Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #6 in Genesis 38, and we will read Genesis 38:12-19:

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.

In our last study, we saw that Timnath was in view a few times here in Genesis 38, and the other place in the Bible where Timnath is really highlighted by God is in the book of Judges regarding the life of Samson.  Samson went down to Timnath because he had seen a woman of Timnath of the daughter of the Philistines.  He told his father and mother to get her for him because she pleased him well.  It says in Judges 14:5-9:

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

In verse 5 Samson had come to Timnath and to the vineyard of Timnath, and there he met the young lion that roared against him.  We talked about that last time.  Jesus is typified by the lion of the tribe of Judah, and we read that Jesus cried out 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?

This is the young lion that roared against Samson, and Samson rent him as he would rent a kid.  Thus God is likening the lion to the kid that is rent.  We can relate that to John 1:29:

… Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

He was the Lamb smitten from the foundation of the world.  Christ is that Lamb.  He was the sacrificial offering that this “kid” that was rent points to, and Jesus was crushed in the atonement of offering up Himself. 

That is what we see when we read that Samson killed the lion.  So who does Samson represent?  Eternal God, the Lord Jesus Christ.  And who does the lion represent?  The Lord Jesus Christ, eternal God.  When the Lord Jesus offered up Himself at the foundation of the world, He was performing the role of the High Priest who would slay the sacrificial offering, and He was also performing the role of the sacrificial offering.  It was a dual role that Christ performed, and He also did the same in the demonstration of the atonement at the cross in 33 A. D.  He offered up Himself. 

And Samson slew the young lion that had roared against him.  Samson talked to the woman who pleased him well, and this woman typifies the elect.  Now I know that as the account goes on the woman will betray him in collusion with her companions or friends.  But as far as this early part of the chapter, God is painting a particular portrait of her that would identify with Christ accomplishing the atonement for the sake of His bride, the elect.  That is why there is also this reference to the vineyard.  Let us go to Isaiah 63:1:

Who is this that cometh from Edom…

By the way, remember that this word “Edom” is basically the same word as “Adam,” or man, so it is as if He cometh from “man,” as Christ took upon Himself the form of a servant, and He became a “man” and bore our sins in His body on the tree at the foundation of the world, and that is the only point at which He did pay for the sins of His people.

Again, it says in Isaiah 63:1-3:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

He said, “I have trodden the winepress alone.”  Christ is telling us that He paid the penalty for the sins of His people, which is death, and nobody else contributed any part to it.  He did it all.  Of course you find a winepress in a vineyard.  Remember that in Isaiah 5 God tells us of a vineyard, and it is interesting that He says in Isaiah 5:1-2:

Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

Within the vineyard was the winepress, and that points to the blood of Christ.  This vineyard is pointing to the New Testament churches and congregations.  The winepress He tread alone was in shedding His blood that would flow forth, and the grapes would go into the winepress, and the Gospel “wine” or “blood” of Christ would flow forth over the course of the church age because the Gospel would bring that information and apply it to the elect sinner as they heard, thereby applying the blood (wine) that was coming forth out of the winepress.  It all relates to the sending forth of the Gospel into the world.

So this is happening in a vineyard in Timnath, and we are not surprised at all that this is the case.  And then it says of Samson 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.

We want to see what is going on here spiritually, which will help to define more fully “Timnath.”  So far, Timnath seems to be a very important place as far as the Gospel is concerned.  In  this chapter in Judges 14 it is the place where “God slew God,” spiritually speaking, and it is the place where the vineyard is located.  Now the carcase of the lion is there, and Samson was able to get honey out of the carcase of the lion, and there was also a swarm of bees within the carcase of the lion. 

What would be the spiritual understanding of these things?  First, we should recognize that the word “carcase” is mentioned three times in verses 8 and 9.  However, it is two different words.  In verse 8, where it says, “…he turned aside to see the carcase,” is Strong’s #4658.  The second reference says, “a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion,” and the third reference says, “he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion,” and both of these references to “carcase” are Strong’s #1472.  And Strong’s #1472 is the more usual word you would find concerning a “dead body,” and that is what a lion’s carcase would be, the dead body of the lion.

