Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #7 in Genesis 38, and we will read Genesis 38:14-19:

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 the historical setting.  Er and Onan, sons of Judah, had already been married to Tamar.  Er died because the Lord found him wicked and smote him.  Then Onan, the second son of Judah, married Tamar as well, and he spilled the seed, which displeased the Lord, and the Lord slew him also.

There was a third son, Shelah, and Judah was afraid of losing him also after losing his first two sons, so he told Tamar to wait until Shelah was grown up.  We do not know how old Shelah was at that time.  He could have been a young teenager, but his age gave Judah an opportunity to “hide” him away from Tamar, and he did so. 

Now Tamar has noticed that Shelah is grown, and that she was not given unto him for a wife, so she developed a plan.  The plan involved going to Timnath, sitting beside the wayside, giving the appearance of a harlot.  Judah thought she was a harlot because she covered her face.  That seems to be the way a woman in those days would signal that she was a harlot.  Judah did not realize she was his daughter-in-law Tamar.  What would she be doing way out there, dressed as a harlot?  That was probably the last thing that would have entered his mind.  His wife had recently died, although that is no excuse, but he felt at liberty to go to this harlot and ask if he could come in unto her to have sexual relations.

She said to him, “What wilt thou give me?”  He said, “I will send thee a kid from the flock.”  This was a brilliant part of her plan; he would give her a pledge until he sent the kid.  As we read the whole chapter, we see why this was so smart because her plan was to become pregnant, and she understood that if her pregnancy began to show at a later date, it would have dire consequences because Judah would command that she be burned.  That was probably well known among the households of those families regarding someone involved in adultery and fornication.  That person would be put to death.  So she had to come up with a way of defending herself and her child because if she would die the child would die with her.  She asked him for a pledge, and he did give his bracelet, signet, and staff to her until someone could come to deliver the kid because he had said he would give her a kid of the flock.  Once the kid was delivered, she was supposed to return the items that were given for the pledge. 

And this was all happening on the road to Timnath.  Remember that Timnath identifies with the place of redemption and with the “kinsman redeemer” that Judah would soon become.  It was the will of God.  God does not cause people to sin, but God knows that people will sin, and therefore we can understand that God can allow men to do sinful things.  And Judah was very sinful.  God also allowed Tamar to have her line of thinking, which was not godly, and yet He worked it all out.  He worked in this by lifting His hand of restraint, and then the historical setting took shape, and we see that God allowed these things in order to teach spiritual truth.  That is, it is a historical parable, and we have seen in the wide overview that Judah would represent the “kinsman redeemer.”

But who does Tamar represent?   I thought we would look at her a little more closely.  What may help us, surprisingly, is that Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law.  It says in Genesis 38:16:

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.)

It was also stated earlier in Genesis 38:11:

Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown…

Tamar was his daughter-in-law through the marriage to his two sons.  It is interesting that she was still called his daughter-in-law even after his two sons were dead, and we know that death frees one from a marriage; if one spouse dies, the other spouse is set at liberty from the binding of the marriage.  But in this case, there was supposed to be a marriage to Shelah, so it could be that she was still referred to as “daughter in law” because she was espoused.  In the Bible, being espoused is akin to being married.  We see that in the case of Joseph and Mary in the New Testament. 

God tells us about the situation where a father-in-law has intimacy with his daughter-in-law.  We read this in Leviticus 18:15:

Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son's wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

To “uncover nakedness” means to have sexual relations or sexual intimacy.  It also says in Leviticus 20:12:

And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.

This is not a light matter that happened when Judah went in unto his daughter-in-law.  Again, he did it unwittingly.  He was deceived.  We are not going to get into the whole question of this Law and transgression.  But this word is legitimately translated as “daughter in law” because it is the same Hebrew word.  Yet this word can also be translated another way.  But before we look at that, let us turn to Ruth 1.  I am sure you are familiar with the story.  Naomi, her husband, and two sons went to the land of Moab because there was a famine in the land of Israel.  While they were in Moab, their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, married two Moabitess women, one whose name was Orpah and the other was named Ruth.  Then tragedy struck.  Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and then their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, also died.  So it left Naomi and her two daughters-in-law.  Let us read Ruth 1:4-14:

And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that JEHOVAH had visited his people in giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: JEHOVAH deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. JEHOVAH grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of JEHOVAH is gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.

Then there is that beautiful declaration from Ruth as Naomi tried to convince her to go back to her land, her people, and her God.  It says in Ruth 1:16:

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

It is another beautiful historical parable.  We see that the two daughters-in-law are widows.  Their husbands had died, exactly as Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar was a widow.  ‘

Naomi’s daughters-in-law were initially trying to follow her.  Oprah was likely just being very respectful, as she had probably planned to return to Moab, but she did it very kindly and respectfully by first saying she would follow Naomi.  Then Naomi told them to go to their families, and Oprah kissed her goodbye and left her, but Ruth clave to her and continued along with Naomi to return to Bethlehem. 

We see that Naomi said, “Do I have any other sons?  Even if I had sons, would you tarry until they were grown up?”  Why did she say that?  It was because of the Law of God which said that another son should raise up seed to his brother.  If Naomi were to have a son, and twenty years later he was grown, then he could marry Ruth.  But that would be way too long, and as it will turn out, there is a near kinsman Boas who will perform the duty of the “kinsman redeemer.”

I wanted to read that so we can these two daughters-in-law who were widows, and in the Bible widows often typify God’s elect.  We wonder why that is, and we will look into that later.

I mentioned that the Hebrew word translated as “daughter in law” is also translated in another interesting way in Song of Solomon, where it is translated as “spouse.”  Of course the Song of Solomon is a historical parable of a couple in love, and it really represents the spiritual relationship between Christ and His eternal bride, consisting of everyone He has saved.  We read in Song of Solomon 4:7-12:

Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

I will stop reading there.  So all five references to “spouse” is the same word as “daughter in law.”  The Song of Solomon is a rather strange book.    That is, it is odd and there is such a deep spiritual picture with this language that we do not find in other places.  And maybe that is the case here, because maybe this word is always translated as “daughter in law,” except here.  Then we would have to ask the question, “Why would the Beloved (Christ) refer to the one He loved as “sister and spouse?”  We understand the use of the word “sister,” and we have talked about that before.  But why the word “spouse,” if it means “daughter in law?”  However, the same Hebrew word is found elsewhere in the Old Testament referring to marriage, the marriage between God and His people.  So when we get together in our next Bible study, we will continue to look into this word “daughter in law.”