Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #10 in Genesis 38, and we will read Genesis 38:18-23:

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. And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not. Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place. And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place. And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.

We want to look at what the pledge was that Judah gave to Tamar, and the pledge was his signet, his bracelets, and his staff.

We are going to begin with the bracelets.  The Hebrew word translated as “bracelets” is Strong’s #6616, and it is also translated as “lace” and “ribbon” and “wires” in other verses.  For example, in Exodus 39 we find this word three or four times.  First, it says in Exodus 39:3:

And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work.

This is referring to the ephod, if we read Exodus 39:2:

And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

Again, it was cut into wires to work it in the blue.

It also says in Exodos 39:21:

And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as JEHOVAH commanded Moses.

Again, this had to do with the priestly attire for Aaron as the high priest of Israel.  So far, this word has been used in verse 3 and verse 21 regarding that attire.  In verse 3 it had to do with the ephod, and in verse 21 it had to do with the breastplate.

Then let us read Exodus 39:27-30:

And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, And a mitre of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen, and linen breeches of fine twined linen, And a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as JEHOVAH commanded Moses. And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

In case you are wondering, this is the same word “signet” that is used in Genesis 38, but we are not going to talk about that, but just note there is a relationship because it was the bracelets, signet, and staff that were given as the pledge to Tamar, and here in connection with the priest’s garment we find the word translated as “bracelets” three times, including what we read in Exodus 39:31:

And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as JEHOVAH commanded Moses.

So in verse 3, 21, and 31, we see this word, Strong’s #6616, which is also translated as “bracelet.”  And very significantly, Exodus 39:30 speaks of the engraving of the signet, and Exodus 39:31 tells us about the “lace,” or “bracelet” of blue.  (Just note that connection for now.)

Also, this same Hebrew word is found in Numbers 15:38-39:

Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of JEHOVAH, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:

Here, God is speaking to all the children of Israel.  They were to make fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, so it would apply to all time.  And they were to put upon the fringe of the borders a “ribband,” or “lace” of blue, exactly like the priestly garments.

It is curious that the color blue keeps appearing.  It appears three times in Exodus 39.  This word that is translated as “bracelets” is used in the Old Testament a total of eleven times, and six of them have relationship to the color blue.  We saw it mentioned three times in Exodus 39, and also here in Numbers 15.  There are a couple of other times in Exodus 28 where this word is found in relationship to the color blue.  Why?  What does that mean?  If we turn to Esther 8, it may help us to understand why it is used as far as the priests were concerned, as well as the children of Israel.  It says in Esther 8:15:

And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

Here, it is spelled out for us that Mordecai was attired in royal apparel of blue and white, and it also mentions a garment of fine linen and purple.  As far as the “fine linen,” what do we know based on the statement in Revelation 19:8, concerning the bride of Christ?  The fine white linen represent the righteousness of saints.  God’s elect are dressed in fine white linen.  The “royal apparel” mentions the color white, and fine linen, as well as blue and purple, so that instructs us that the priestly attire of the priests had this “lace” of blue, as well did as the children of Israel, and that is because the children of Israel were a picture of God’s elect, just like the priests picture God’s elect.

We read in 1Peter 2:9-10:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

In time past, we were not the people of God, but now we are.  The elect, including the elect Gentiles, are spiritual Israel, and the color blue would identify with the elect.

The fact that God uses this word translated as “bracelets,” but it is found several times relating to the attire of the priests and the children of Israel, helps us to understand that as far as Tamar is concerned, it is as though Judah, a type of Christ, was ordaining her to be of that royal priesthood, including her with the spiritual children of Israel.  She was one of the elect.  It is tying her to the people of God, and all of God’s people are “prophets, priests, and kings,” or a “royal priesthood.”

We do not read in Genesis 38 that the bracelet, or lace, or whatever it was, was the color blue, but the bracelet does tie in to those that are of the family of God.

Let us continue by going back to Genesis 38:18:

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.

The word “staff” is Strong’s #4294.  Oddly, this is the word that is translated dozens of times in the Old Testament as “tribe,” like the tribes of Israel.  It is the same word.  And this word is also translated as “rod,” as well as “staff.”  It is not the same word used in Psalm 23, where it says, “…thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”  That word “rod” and “staff” are both different words. 

Again, this word is unusual.  I want to look at a place where it is translated as “rod,” but where it would be better understood if it had been translated as “tribe.”  I want to look at that because I learned something I had never seen so clearly until I made that substitution.  By the way, when God allowed the translators to translate the same single word into multiple English words, that gives us the allowance to substitute those words, here and there.  So when we look at a verse, we can insert one of the other ways it has been translated, and sometimes it is helpful, and sometimes it is not.  But in this case it proves helpful, so let us go to Numbers 17:1-2:

And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers…

Again, keep in mind that this word “rod” is our word used in Genesis 38, which is Strong’s #4294, and it is the same word translated as “tribe.”  That is important to keep in mind, and since this word is found numerous times in this passage, I am going to read it substituting the word “tribe” for the word “rod.”  Again, it says in Numbers 17:2-8:

Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a tribe according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve tribes: write thou every man's name upon his tribe. And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the tribe of Levi: for one tribe shall be for the head of the house of their fathers. And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. And it shall come to pass, that the man's tribe, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a tribe apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve tribes: and the tribe of Aaron was among their tribes. And Moses laid up the tribes before JEHOVAH in the tabernacle of witness. And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the tribe of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

Did that help you in your understanding?  It certainly helped me.  Obviously, they were literal rods in the historical account, and there were twelve rods.  They were gathered together and laid up before the Lord.  Then Aaron’s rod budded.  We understand that.  But what is the spiritual meaning of that?  That had always been a little baffling to me, but now I understand.  There are twelve tribes, and the one tribe of Aaron was the one that budded, and Aaron was of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of the priests.  And this whole historical situation was a result of the murmuring of the children of Israel, which was pointed out in verse 5, but it goes back to the previous chapter where it says in Numbers 16:1-5:

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and JEHOVAH is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of JEHOVAH? And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow JEHOVAH will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.

So Numbers 16 is all about the censors,  and only the priests, the sons of Aaron, were to offer incense with the censors, but these men dared to do it, and they were burned up.  There is a very definite way that God intends for things to be done, and when men do not do them, they are transgressing, which is sin, and it brings death.

But the murmuring continued even after these men were burned up, and it says in Numbers 16:41:

But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of JEHOVAH.

Then a plague resulted, and that was how chapter 16 concluded.  But then there would be a test in chapter 17 to stop the murmuring and to prove who were the people of God that God had chosen.  Do you see it?  That is what is said in Numbers 16:5.  So this would determine whom God had chosen, and that fits right in with His election program because the word “elect” means to be “chosen.”  The twelve tribes all submitted their “rods,” and the word “rod” means “tribes.”  So when God chose Aaron’s rod, He chose his tribe, and in this case the tribe of Levi is being used to represent the elect that are chosen out of all people.  And then the “rod” blossomed and budded, which is a beautiful picture in itself.  But think not of the “rod,” but the fact that the tribe of Levi is the one that blossomed and budded, and we have our spiritual answer.  We will have to wait and look at this further in our next Bible study.