The first reference to “carcase,” Strong’s #4658, is only translated as carcase here.  It is translated as “fall,” or “ruin,” in several other verses.  From what I can see in looking at these other verses is that it always concerns judgment.  For example, let us go to Proverbs 29:16:

When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall.

Turn to Ezekiel 26:15:

Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?

Then it says in Ezekiel 26:18:

Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.

There are a few other verses, but let us just read one more verse in Ezekiel 27:27:

Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.

So you can see there is judgment, which means God’s wrath, and that is exactly what is in view spiritually concerning the lion.  The lion is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ coming under the judgment of God, and Samson is executing that judgment as he rents the lion as a kid.  We read that Samson turned aside to see the carcase of the lion, and it would have been better translated as the “fall” or “ruin” of the lion.  Then it said in Judges 14:8:

… and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.

This second reference to “carcase”  is a different word that does mean “dead body.”  What is this word translated as “swarm?”  When we look up the word “swarm,” we find it is translated elsewhere in the Old Testament as “congregation,” “company,” “multitude,” and “people.”  So as Samson turned aside to see the fall, or ruin, of the lion, there was a “congregation” of bees.  Does that help us?  Not really, because as it continues, it refers also to honey in the lion.  Naturally, that makes sense because bees and honey go hand-in-hand.

However, the word “bees” is a very interesting word here.  It is a Hebrew word “debôrâh,” which I would pronounce as “deb-o-raw',” and it is Strong’s #1682.  It is identical to the name “Deborah,” like the prophetess Deborah that we studied about in Judges 4 and Judges 5, and we saw that this name means “word.”  It is the feminine form of the Hebrew word, “dâbar,” (daw-bar'), which is often translated as “word.”   In this verse it is “bees,” plural, so we could say, “a congregation of words.” 

And that does not seem to make any sense until we realize that God’s people follow the Word and are completely identified with the Word of God, the Bible.  We are messengers of the Word.  Regarding the “two witnesses” in Revelation 11, the mission of the elect people of God, for all intents and purposes,  died along with the “two witnesses.”   The two witnesses represented the Spirit of God within His Word, the Bible, or the “law and the prophets.”  And when the Spirit of God departed out of the churches, it was as though the Word was “dead.”  It was not long after that when God opened up the Scriptures to tell us that it was time to get out of the churches.  The power of the Gospel, the Word of God, had departed, and the people of God soon followed.

So here we see “a congregation of words,” or a congregation of the elect people of God, that are fully identified with the Word of God.  And then it goes on to say, “and honey in the carcase of the lion.”  And the “honey” would also relate the Gospel, or the Word of God, and we can see that relationship when we turn to Psalm 19:9-11:

The fear of JEHOVAH is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of JEHOVAH are true and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

The judgments of God here is the Word of God.  You see, it has to do with the Word of God, the Bible, and that is what is forming in the carcase of the lion.  I think we can see the spiritual picture clearly.  Christ has died, and because Christ has died (typified by the lion being rent as a kid), there was formed a “congregation.”  All Christ died for form that congregation, although we know there are two congregations.  There is the eternal congregation, which is the invisible church consisting of every true child of God, and then there is the earthly congregation.  It is just like the example of “two Jerusalems,” or “two houses of God.”

Here, it could have application to both.  There is a “congregation of words” that has come forth of Christ’s death, and it has everything to do with the Word of God, the Bible.  And there is “honey” in the carcase of the lion.  Christ is also the Word, and the Word is fully identified with honey.

That would be the beautiful spiritual picture in that historical parable in Judges 14, which teaches us about Timnath.  That was where Samson slew the lion, renting him like a kid, at that place in Timnath of the vineyard.  And then there was the “swarm of bees,” or the “congregation of words,” and it has everything to do with the salvation that came forth from God’s redemption plan that Christ accomplished from the foundation of the world.  The spiritual meaning of Timnath is the place of redemption.  It teaches us all about God’s redemptive salvation program.