will read Genesis 38:10-19:

And the thing which he did displeased JEHOVAH: wherefore he slew him also. Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house. And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. And she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife. When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face. And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him. And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.

I will stop reading there.  We have already seen that God slew Er because he was wicked.  Then Er’s brother Onan married Tamar in order to raise up seed to his brother, according to the Law of God.  We went to Deuteronomy 25 where that Law is spelled out, and we also saw how it is related to the “kinsman redeemer” in Ruth 4.  We understand that Boaz, the “kinsman redeemer,” was a great type of Christ.

One performs the role of the “kinsman redeemer” to raise up seed to a dead brother so that his name not be blotted out of Israel.  That points to the Lord Jesus Christ who raised up seed, as He is the seed (singular), and we are all counted as the seed in Christ.  He is our near kinsman.  None of our kinsman that are “nearer” are qualified to fill that role of a redeemer.  There is an inability, and that is why we read that Onan spilled the seed.  It is why we read in Deuteronomy 25 that if a man liked not to marry his brother’s widow, then he was to be spit upon and to have his shoe loosed.  It is why we read in Ruth 4 that the nearest kinsman said it would “mar” his own inheritance, and that word “mar” is the same word as “spilled” in Genesis 38:9:

And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.

Again, “spilled” is the same word as “mar” in Ruth 4.  So we can see the overall picture and how Genesis 38 is emphasizing the idea of the “kinsman redeemer,” or the redemption by Christ of His people.  It has everything to do with the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ because the offering up of Himself was the redeeming of all the elect as He purchased us with His own blood.

We also saw the one-third/two-thirds relationship.  Judah had three sons.  Two died, and one lived.  The rest of the chapter really concerns the deliverance of Shelah because Shelah did not marry Tamar and go in unto her to raise up seed.  He was held back,  and we could say, so were all of God’s people as the Lord Jesus stood in our place.  He was there on our behalf, and He accomplished what we could not do, just as Shelah never made the attempt to raise up seed.  And neither do any of God’s elect because we look only to Christ, so that would mean that Judah in the overall picture in Genesis 38 is a type and figure of  Christ.

We saw in Genesis 49 where the Lord spoke of Judah as a lion’s whelp.  It says in Genesis 49:9:

Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

This is language that points to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Historically, of course, Judah has been a wicked man thus far in his life.  We saw that clearly in what he did to Joseph.  Even in this account, he is doing wickedly.  He was going in unto a harlot, and nothing in the Bible would justify that.  It is contrary to the Law of God, and God says in 1Corinthians 6 that if one is joined to a harlot, it is a sinful act.

Spiritually, the thing we are most concerned about is that Judah is a type and figure of the Lord Jesus Christ who will fulfill the role of “kinsman redeemer,” to raise up seed.  We saw in this passage in verse 18 that she conceived by Judah.  Later in this chapter, she will start “showing,” and that will bring up another interesting picture and reveal information that has everything to do with each one of God’s elect in the Day of Judgment.  A sentence would be passed against her that she be “burned,” indicating the wrath of God, but she was delivered and spared from that burning.

But going back to our passage, Tamar had gone back to her father’s house.  Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shuah, had died, and it says in Genesis 38:12-14 that Judah, “went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. And she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath…”  So there are at least three references to “Timnath,” so God is directing our attention to Timnath, and we wonder why.

Timnath may sound familiar to you.  It should sound familiar if you have read the account of Samson in the book of Judges.  And there are other references to “Timnah” and other related words, but as far as Timnath, the only place we find a heavy focus upon it is in Judges 14.  It says in Judges 14:1-2:

And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.

Samson was a Nazarite from the womb, and a judge of Israel.  God had come to his parents, and it was a special introduction to this child who would be born.  The name Samson means “the sun,” and the sun points to Christ.  The Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world, typified by the sun, so Samson was a great type of Christ. 

Here we are told that he went down to Timnath, and he saw in Timnath a daughter of the Philistines.  The Philistines were ungodly.  They were not the people of God.  They were often enemies, doing battle with Israel.  So a woman of Timnath would be a “woman of the world.”  Historically, Samson is wanting to be unequally yoked in wanting a wife from the daughter of the Philistines.  Yet, spiritually, it would point to the Lord Jesus who takes a wife out the world as He saves His elect people who form the bride of Christ, and then we are married to Him.

So Samson wanted to marry this daughter of the Philistines, and he said to his parents in Judges 14:3:

 …Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.

That would point to the fact that God saved His elect people for the sole reason that it was according to His good pleasure.  If we have become saved, there was nothing in us (righteousness or goodness) that caused God to save us.  It was simply according to His choice.  He chose certain ones, and His choice was made by His good pleasure.  That is the only reason the Bible tells us, so we see a slight reference to that: “Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.” 

Then we read in Judges 14:4:

But his father and his mother knew not that it was of JEHOVAH, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

It was not Samson who sought an occasion against the Philistines, but JEHOVAH, eternal God, sought an occasion against the Philistines.  Samson, historically, could have just been infatuated and completely caught up in sin, but God used his weakness in this area to glorify Himself and to paint a spiritual picture.

Then it says in Judges 14:5:

Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.

Notice all the times God is mentioning Timnath, and now it is in a vineyard of Timnath that Samson met a young lion that roared against him.  It goes on to say in Judges 14:6:

And the Spirit of JEHOVAH came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

The word “rent” is a word that means “divide,” or “cloven,” like an animal’s hoof is divided.  Basically, Samson ripped him apart and divided the lion, “as he would have rent a kid.”  It was a lion, but the death of the lion is being likened to the death of a kid which would be offered up in sacrifice.  We can see the spiritual picture in the death of a kid, as we do not see the death of a lion as sacrificial, but the Lord is linking a lion’s death to the death of a kid. 

Then it says in Judges 14:7:

And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.

Again, she pleased him well, representing God’s good pleasure.

Then it says in Judges 14:8-9:

And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.

This was all happening in a vineyard of Timnath.  We can see Samson is a type of Christ.  Who would the lion represent?  The lion would also be a type of Christ.  So Samson, a type of Christ, slew a lion, a type of Christ.  We just read in Genesis 49 that he was a “lion of the tribe of Judah,” a reference to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. 

And here, Samson encounters a lion.  It is basically God encountering God in Timnath, and Samson slew the lion.  He killed the lion.  God killed God.  Do we read that anywhere in the Bible?  Yes.  That is the essence of the Gospel.  When the Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross, He cried out these words from Psalm 22:1 when He was hanging on the cross.  It says in Psalm 22:1:

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

That is interesting.  If you remember, we read back in Judges 14:5:

Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.

This word “roared” in Judges 14:5 is Strong’s #7580, and the word “roaring” in Psalm 122 is Strong's #7581, so they are very closely related words.

Again, He said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”  That is how we can understand the lion’s roar.  I was trying to understand that because we normally would relate the lion’s roar to the aggressive lion that is about to devour, but in this case the lion is typifying Christ who was slain, and it was God the Father who slew Him.  And here it is Samson who killed the lion as the lion roared.  So that statement in Psalm 22:1 harmonizes very well, and we can quickly see that as Jesus cried out those words, He was “roaring,” and the idea of “roaring” would tie in with the Word and voice of a Mighty God.  Yet, in this instance, He is one who is broken under the wrath of God.

Lord willing, when we get together in our next study, we will continue to look at Judges 14 and this historical account that will help us to understand “Timnath.”  And then we will go back to Genesis 38 and see how this spiritual definition fits for this place of Timnath.