Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #12 in Genesis 38, and we will begin by reading where we left off in our last study in Song of Solomon 8:3-6:

His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

Again, I will read the first part of Song of Solomon 8:6:

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm…

The word “seal” is the same word as our word “signet” back in Genesis 38.  So it could be read, “Set me as a signet upon thine heart, as a signet upon thine arm.”  But the word “seal” is probably a better word, and you will see why as we go along. 

“My sister, my spouse,” is the one in view who is given a seal upon the heart.  Let us go back to Song of Solomon 4:10-12:

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.

This is the same love interest, who is “my sister, my spouse” in chapter 8.  Here she is likened to “a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.”  This word “sealed” is Strong’s #2856, and if you remember, this is the second word that I mentioned in our last study.  In Genesis 38:18, “signet” is Strong’s #2368, but in verse 25 when Tamar was about to be burnt, she produced the pledge, and she said, “Whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff,” that word “signet” is #2856, and that is the word translated as “sealed” here in Song of Solomon 4:12.

We wonder what is going on with this language.  What is the spiritual picture of Judah giving Tamar his signet, or seal?  It is the bride of Christ in the Song of Solomon who is also “sealed,” even in her heart, according to Song of Solomon 8:6.  I think we will get a very good understanding when we go to the New Testament.  We will look at the word “seal,” and it will lead us to a word that has to do with the pledge.  That is, God has used the same items, the signet or seal, and the pledge in the New Testament in regard to His salvation program.  It is unmistakable when we simply follow the Bible’s leading, and we will see how the Lord confirms that He is drawing from Genesis 38.  Genesis 38 is unique in the use of the word “pledge,” and yet it is confirmed in the New Testament.  God will give us a word in the New Testament that will just lock everything in.

Let us start by turning to Revelation 7, which may have the most instances of the use of the word “seal” of any book in the New Testament, or even in the Bible.  It is used repeatedly.  It says in Revelation 7:1-3:

And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

The four angels, or messengers, are holding back the four winds that the wind would not blow on the earth, the sea, or the trees.  If this wind blows, it would hurt the earth, the sea, and the trees, so they are holding it back until they have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads. 

By the way, the forehead is where the mind is located, and in the Bible the mind, soul, and heart are synonymous, so to be “sealed” in our forehead is the same thing as being sealed in your heart, like we see in Song of Solomon 8:6: “Set me as a seal upon thine heart.”  So this is a similar picture that God is drawing for us, so let us keep reading in Revelation 7:4-8:

And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

Twelve tribes are mentioned, and “12 x 12,000” equals “144,000,” and we know that figure represents the figurative firstfruits unto God, according to Revelation 14:1:

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

And where were the 144,000 sealed?  In their foreheads.  Then it says in Revelation 14:4:

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

These are the 144,000, all those sealed from the twelve tribes, representing the firstfruits, and the firstfruits identify with Pentecost.  The feast of Pentecost is the feast of firstfruits.  The Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost to begin the church age.  So the 144,000 is a figurative number, pointing to “fullness.”  Remember that the number “12” represents fullness, so “12 x 12,000,” or “144,000,” points to the complete fulness of all those saved during the church age.  Then what happened after the 144,000 had been sealed and all those to be saved during the church age had become saved?  Then would be the Great Tribulation and judgment beginning at the house of God because God had accomplished His purpose for the churches, and He had saved all those He intended to save from that location.  So that is why it goes on to say in Revelation 7:9:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

So after the 144,000 were sealed, then the great multitude appears.  The question was asked where they came from, and if you recall, the answer is in Revelation 7:13-14:

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

So we are understanding these things very well, by God’s grace.  He has opened these things to our understanding concerning “times and seasons” regarding the church age, and then the end of the church age and judgment upon the churches for the 23 years of the Great Tribulation.

So, again, we see they were “sealed” in their foreheads, identifying with being sealed in the heart or soul.  This same word “sealed” is used in Ephesians a couple of times.  It says in Ephesians 1:13-14:

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

We were “sealed” with that holy Spirit of promise.  That is what it means to be sealed in the forehead, just as the 144,000 were sealed and had the Father’s name written in their foreheads.  They were sealed with the Holy Spirit, and that is a “sealing” having to do with the promises because it means we are saved, and we have eternal life and all the glorious promises the Bible declares of eternity future where we will experience the rich and abundant grace of God for evermore.

Also it says in Ephesians 4:30:

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

So maybe we can understand a little bit better what it means to be “sealed” with the Spirit.  The Spirit of God indwells us, so God is telling us not to grieve the Holy Spirit.  What would grieve the Holy Spirit?  It would be sin, and it would be “walking in the flesh” rather than in the Spirit.  It would be disobedience rather than obedience.

Another reference to this word “sealed” in the New Testament is found in 2Corinthians 1:20-22:

For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

He “sealed” us with the earnest of the Spirit.  That is what Song of Solomon refers to in Song of Solomon 8:6:

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm:

The Beloved, or Christ, is set as a seal upon our hearts.  The Spirit of Christ enters into us at the moment of salvation, and we receive a new resurrected soul or spirit, and we are “sealed” with the Spirit.

Now let us consider what is going on back in Genesis 38.  Remember that when we began this chapter, I mentioned that it is a chapter that has to do with the “kinsman redeemer,” and the redemption of God’s people.  We saw that Timnath had everything to do with redemption.  The location points us to that, and the fact that Tamar had two husbands who died, and they were looking for the other brother to marry her in order to raise up seed to the dead so that his name not be put out of Israel.  And it all fit in with Ruth the Moabitess needing a “kinsman redeemer,” and Boaz, a type of Christ, performing that duty.

But here in Genesis 38, it turned out to be Judah that would be the “kinsman redeemer,” as a type of Christ, although he had no idea what he was typifying, historically.  Historically, he was going in unto a harlot, so that would have been the last thing on his mind.  But no matter what Judah was thinking, it does not matter because God simply used him as a type and figure as he protected his son Shelah by standing in his place, exactly as Christ stood in our place as the Redeemer.

So when Judah gave Tamar the pledge of the signet, bracelets, and staff, we see that these things identify with the Gospel.  The bracelets, or “lace,” related to what the priests wore, as well as the children of Israel, pointing to all spiritual Israel.  All who become saved are a “royal priesthood.”  We also saw how the lace of “blue” was a royal color.  This was part of the pledge, as well as the staff, which ties in with the Gospel.   Christ gives His people the Gospel.

And now there is the “signet,” or “seal.”  So Judah sealed her, and he went away from Tamar.  When did Judah come back in this account?   The next time we hear about Judah, he has heard that his “daughter in law,” or “spouse,” has played the harlot, and she is to be burnt.  What does that immediately direct our attention to?  It is Judgment Day.  And the items given for the pledge will become extremely important the next time that Tamar encounters Judah, the one who has really married her. 

Lord willing, we will look more at the pledge, and where we find it in the New Testament.  It is a wonderful truth that God is giving us in His Word that is really a comfort to us as we come to see exactly what this pledge means.